NEW TERRITORIES

part of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. It comprises an area of 368 square miles (952 square km) north of Kowloon Peninsula from Mirs Bay on the east to Deep Bay, an inlet of the Pearl River, on the west and includes Lantau (Lantao) and other islands. Although much of the terrain is mountainous, the valleys are among the region's most productive farmland. Since the 1950s residential and industrial development has spread into the area north of Kowloon City. The New Territories were leased to Great Britain from China in 1898 for 99 years. Pop. (1981) 1,304,000; (1991) 2,374,818.