Boundary Street

The street previously marked the boundary between the southern part of Kowloon, ceded by the Qing dynasty to Great Britain in 1860 along with Stonecutters Island, and the northern part of Kowloon (New Kowloon) (which remained part of China until it was leased as part of the New Territories to the United Kingdom in 1898 for 99 years under the Second Convention of Peking).[1] After the lease, the boundary was renamed from Boundary Line to Old Frontier Line.

The boundary was highlighted by a long line of high bamboo fences, which effectively blocked smuggling between Chinese Kowloon and British Kowloon at that time. The barrier became obsolete when the New Territories joined the colony.

Although the street marks the historical boundary, the road did not come to exist until 1934, more than 30 years after the lease of boundary north. The road was built to accelerate the development of Kowloon Tong and identify the difference in calculation of rates between the boundary north and south.

In present day, however, New Kowloon is not regarded as part of the New Territories, but as part of the Kowloon urban area (on both sides of Boundary Street).

Administratively its portion west of the East Rail Line forms part of the boundary between Yau Tsim Mong District and Sham Shui Po District.

On 1 July 1997, sovereignty of the territories on both sides of Boundary Street was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, along with the rest of Hong Kong.

• History of Hong Kong
• New Territories
• Kowloon
• Convention of Peking
• Treaty of Nanjing
• The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory
• List of streets and roads in Hong Kong

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boundary Street, Hong Kong.

• Geographic data related to Boundary Street at OpenStreetMap