HKU Bulletin May 2008 (Vol. 9 No. 2)

32 33 Old Kowloon A n exhibition featuring over seventy photographs, focusing on the areas through which a proposed tramway might have been constructed in early 20th century Kowloon was shown recently, at the University Museum and Art Gallery. The photos, from a collection owned by Mr Cheng Po Hung, showed the parts of Kowloon owned by the Colonial Government, such as Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei, Ho Man Tin, Mong Kok and Tai Kok Tsui, as well as those owned by the Chinese Government (later renamed the New Territories). Also included were images of then undeveloped areas such as Ngau Chi Wan, Wong Tai Sin, Ngau Tau Kok, and the new town of Tseung Kwan O. In the early days, Kowloon was divided into “British Kowloon”, which referred to an area south of Boundary Street, ceded to the British in accordance with the Convention of Peking in 1861, and “Chinese Kowloon” (later known as the New Territories), the area from Boundary Street to the Shenzhen River, which was leased to the British in 1898. Over the past hundred years Kowloon has played an important role in Hong Kong's economic, transport, and social developments. Factories, producing texti les, clothing and ironware, were built in Sham Shui Po, Tai Kok Tsui, and Cheung Sha Wan, and these contributed enormously to the industrial development of Hong Kong in the 1970s. The Canton-Hong Kong Railway, which terminated in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the Kai Tak Airport, completed in 1931 in Kowloon City, facilitated the development of both trade and tourism. At the foothill of Lion Rock, the public housing estates of Wong Tai Sin were home to typical working class communities in the 1950s. This fascinat ing pictor ial col lect ion gave wi tness to the enormous changes that have helped shape the Kowloon Peninsula over the last hundred years. ARTS