DEVELOPING A “BORROWED PLACE”: THE SHADOW OF 1997 ON URBAN AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW TERRITORIES OF HONG KONG, 1925-1983

Abstract

British Hong Kong was a “borrowed place living on borrowed time”, Richard Hughes, an Australian journalist, wrote in 1968. This thesis attested that the “1997 Question”, i.e. the perplexity stemming from the expiry of the New Territories Lease in 1997, had a considerable impact on colonial governance and social development in this “borrowed place” long before the late 1960s. Through reconstructing the decision-making process regarding urban expansion and infrastructure construction in the New Territories of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1983, this thesis argued that the shadow of 1997 inhibited urban development in the New Territories, especially after 1949. In addition, this thesis also examined to what extent a clause, which protected the land rights of the indigenous villagers, in the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory (1898) posed an obstacle to urban expansion in the New Territories.