Boundary Street


Boundary Street is a three-lane one-way street in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It runs in an easterly direction from its start at the intersection with Tung Chau Street in the west, and ends at its intersection with Prince Edward Road West in the east, near the former Kai Tak Airport.

History

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 . 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.

Present

In present day, however, New Kowloon is not regarded as part of the New Territories, but as part of the Kowloon urban area.
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 1July 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.