Hong Kong now phisically linked to mainland China

In the fifth of his current series on Hong Kong as it reverts to Chinese sovereignty, our Asia correspondent Harvey Stockwin reports on the changes coming to parts of the New Territories at the end of Britain's 99-year lease.

HONG KONG (JP): The Thursday before last, I traveled home by bus.

"So what?" you may say,"I do that every day".

The difference was that until last Thursday, I could only go home by sea, via a one-hour ferry ride. I will continue to take the ferry. But now I can go home by bus every day if I want to do so.

On March 22, the largest Hong Kong island, Lantau, where I live, was physically linked to the mainland of China for the first time in history, or at least since the last Ice Age, six weeks before Hong Kong itself becomes again politically part of China.

A fair amount of confusion arises from the fact that there are two "Hong Kongs". Hong Kong is the single island which the British first annexed in 1841. Today, it has a Manhattan-like silhouette and it is the place which most people recall when they hear the word "Hong Kong".

But Hong Kong is also the generic name for the whole of the territory successively gathered together by the British. The bulk of that territory is on the mainland, and was acquired on a 99- year lease in 1898. Yet it also includes 235 outlying islands, by far the largest of which is Lantau.

An additional forgotten fact is that Hong Kong does not have direct access to the international waters of the South China Sea except through agreed channels. This is because Hong Kong, the place, is surrounded by islands which have always remained under Chinese sovereignty. There are many more islands than the 235 which the British leased just of the coast of China. So many in fact, most of them neglected, that one wonders why it is that China has to also claim islands on the other side of the South China sea -- just off the coast of Southeast Asian countries.

Lantau is double the size of Hong Kong island but, until now, it has had a very small population of around 20,000 persons. Most of the land area of Lantau, some 76 square miles, has been designated a country park. It is a great place to go for long hikes through scenic, hilly countryside. Tourists visit Lantau mainly to see a recently-completed giant-sized Buddha set on a hill near a monastery.

Hong Kong island is now linked to the mainland of China by three road and two rail tunnels, -- the latest road tunnel having been opened only recently.

Lantau's dependence upon ferry transport remains in place. But the island is now also linked to the mainland by an imposing suspension bridge which towers over the western end of Hong Kong harbor. Opened a few weeks ago by the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the Tsing-Ma bridge is said to be the longest road-rail suspension bridge in the world. It seems certain to become a symbol of Hong Kong in the same way as the Golden Gate bridge symbolizes San Francisco, or the Harbor Bridge exemplifies Sydney.

The Tsing-Ma Bridge links the islands of Tsing Yi and Ma Wan while the equally impressive cable-stayed Kap Shui Mun bridge links Ma Wan with Lantau. Lantau's overall two-bridge link to the mainland is a magnificent sight, especially when it is floodlit at night.

The bus taking me home last Thursday proceeded across the two bridges and then down a new six-lane expressway built on reclaimed land along the northern coast of Lantau. Previously the remote sparsely inhabited northern hills of Lantau went straight down into the sea -- hence the need for some 12 km. of reclamation, to make way for the highway and the express train tracks which are being laid beside it.

You may well ask -- why indulge in these massive and expensive public works in order to link the rest of Hong Kong to a country park, or to make it more pleasurable for the Jakarta Post correspondent to go home at night?

The answer lies in another little island just off the middle of the northern Lantau coast -- Chek Lap Kok. When I first traversed the northern Lantau coast by pathway on foot, Chek Lap Kok was an almost deserted island with forest-covered hills. Now it has been flattened and extended.

The name Chek Lap Kok may soon become as well known as Heathrow in London or Kennedy in New York. Chek Lap Kok international airport is due to open in April next year. While Narita International Airport struggles to complete its second runway decades after opening, Chek Lap Kok's second runway is due to be completed before the end of 1998.

As a result of the airport, the former Lantau fishing village of Tung Chung has been transformed. A new town is being built where the new six-lane highway, and the new railway, swing north to the new airport at Chek Lap Kok.

For now, the old Tung Chung village remains in place, providing a fascinating contrast with the development of a new Tung Chung capable of housing 200,000 people. Already many tall blocks of flats are in place. One wonders how long the old village will survive. There used to be many such villages all over the New Territories but many, probably most, have disappeared.

For now, at least, the streams of cars and sleek double-decker buses flowing across the Tsing-Ma bridge and the Lantau Expressway all have to stop at Tung Chung, while the final work on the new airport is completed.

Southern Lantau's status as a country park is still officially protected. Vehicles licensed for Hong Kong roads cannot proceed on to the rest of Lantau, lest they create massive gridlock, while most of the cars licensed for Lantau cannot go onto the Lantau Expressway, to the annoyance of Lantau people who would like to travel further afield. At Tung Chung, I boarded a small somewhat rickety bus which alone could proceed to other Lantau destinations.

The shorter ride from Tung Chung to Silvermine Bay in Lantau takes much longer than the lengthy ride from Kowloon to Tung Chung. In most of Lantau, on a misty day, the hills and the few habitats combine to resemble a traditional Chinese painting. For the time being at least, tall buildings are forbidden, the roads are still extremely narrow -- and you can savor a little of the flavor of 1898, right now in 1997.