Why did the New Territories lease affect the whole territory?

Hong Kong Island and Kowloon could not work alone, and the New Territories held most of the land and people, so one negotiation covered everything.

How is the population ratio calculated?

Divide the later figure by the base-year figure, here 650 by 60, giving 10.83 times.

S5 History Hong Kong 1945-1997, Paper 4: population, infrastructure and the transition

2026-11-02

Tutor Prep Guide · Primary English

Paper 4 runs from the 99-year lease through Shek Kip Mei, the ten-year housing programme, the MTR and the currency peg, working out 155, 18 and 14 years and a 10.8-fold population rise, and ends on the Rose Garden project, the liaison group and the 100-year lease myth.

Reminders　Count the lease from 1898, watch the starting year in date subtraction, and divide by the base-year population for ratios.

01　Paper details (check answers afterwards)

Item	Detail
Questions	10
Suggested time	25
Difficulty mix	Foundation 4 · Intermediate 3 · Challenge 2 · Error redo 1
Chapter	Chapter: S5 History: Hong Kong 1945-1997
Level	S5

02　Questions (10 items)

FoundationIn which year did the 99-year lease of the New Territories, signed in 1898, expire?
FoundationWhich fire on Christmas Eve 1953 left more than fifty thousand people homeless and led to resettlement housing?
FoundationThe Ten-Year Housing Programme began in 1972. In which year was it due to finish?
FoundationThe MTR opened in 1979 and sovereignty passed in 1997. How many years apart?
IntermediateThe linked exchange rate was adopted in 1983. How long had it run by 1997?
IntermediateHong Kong Island was ceded in 1842 and returned in 1997. How many years is that?
IntermediateThe population was about 0.6 million in 1945 and about 6.5 million in 1997. Roughly how many times larger?
ChallengeThe Sino-British Joint Liaison Group was set up in 1985. How long did it work before the handover?
ChallengeThe Rose Garden airport project was announced in 1989 and Chek Lap Kok opened in 1998. How many years apart?
Error redoError repair: a student wrote that the New Territories lease was 100 years. What is the correct term?

03　Answers and one-line notes

#	Answer	One-line note
1	1997	1898 plus 99 gives 1997, which is why the New Territories lease expiry and the future of the whole territory fell in the same year.
2	The Shek Kip Mei fire	The victims were left sleeping in the streets, so the first resettlement blocks were put up the very next year, 1954.
3	1982	1972 plus ten gives 1982; the aim was public housing for about 1.8 million people within a decade.
4	18 years	1997 minus 1979 is 18; the opening of the MTR marks the start of a new transport era and a new urban shape.
5	14 years	1997 minus 1983 is 14; the peg was introduced during a confidence crisis and has stayed in place since.
6	155 years	1997 minus 1842 is 155, so the colonial period of Hong Kong spans one and a half centuries.
7	About 10.8 times	650 divided by 60 is 10.83, a tenfold rise in fifty-two years, which is where the housing and schooling pressure came from.
8	12 years	1997 minus 1985 is 12; the joint liaison group handled the practical handover issues during the transition.
9	9 years	1998 minus 1989 is 9; the project ran across the handover, so transitional arrangements had to outlast 1997 itself.
10	99 years	From 1898 to 1997 is exactly 99 years, which is precisely why 1997 became the year both sides had to settle.

04　What to do after marking

After marking, redo only the wrong items and write down which step went wrong (formula, unit, or misread number).
Repeat the same item two days later; move to the next paper only when both attempts are correct.
Parents only need the answer and note columns; there is no need to explain every item.

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