Hong Kong, a subtropical island, off the coast of China, has invited a group of students a chance of a life time to speculate its grand beauty, and we have all returned hoping to relive the experiences or to stay one day. For most of us, this has been our first trip to Asia and one of the first things I noticed was the environment of Hong Kong. The environment of Hong Kong is a broad subject, but it entails the biology, topography, geology, air quality and hydrology. My expertise is in environmental science and geosciences and that is perhaps a reason I noticed these studies in the field, Hong Kong. The beauty of Hong Kong is that it is unique compared to China in many different ways, including: the people and other organisms that inhabit the island. Hong Kong, for some people, is a business “get-a-way” and it truly is that, but underneath all of the money, stores, and apartment complexes, there lays a history that is about 400 million years old in which we cannot forget.
Hong Kong has a very diverse biological environment with about 450 species of birds, 50 species of mammals, 80 species of reptiles, 23 species of amphibians, 230 species of butterflies and 110 species of dragonflies that is supported by a wide range of habitats and varied fauna through out the island. Around Kowloon, an area we grew familiar with, there are wild groups of long-tailed macaques and rhesus macaques, and their hybrids (Hong Kong 2003).
During out stay in Hong Kong I noticed that some of the trees grew in unique ways, such as climbing up walls, for example:
Hong Kong has a rich flora because it is in tropical South-East Asia and that explains the variety of life that we are not familiar with. There are about 3,100 vascular plants on Hong Kong, and some areas have survived the human influence and hill fires, for example: the remnants of original forest cover or “old growth” forests and developed woodlands, but only found in steep ravines. Although, it felt like we were surrounded by buildings on the small island there was still glimpses of nature seen throughout the day (Hong Kong 2003), for example:
Topography, which is a graphic representation or a map of a selected region, will be grouped together with the geology of Hong Kong. Since, Hong Kong is an island and its terrain is covered with steep mountains and hills, one may be able to guess that Hong Kong was once filled with lava flowing tubes. Though, volcanic activity on the island has ceased by 60 million years ago, there is still visibly history of what happened in the past. During out stay on the island, we stopped at a beach and I was able to collect some specimens of a granite rock which looked like this:
Granite is typically formed by a type of rock called Basalt that is deep within the Earth which entails the melting of the Basalt and changing the original composition when it cools, or reaches the surface of the planet, and that is why I found my specimen on the beach. Also, the Hong Kong people have taken the advantage of having a grand supply of granite. I can recall almost every building and structure in Hong Kong being made from granite which is obviously a good and reliable resource for the people.
Hong Kong, as a typical large city, has some air pollution though most of it is from mainland China and the breeze moves the pollution over the city. Like the United States, the most major source of the air pollution are the emissions released from the transportation vehicles. Hong Kong has been working on a solution for the transportation problem, for example: Hong Kong became the first city in Asia to introduce ultra low sulphur diesel, which has a sulphur content of less than 0.005 percent, for use in motor vehicles (Hong Kong 2003). Hong Kong has a much larger population of buses, trolleys, and taxis than the United States does, and the government tries to promote the usage of those public transportations by making them easily accessible for anyone. The group and I were only there for a little longer than a week, and by the second or third day we were confident in using public utilities. Hong Kong’s subtropical environment has made the island a warm, inviting place for visitors, but the air pollution from mainland China has altered the visual affects of the sky compared to other places, for example:
This picture is a graphic representation of what air pollution can do. As you can see, the haze that has been produced lies over the city like a blanket, but it begins to dissipate as you increase the height of your vision.
Hydrology is the study of water, or how a city uses purifies or contaminates its water supply from usage. Hong Kong’s water supply is a mix of oceanic salty water and estuarine water masses. With increased urban development and population Hong Kong’s water pollution and sewage has increased. Around Victoria Harbor, water pollution has increased due to the lack of treatment, but it is slowly improving with increasing treatment plants in the area. “The percentage of rivers in the 'good' and 'excellent' categories increased from 34 per cent in 1986 to 76 per cent in 2003, and the percentage in the 'bad' and 'very bad' categories fell from 45 per cent in 1986 to 15 per cent in 2003,” (Hong Kong 2003). Also, some of the pollution in the New Territories comes from the livestock industry which could lead to a disease outbreak such as salmonella or other bacterial diseases. In 2003, an average of about 5178 tons of livestock waste was collected by the government. The Hong Kong government has made strict rules on pollution for bathing beaches because they are an important recreational resource. Here is a table on how beaches were classified with pollution in 2002 and 2003:
Beach
water quality
ranking Bathing season geometric
means of E.coli count
per 100ml of beach water Minor health risk cases per 1 000 swimmers Number of beaches
2002 2003
Good Up to 24 Undetectable 23 23
Fair 25 to 180 10 or less 10 11
Poor 181 to 610 11 or 15 2 1
Very Poor More than 610 More than 15 6 6
Since 1998, beach water quality grading for open beaches have been made available weekly through the mass media and the EPD's home page.
(Hong Kong 2003).
As the table shows, the number of poor beach water quality ranking has decreased by one which is very good for Hong Kong and the people.
Although, Hong Kong has its pollution problems like other cities. It is still very unique in its biology, topography and geological history. Hong Kong was a great “get-a-way” trip for me because it showed me a new part of the world in which I wanted to stay forever. One day, I will go back for whatever reason, and I will use what I have learned to help me in my journey. Hong Kong has a wonderful history that is as old as the rest of the world, and though we cannot see it underneath the beautiful city it will still be there in a million years even without its people and tall buildings.
Works Cited
Hong Kong 2003. 27 Feb. 2009
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