Although the New Territories preserved an agrarian economy and for many years provided Hong Kong and Kowloon with rice and vegetables, Hong Kong and Kowloon quickly urbanized under British rule. This left little room for Chinese residents to continue their traditional land use practices.
除了新界仍然保持農業經濟基地的地位，為港九長期供應大米蔬菜之外，港九兩地在英國統治下快速、全面都市化，華人傳統土地資本失用武之地。