"Hong Kong has a largely mountainous terrain, very little flat land, no major rivers, no great forests, and a paucity of mineral wealth. The relative poverty of the place led the British Foreign Secretary to remark, in 1841, that Hong Kong was a "barren rock with hardly a house upon it". Prior to that date, the rugged landscape of Hong Kong had evolved, with little human interference, over about 400 million years. Subsequently, large influxes of people and their farming, building, reclamation, and economic activities have markedly transformed that original landscape. This book explains, in simple terms and with numerous photographs and figures, the origins of these varied landscapes, examining the contributions of different rocks, geological structures, and modern processes, as well as the profound impact of people."--Jacket.