While not a capital city in its own right, Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant global financial centers and has more skyscrapers (buildings over 150m) than any other city on Earth, including New York. Located on China's southern coast, it is composed of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories. The city's geography is extremely mountainous, which forced urban development to go upward rather than outward, resulting in the world's most vertical urban landscape. Hong Kong operates under the 'One Country, Two Systems' principle following its 1997 handover from Britain. It is famous for Victoria Harbour, its deep-water port, and the Star Ferry, which has been shuttling passengers between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island since 1888. Despite being a dense metropolis, about 40% of Hong Kong’s territory is protected country parks and nature reserves.