A Walk Through Hong Kong's Past

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Hi All,

I started the day by going to watch the firing of the Noon Day Gun. The gun is owned by Jardine's which used to be called Jardine. Matherson & Co. Jardine and Matherson were one of the largest hongs to be operating out of China and made their money by dealing in opium. Jardine and Matherson were the first hong to buy land on Hong Kong island. They would ship the opium in from India and then ship tea, silks and other Chinese goods back to Britain. It was a tradition of Jardine and Matherson's to fire a gun when one of their ships entered the harbour. One time a ship was being captained by a high ranking navy officer who was unaware of this tradition. Upon entering the harbour the gun was dutifully fired. The naval officer was taken aback by this as gun salutes were reserved for high ranking government officials. Jardine and Matherson were ordered to fire the gun everyday at noon as punishment. The original gun was taken by the Japanese not long after the invasion and the gun used now is from a naval ship that fought in the Battle of Jutland in WWI.

From the gun I took a tram to Western Market and then went for a wander through the back streets. There are some amazing temples here which are nothing like what I have seen in China. It must be due to the lack of space as the temples I visited had no gardens or outside spaces just a prayer hall with literally hundreds of incense coils burning, it was difficult to breath in some of them.

Enjoy the photos

Jah Bless

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Photos

The Excelsior hotel
The hotel is on the site of the first plot of land to be sold at private auction to Jardine, Matherson & Co.

Possesion Street
This is where the Union Jack was planted for the first time in Hong Kong