Hong Kong Snapsot (67) Look for the boundary stone of City of Victoria 香港隨拍 (67) 尋找維多利亞城的界碑

Continue from the last post, 1841, the British moved their base to Central and Admiralty and built the Queen’s Road and Hollywood Road. At the same time, Sir Henry Pottinger replaced Charles Elliot to be the Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China and also the Administrator of Hong Kong. As the British though that the Convention of Chuenpi had no official power, to get the real power of Hong Kong, Pottinger led the British army to attack China again, resulting in the Treaty of Nanking. Hong Kong Island was officially ceded to UK.

延續上一篇文章的結尾，1841年，英國人將總部遷到中環及金鐘，並修建了皇后大道及荷李活道，同一時間，砵甸乍接替了被炒魷魚的義律，成為英國駐華商務總監及行政官。由於英國人認為《穿鼻草約》沒有實際效力，為得到香港島的實權，砵甸乍領軍再次攻打中國，最終打敗中國，並於1842年與中國在南京簽下《南京條約》，香港島正式割讓給英國。

Signing the Treaty of Nanking 簽訂南京條約
(photo from Wikipedia)

Yeah, Hong Kong Island was really owned by the British, so they then proposed to build a city in 1845. The city of name as the Queen city, and later the City of Victoria. UK sent naval surveyor Thomas Bernard Collinson to Hong Kong Island and mapped the first map of Hong Kong Island. He also planned the City of Victoria (or Victoria). Today, the cape of the east most of Hong Kong Island is named as the Cape Collinson.

香港島已真正成為自己的了，英國在1845年正式提出興建一座城市，起初命名為「女王城」，後來以維多利亞女王為名，叫做「維多利亞城」。英國特意派了測量師哥連臣到香港島測量及規畫維多利亞城的建造，哥連臣之後畫了第一張精準的香港島地圖，今天香港島最東的海角，都以哥連臣為名，叫做哥連臣角。

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The first Hong Kong Island map by Collinson 香港島第一幅地圖
(photo from National Library of Scotland)

The very first City of Victoria included Sheung Wan, Central, Admiralty and Wan Chai and later extended to Sai Wan. In 1857, the “Four wans” of Victoria was confirmed: Sai Wan (West Ring), Sheung Wan (Upper Ring), Central (Central Ring) and Ha Wan (Lower Ring, now Wan Chai). Sheung Wan, Central and Wan Chai are still the most developed districts 150 years after. The development of Hong Kong is already decided by the history.

哥連臣劃下了今天香港島的上環、中環、金鐘及灣仔區為維多利亞城，及後擴展至西環一帶，終在1857年訂下了維多利亞城的四環：即西環、上環、中環及下環(灣仔)，一直到150年後的今天，上環、中環及灣仔仍是香港最發達的地區，香港的社區發展，其實早由歷史決定。

City of Victoria 維多利亞城, 1908 (photo from Wikipedia)

In 1903, the Hong Kong Government seven boundary stones to define Victoria. Six of them are still kept today. I went to Happy Valley in Wan Chai to find out one of the boundary stones. I had a post talking about Happy Valley. You may visit the post if you are interested.

1903年，香港政府為維多利亞城的邊界立下了七塊界碑，其中六塊仍然保存至今，今天，我就到了灣仔最東邊的跑馬地，尋找這其中一塊界碑。跑馬地顧名思義，就是跑馬的地方，我之前都有一篇文章說過跑馬地，有興趣可到：

Walk alone Wong Nai Chung Road in Happy Valley to St. Paul’s Primary Catholic School, and you can see the boundary stone next to the school.

在跑馬地沿著黃泥涌道一直走，走到聖保祿天主教小學的位置，這塊界碑就在對面。

To me, the boundary stones are important historical treasures to Hong Kong. They told us the history of Hong Kong. But it’s bad that seems the Hong Kong Government never care about the stones. I didn’t hear about anything about the boundary stones nor even the City of Victoria during my history class at school. Maybe the Government doesn’t want to mention too much about of colony history. I don’t know. But, the City of Victoria is still recorded in the Law of Hong Kong.

在我而言，這幾塊界碑是香港很重要的歷史寶物，它見證了香港開埠的發展經過，可惜，政府沒有怎麼提及這幾塊界碑，我在學校歷史課的時候，也沒有聽過這幾塊界碑，課本甚至連維多利亞城都沒有提及，可能是國家不想提及太多殖民的歷史故事吧！不過，在今天的《香港法例》，仍有記錄維多利亞城。

In 2007, the boundary stone at the Magazine Gap Road disappeared. Yes, disappeared and still not found now. After the incident, we find that others boundary stones are still left on the road casually. They are not protected. Maybe, in the coming future, other boundary stones will disappeared also.

2007年，位於馬己仙峽道的其中一塊界碑突然消失，至今仍未被尋回，但經過這一事件，我們仍然留意到，其他的界碑仍是隨意放在路上，沒有特別的保護，說不定，在不久的將來，其他界碑也有可能一一消失，成為一大遺憾。

before

After (photo from apple daily)

When building the City of Victoria, the British didn’t forget Tsim Sha Tsui. Getting Tsim Sha Tsui means getting the whole Victoria Harbour. So in the next post, we will go back the Tsim Sha Tsui and see the story of Kowloon Peninsula ceded to UK.

在興建維多利亞城的同時，英國人仍未忘記尖沙咀，得到尖沙咀，他們就能得到整個維多利亞港，在下一篇文章，我們會回到尖沙咀，說說尖沙咀以至九龍半島被割讓的經過。

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！