Possession Point () is a former point of land on the northwestern coast of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

in Hong Kong, before

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

moved the location further inland.

History

The area is where Commodore

Gordon Bremer Sir James John Gordon Bremer (26 September 1786 – 14 February 1850) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the Napoleonic Wars, First Anglo-Burmese War, and First Anglo-Chinese War. In China, he served twice as commander-in-chief of British ...

, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, took formal possession of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

on 26 January 1841. Captain

Edward Belcher Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877) was a British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer. Born in Nova Scotia, he was the great-grandson of Jonathan Belcher, who served as a colonial governor of Massachuse ...

, who surveyed the island in 1841, wrote: "We landed on Monday, the 25th, 1841, at fifteen minutes past eight A. M., and being the bona fide first possessors, Her Majesty's health was drank with three cheers on Possession Mount."
The Chinese Repository
'. Volume 12. Canton. 1843. p. 492. Accompanied by officers of the naval squadron the next day, Bremer took formal possession, under a ''

feu de joie A feu de joie (French: "fire of joy") is a form of formal celebratory gunfire consisting of a celebratory rifle salute, described as a "running fire of guns." As soldiers fire into the air sequentially in rapid succession, the cascade of blank r ...

'' from the Royal Marines and a royal salute from the

men-of-war The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed wi ...

ships. The hoisting of the

Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

was possibly done by either

William Dowell William Dowell (21 May 1885 – 9 November 1949) was a Welsh dual-code international rugby union and rugby league footballer who played rugby union for Newport and Pontypool and rugby league with Warrington RLFC ( Heritage № 151). He won ...

, who was a midshipman during the ceremony, or Mohammed Arab, who served in either the

Bengal Volunteers Bengal Volunteers Corps was an underground revolutionary group against the British rule of India. The group was functional from its inception in 1928 to the Indian independence. The beginning Subhas Chandra Bose organised a group of voluntee ...

or 37th Madras Native Infantry. The area, which came to be known as Possession Point, was kept an open space, and used for recreation by the local Chinese, who called it ''Tai Tat Tei'' (大笪地). It was developed in the 1980s and formed into a hotel and commercial complex, which is also the site of the

Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal The Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal is a ferry terminal and heliport, centrally located in Hong Kong. It is also known as the Macau Ferry Terminal, the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier or the Shun Tak Heliport, and has an ICAO code of VHSS. The t ...

.Tsang, Steve (2007) 004 ''A Modern History of Hong Kong''. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 16. . The point has now disappeared from the coastline, but

Possession Street Possession Street () is a street in Sheung Wan, from Queen's Road West to Hollywood Road, on the Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The street marks the boundary of Queen's Road West and Queen's Road Central. Name The original Chinese name was ...

and the sudden turn of

Queen's Road West Queen's Road is a collection of roads along the northern coast of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong, within the limit of Victoria City. It was the first road in Hong Kong, constructed by the British between 1841 and 1843, spanning across Victori ...

reveals its original location. In maps of the 1980s and before,

Hollywood Road Park Hollywood Road Park () is an urban public park in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The park is built in Chinese architectural style and is surrounded by buildings nearby. History In maps of the 1980s and before, Hollywood Road Park is ...

is marked as Possession Point. This marks the original site which, owing to land reclamation, is no longer located on the coast. The Chinese name, 水坑口 (Shui Hang Hau), means the mouth of water trench, reflecting the mouth of a stream that flowed down from

Victoria Peak Victoria Peak is a hill on the western half of Hong Kong Island. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak only generally. With an elevation of , it is the highest hill on Hong Kong Island, ranked 29 in terms of elevation in H ...

References

External links

Central and Western Heritage Trail – Old Site of the Possession Point (Shui Hang Hau)
{{Coord, 22.286248, 114.148621, format=dms, display=title History of Hong Kong Places in Hong Kong

History

See also

References

External links