3206 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Double-deck tramcar in front of Western Market

Hong Kong Tramways, which has served the territory since 1904, covers the northern parts of Hong Kong Island. Owing to strong passenger demand, the first double-deck tramcar was introduced in 1912. It had an open top design, fitted with garden-type seats. The first class occupied the upper deck and one-third of the lower deck. Ten new tramcars were constructed, and 18 were rebuilt from single deck cars.

3196 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Former Marine Police Headquarters

Now officially renamed as 1881 Heritage, the Former Marine Police Headquarters Compound is one of the four oldest surviving government buildings in Hong Kong. It compound used to be occupied by the Marine Police, now a unit within the Hong Kong Police Force, since its establishment until late 1996, when it was moved to Sai Wan Ho. The Compound and the Old Kowloon Fire Station have been re-developed into a heritage hotel, opened in 2009.

3191 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Pottinger Street

Known also as the Stone Slabs Street (since it is paved unevenly by granite stone steps), Pottinger Street is located in Central District, and was named in 1858 after Henry Pottinger, the first Governor of Hong Kong, serving from 1843 to 1844. The street was originally on the slope between Queen's Road Central and Hollywood Road. It then crosses Stanley Street and Wellington Street and ends at the western end of Hollywood Road, just after it meets Wyndham Street.

0039, 2402 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Images of Hong Kong

2402 Images of Hong Kong

Posted on 14.11.2011, 24.03.2016
Located on the southern coast of China, at the Pearl River Estuary and the South China Sea, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated metropolises, but also one of the three most important financial centres alongside New York and London, and the world's number one tourist destination city. The 44th-largest economy in the world, Hong Kong ranks top 10 in GDP per capita, but also has the most severe income inequality among advanced economies.

0039 A panoramic view of Hong Kong Island from the Avenue of Stars,
located in Tsim Sha Tsui, in Kawloon Peninsula.

 

After the First Opium War (1839-1842), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. In the 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which provided for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997. The territory became a special administrative region of China with a high degree of autonomy.

1891 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Peak Tram in Hong Kong

The Peak Tramway is a funicular railway in Hong Kong, which carries both tourists and residents to the upper levels of Hong Kong Island, running from Garden Road Admiralty to Victoria Peak via the Mid-Levels. Built between 1885 and 1888, It provides the most direct route and offers good views over the harbour and skyscrapers of Hong Kong. There are four intermediate stations, each of which is a request stop consists of a single stepped platform and a shelter:

1219 CHINA (Hong Kong) - The old market

In nowadays one of the most densely populated areas in the world, Hong Kong was before the First Opium War (1839-1842) little more than a backwater of about 20 villages and hamlets, inhabited by fishers at the mercy of typhoons and pirates. After the British settlement the entrepôt of Victoria City (now Central and Western District), the local population increased substantially, and as a result began to appear tong lau (Chinese tenement), designed for both residential and commercial uses, similar in style and function to the shophouses of Southeast Asia. The ground floor portion was reserved for commercial use, mostly for small businesses like pawnshops and food vendors. The upper floors were residential use and catered to Chinese residents, with apartments and small balconies.

0914 CHINA (Hong Kong) - A man with a rickshaw

The rickshaw began as a two or three-wheeled passenger cart, called a pulled rickshaw, generally pulled by one man with one passenger, and it is believed to have been invented in Japan in the 1869, after the lifting of the ban on wheeled vehicles from the Tokugawa period (1603-1868). The first known use of the term was in 1887, and originates from the Japanese word jinrikisha (jin = human, riki = power or force, sha = vehicle). Pulled rickshaws created a popular form of transportation, and a source of employment, within Asian cities in the 19th century, but their popularity declined when cars, trains and other forms of transportation became widely available.

0893 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Elaborate make-up of Chinese Opera performer

Chinese opera together with Greece tragic-comedy and Indian Sanskrit Opera are the three oldest dramatic art forms in the world. Its roots going back as far as the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), and during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) the Emperor Taizong established an opera school with the poetic name Liyuan (Pear Garden). Since the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) it has been encouraged by court officials and has become a traditional art form. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it became fashionable among ordinary people, and performances were watched in tearooms, restaurants, and even around makeshift stages.

0431 CHINA (Hong Kong) - The Dragon dance

For the Chinese, the dragons are helpful, friendly creatures, linked to good luck, long life and wisdom. The appearance of a dragon is both frightening and bold but it has a benevolent disposition, and so eventually became an emblem to represent imperial authority. Many Chinese people use the term Descendants of the Dragon as a sign of ethnic identity. I like this, especially since, according to the Chinese Zodiac, I'm a Dragon.

0253 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Tsing Ma Bridge

In 1997, at time of completion, the Tsing Ma Bridge, which links the islands Tsing Yi and Ma Wan over Ma Wan Channel, was the world's second-longest span suspension bridge, with a main span of 1,377m and a height of 206m. It's also one of the three long span bridges linking the New Territories in Hong Kong with the Island of Chep Lap Kok, where the territory's new airport is located, the other two being the Kap Shui Mun Bridge and the Ting Kau Bridge.