Hong Kong Snapshot (84) – Tai Po Flagstaff Hill, The place where the British first raised British flag in the New Territories 香港隨拍 (84) – 大埔旗桿山，英國人第一次在新界升起英國旗的地方

In the Easter Holiday, I left HK Island, the place I live, and went to the New Territories of Hong Kong. I came to Tai Po Market, the center of the New Territories, to find the place when the British first raised the British flag in the New Territories.

在復活節假期，居住在香港島的我遠走新界，來到了新界的中心大埔墟，為的，是尋找當年英國人第一次在新界升旗的地方。

In the previous posts, I had talked about the cession of HK Island in 1842 and the cession of Kowloon in 1860. Today, I will talk about the story of the New Terrirtories. After getting HK Island and Kowloon, the British wanted to get more. In 1895, they got the chance! In the year, China lost the First Sino-Japanese War and ceded large amount of lands to Japan. At the same time, Russia, Germany and France joined in and get lands from China. Chater, a British Trader, advised Britain to extend HK at this moment, resulting in the “convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory”.

在之前的文章，我已講述過1842年香港島割讓及1860年九龍割讓給英國的故事，這次，我要說一說新界租借給英國的故事。在得到香港島及九龍後，英國當然未滿足，他們一直希望在中國得到更多的土地，直到1895年，飛雲，機會來了！1895年，中國在中日甲午戰爭中戰爭，與日本簽下馬關條約，割讓大片土地給日本，途中俄法德三國又干涉，簽下不同條約，英國商人遮打此時建議英國乘機拓展香港的土地，造就了《展拓香港界址專條》。

(photo from Wikipedia)

Of course, China didn’t want to cede any land to Britain anymore. But at the time, the Western like to use the word “lease” to get the land of China. For example, a land of Guangdong was leased to France at that time. The British took this as reason, saying that they felt not secured of Franco getting a land that closed to HK. And a large piece of land north of HK, south of Shenzhen River, as well as hundreds of small islands was leased to Britain. The lease started from 1st July, 1898 with period of 99 years. As it was a new territory, we now call it the “New Territories”. In the whole HK, china could only keep the power in Kowloon Walled City. So why was it 99 years?

中國當然不願意再割讓土地給英國了，但當時各國都開始以租借的名義得到中國的土地，其中法國就租借了廣東的土地，英國就以此為由，覺得法國在香港附近租地感到很不安，租借了香港以北，深圳河以南的大片土地，以及數百個小島，租借期由1898年7月1日開始，租借期99年。由於這是一個新的租界，我們就稱呼這土地為「新界」，而在整個香港，中國只能保留「九龍城寨」的主權。至於為何是99年？這裡有一個有趣的說法。

The area in red is the New Territories. You can find how big it is comparing the original HK
紅圈內就是新界了，和香港島及九龍相比，差距也…

And here is Tai Po 大埔就在這裡

Few years before 1898, Germany requested to lease Qingdao from China with period 100 years. China found 100 years too long and asked if it can be shorter. Then German answered, “OK! So 99 years then!”. Since that, the Western liked to set the leasing period to 99 years. The New Territories contained land of 950 square feet, which is 11 times the original HK. One year after, on the 16th April 1899, the British raised the British flag on a small hill at Tai Po. The hill was Wan Tau Kok hill and later changed to Flagstaff Hill. The hill then became the Operation Centre of the British in the New Territories at the early stage. They built the Old District Office North and the Old Tai Po Police Office.

話說幾年前德國租借青島時，要求租借100年，但清廷覺得100太多了，希望能減一減，結果德國說「好呀，我減一年」，變成了99年，自此很多的租借條約都將租期訂為了99年。新界佔地950平方公里，是本來香港的11倍，英國人在大半年後的1899年4月16日，在新界一個中心位置，大埔的一個小山丘上升起了英國旗，這座山本叫運頭角山，自此就改名為旗桿山，這座山成為了英國初期在新界的管治中心，建了北區理民府，和大埔警署。

The flag raising ceremony on the Flagstaff Hill 大埔旗桿山的升旗儀式
(photo from racingmemories.hk)

The hill now becomes like this 這座山今天變成這樣

The Old Tai Po Police Station 旁邊就是舊大埔警署

The Old District Served HK for several years and was listed as Declared Monuments in Hong Kong in 1981. It was later used by the Environmental Protection Department. Since 2002, it become the New Territories Eastern Region Headquarters of The Scout Association of HK. The building is built by red bricks, which is a standard architecture style of the early 20th Century. But the building doesn’t open to public. We can only visit from the outside.

北區理民府服務了數十年，後於1981年被列入香港法定古蹟，後於1988年被撥作環境保護署分處，於2002年成為了香港童軍總會新界東總站。這建築以紅磚建成，是二十世紀初的典型殖民建築，不過建築不對外開放，我們只能在建築物外參觀。

You may find that, the New Territories was leased in 1898. And the British raised the first flag in 1899. What happened? Yes, there’re many things happened. In the coming few posts, I will talk about “The Six-Day War of 1899”.

當年，新界的第一支英國旗就在這裡升起，但大家會發現，1898年租借，1899年才升起英國旗？中間發生了什麼事？中間真的發生了很多事，因為新界的原居民也不是只吃瓜的，之後的數篇，我會為大家講一講「新界六日戰」。

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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！