HK Snapshot (102) - Causeway Bay 002 香港隨拍(102) - 銅鑼灣002

Hi Guys! In the newest Hong Kong Snapshot series, I will introduce the story of Causeway Bay. Causeway Bay is at the HK Island. When HK is a world known city, Causeway Bay is a tourists known district. It is a centre of tourism, shopping, culture, entertainment and business, and is a must go place for every HK local and tourist. Causeway Bay has the second most expensive street in the world, and countless international brands. It is the first choice for many international companies to settle in Asia. To introducing Causeway Bay, I firstly have to introduce it’s history of development. And the first story is Horse Racing!

大家好！在最新篇的香港隨拍，我將介紹香港的銅鑼灣區。銅鑼灣為於香港的港島區，當香港是全世界都認識的城市時，銅鑼灣就是每一個遊客都認識的地區。它集旅遊、購物、文化、娛樂、商業於一身，是每一個香港本地人及遊客的必到之處。銅鑼灣擁有現時全球第二貴的街道，國際品牌多不勝數，是很多國際企業落戶亞洲的首選之地。介紹銅鑼灣，先要介紹它的發展歷史，而首先要說的，是賽馬！

Causeway Bay is composed of Causeway Bay, Tai Hang and Tin Hau. It is adjacent to Happy Valley. Before the opening of Hong Kong, there were only small villages at the district. According to records, about 300 people lived in Happy Valley and 50 people lived in Tai Hang. (Now each site has about 14,000 residents, which is a low density area in Hong Kong)

銅鑼灣由現時大家認識的銅鑼灣、大坑及天后組成，毗鄰則是跑馬地。香港開埠前，這裡只是大堆村莊，只有跑馬地及大坑一帶較多人居住，根據記截，1840年的跑馬地約有300人居住，而大坑一帶則有50人居住 (現時兩地各有約14,000人居住，屬香港密度較低的地區)。

It was a village in Happy Valley painted by French artist Auguste Borget in 1838 著名法國畫家波塞爾在1838年繪畫的跑馬地村落

In 1842, Hong Kong Island was ceded to the UK. The HK British Government was then centered on Central, and Sheung Wan was the active area for Chinese. Wan Chai and Causeway Bay were auctioned for businessmen to develop themselves. At the same time, The Government was considering the issue of entertainment. As horse racing was one of the most favourite entertainment for British, they targeted Happy Valley. The old name of Happy Valley was Wong Nai Chung (which means river of yellow mud) and it was a rare flat land on HK Island. You may imagine Hong Kong Island as a mountain top out on the water surface. Most are mountain and only few flat land. Therefore Wong Nai Chung was the best choice for building a racecourse. However, when building the racecourse, the Government had to face the problem of villagers and miasma.

1842年香港島割讓給英國，英國即以中環為發展中心，上環為華人活躍區，灣仔及銅鑼灣則拍賣給商人自行開發。同一時間，他們已考慮娛樂的問題，其中賽馬是英國人最愛的娛樂之一，跑馬地是他們看中的地方。跑馬地舊名為黃泥涌，是香港島一片難得的平地，你可以想像香港島為一個突出水面的小山丘，山多平地少，故黃泥涌是興建馬場的不二之選。不過在興建馬場時，香港政府要面對村民及漳氣的問題。

The red zone is Causeway Bay, and you can see Central, Sheung Wan and Happy Valley in the map
紅色位置是銅鑼灣，另外你可看到中環、上環及跑馬地的位置

Wong Nai Chung is a lowland surrounded by mountains. The climate was hot and humid, and there were floods. In the past, the British army had set a military camp in Wong Nai Chung. However, many of them suffered from malaria due to not adapting to the climate. The English name Happy Valley is actually mentioning about the happiness to heaven. In Britain, people also said “go to Hong Kong” instead of “ go to hell”. But it gave the HK Government the reason of rectifying floods and developed the farms into racecourse.

黃泥涌屬一塊低地，群山圍繞，氣候濕熱，且有水患，當年英軍曾在黃泥涌設軍營，但很多英國人來到黃泥涌都因不適應氣候而患熱病去世，故當年的黃泥涌有「死亡谷」之稱，而英國人之間亦將「Go To Hell」改成「Go To Hong Kong」。不過，這給了香港政府以整治水患為名徵收掉黃泥涌村民的大片農田開發馬場。

Happy Valley in the early 20th century. You can see villages, racecourse and cemetery mixing together
20世紀被的跑馬地，村落、馬場及墳場混集在一起

Soon, Wong Nai Chung became a racecourse and the name was changed to Happy Valley. The tram later built also set up a terminus in Happy Valley connecting to Causeway bay. On the other hand, in order to ease the flooding, the Government built the Bowrington Canaland drove the river along Causeway Bay to the sea. Because the curved shape of the canal was just like the neck of a goose, it is called the “goose neck” in Chinese. While the bridge on the canal was called the “grove neck bridge”. The both sides of the canal was planted with trees and the beauty was listed in one of the “Eight scenic spots in Hong Kong”. Today, the canal has been filled and the bridge has become a flyover. But the name “goose neck bridge” still exists. It is now a famous place in Hong Kong with the events “villain hitting”. For more about villain hitting, please read my old post: Hong Kong Snapshot (9) – Villain Hitting – “Best of Asia” in TIME Magazine

很快，黃泥涌成為了馬場，名字亦改稱為跑馬地，後來興建的電車也特設跑馬地為其中一個總站，連接著銅鑼灣。另一方面，香港政府為疏導黃泥涌水患，建成了寶靈頓運河，將河水沿經銅鑼灣流到大海。由於寶露頓運河形狀彎曲，像鵝的頸部，就被人稱為鵝頸澗，而運河上的大橋則稱為「鵝頸橋」，運河兩旁被種植上榕樹，風景之優美更被列入當年的「香港八景」之一。今天運河已被填平，橋亦已成行車天橋，鵝頸橋一名則仍存在，是香港著名活動「打小人」的地方。更多關於打小人的故事，可參看我的舊文：香港隨拍(9) – 時代雜誌《亞洲最佳事物》 – 打小人

The Bowrington Canal
寶靈頓運河

And now it’s a flyover
現在已是行車天橋

Later, the Government built a new residential area next to the racecourse and moved the villagers, which now form the pattern of Happy Valley today. The development of all this influenced the development of Causeway Bay, bring it to today’s achievement.

後來香港政府在馬場旁邊興建時尚住宅區，將本來居住在那兒的黃泥涌村村民向內遷移，形成了跑馬地今天的格局。而這一切在跑馬地的發展，成為了銅鑼灣發展的起步，帶動著銅鑼灣成就今天的地方。

Outside the racecourse, the new apartments built at the time are still here.
馬場外的跑馬地，當然建成的新式住宅仍在

Happy Valley. It’s one of the most expensive area in HK now
跑馬地面貌，現在可是香港最貴地區之一

It’s a very famous HK style restaurant in Happy Valley
一間很有名的茶餐廳

It’s where the villagers were moved to. But after redevelopment, it’s even newer that the area outside the racecourse.
當年的村民就被遷到這裡，但經過重建，這裡比馬場外的地段更新

Of course, happy Valley is not the only reason that let Causeway Bay develop into what it is today. As mentioned earlier, the Government has auctioned Causeway Bay in the early years. Most of the lands was bided by Jardine Matheson. Let’s continue the story in the next post.

當然，單單一個跑馬地並不能讓銅鑼灣發展成今天的模樣，前文提及，香港政府在開埠初年已將銅鑼灣土地拍賣，其中大部份給怡和洋行投得，這一段故事，就留待下回再說。

!steemitworldmap 22.2698827 lat 114.1752625 long d3scr

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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！

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://aaronli.vornix.blog/hk-snapshot-102-causeway-bay-002/

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