Possession Street () is a street in

Sheung Wan Sheung Wan (Chinese: 上環) is an List of places in Hong Kong, area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central, Hong Kong, Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Weste ...

, from

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, Hong Kong, Victoria City. It was the first road in Hong Kong, constructed History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s), by ...

Hollywood Road Hollywood Road ( Chinese: 荷李活道) is a street in Central and Sheung Wan, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The street runs between Central and Sheung Wan, with Wyndham Street, Arbuthnot Road, Ladder Street, Upper Lascar Row, and Old Bai ...

, on

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

, Hong Kong. The street marks the boundary of Queen's Road West and Queen's Road Central.

Name

The original Chinese name was (''Po Se Son Kai''), based on the pronunciation of English name. It was later renamed to (''Sui Hang Hou Kai'') after a

nullah A nullah or nala (Hindustani language, Hindustani or "nallah" in Punjabi language, Punjabi) is an 'arm of the sea', stream, or watercourse, a steep narrow valley. Like the wadi of the Arabs, the nullah is characteristic of mountainous or hilly co ...

beside.

History

The area was the site of ''Possession Point'', a former point of land on the northwestern coast of Hong Kong, before

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

moved the spot further inland. The area is where Commodore

Gordon Bremer Sir James John Gordon Bremer (26 September 1786 – 14 February 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer. He served in the Napoleonic Wars against France, the First Anglo-Burmese War in Burma, and the First Opium War in China. Born in Portsea, ...

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

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

on 26 January 1841, and this date is considered as the founding of Hong Kong. Captain

Edward Belcher 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 Massachusetts, New ...

, 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 (literally "fire of joy" in French) 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 cascad ...

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

men-of-war In Royal Navy jargon, a man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a powerful warship or frigate of the 16th to the 19th century, that was frequently used in Europe. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually rese ...

ships. The hoisting of the

Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

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, Pontypool, rugby league and Warrington RLFC. He won seven caps for the Wales ru ...

, 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 was kept as 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 VHST. The ...

. The point has now disappeared from the coastline, but Possession Street and the sudden turn of

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. At the end of the 19th century, the street was full of

brothels A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe t ...

, until 1903, when they were relocated to

Shek Tong Tsui , other_name = Belcher Point , settlement_type = , image_skyline = HK Shek Tong Tsui Pacific Plaza n Hong Kong Plaza.JPG , imagesize = , image_caption =Shek Tong Tsui near Pacific Plaza , image_flag = , flag_size = , flag_border = , fl ...

"Early Hong Kong Brothels"
Exhibition at the

University Museum and Art Gallery The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) is located at 90 Bonham Road, next to the University of Hong Kong's East Gate entrance. Its exhibition galleries occupy the Fung Ping Shan Building as well as the first floor of the TT Tsui Buil ...

, 26 November 2003 to 29 February 2004 and the premises was replaced with housing. It resulted in the golden period of Shek Tong Tsui, ''tong sai fung yuet'' (), where wealthy Chinese merchants gathered.

References

{{coord, 22.2871, 114.1481, type:landmark_source:enwiki-googlemaplink, display=title Sheung Wan Roads on Hong Kong Island

Name

History

See also

References