3
survived until the coming of the Japanese, were built after the return of the Sub-Magistracy to Kowloon: they were completed in 1847. They may well, however, have been rebuilt on older foundations: the walled compound of 1293 and before may have stood here. From 1370 to 1841, Kowloon City usually had only a small military post (from 1682 to 1811 it had a unit of 10 soldiers, increased to 43 in the latter year, when a new fort was built on the sea-coast to guard the landing-place*).
It is conventionally useful to say "Kowloon City" as the site of these early yamens, and there can be no doubt that the yamen was at all dates between 200 BC and 1811 AD close to Kowloon City, but there is no certainty that it was at all dates immediately under the site of the later Kowloon Walled City. Between 1811 and 1847 the local garrison was, for instance, certainly centred on the fort by the sea-shore, not at the Kowloon City site some a quarter of a mile inland. Again, in the tenth century, the Nanhan pottery finds centre on the Sacred Hill (the hill was also known as the Hill of the Sung Princes, which is the more commonly used name today) about a quarter of a mile south of the Kowloon Walled City, and the Nanhan yamen may just possibly have been in this area: equally, this may have been a residential area for the salt-workers, with the yamen closer to Kowloon City. However, the salt-marshes which blocked access to the Kowloon Bay shore from the sea except in the immediate Kowloon City and Sacred Hill area make it certain that any yamen in the area must have been close to this vital landing-place, the only place where ships could come to land easily. Thus, there can be little doubt that the yamen, at all dates, was either at, or very close to, today's Kowloon City.
Thus, Kowloon City was a significant Imperial centre and garrison from, probably, about 200 BC, down to at least 1370, and continued to have a small garrison even after that date.
The presence of a Salt Monopoly centre in or near Kowloon City from 200BC did not, however, lead to civilian Han Chinese settlement in the area. In fact, it is likely that such settlement was banned for many centuries. The Salt Monopoly, in the interests of controlling salt-smuggling, wanted to have the areas around its salt-fields made Restricted Districts, banned to ordinary citizens of the Empire except with passes issued by the Salt Intendant. It is likely that, for almost a thousand years after the establishment of the salt-fields at Kowloon City,
3
survived until the coming of the Japanese, were built after the return of the Sub-Magistracy to Kowloon: they were completed in 1847. They may well, however, have been rebuilt on older foundations: the walled compound of 1293 and before may have stood here. From 1370 to 1841, Kowloon City usually had only a small military post (from 1682 to 1811 it had a unit of 10 soldiers, increased to 43 in the latter year, when a new fort was built on the sea-coast to guard the landing-place*).
It is conventionally useful to say "Kowloon City" as the site of these early yamens, and there can be no doubt that the yamen was at all dates between 200 BC and 1811 AD close to Kowloon City, but there is no certainty that it was at all dates immediately under the site of the later Kowloon Walled City. Between 1811 and 1847 the local garrison was, for instance, certainly centred on the fort by the sea-shore, not at the Kowloon City site some a quarter of a mile inland. Again, in the tenth century, the Nanhan pottery finds centre on the Sacred Hill the hill was also known as the Hill of the Sung Princes,, which is the more commonly used name today) about a quarter of a mile south of the Kowloon Walled City, and the Nanhan yamen may just possibly have been in this area: equally, this may have been a residential area for the salt-workers, with the yamen closer to Kowloon City. However, the salt-marshes which blocked access to the Kowloon Bay shore from the sea except in the immediate Kowloon City and Sacred Hill area make it certain that any yamen in the area must have been close to this vital landing-place, the only place where ships could come to land easily. Thus, there can be little doubt that the yamen, at all dates, was either at, or very close to, today's Kowloon City.
Thus, Kowloon City was a significant Imperial centre and garrison from, probably, about 200 BC, down to at least 1370, and continued to have a small garrison even after that date.
The presence of a Salt Monopoly centre in or near Kowloon City from 200BC did not, however, lead to civilian Han Chinese settlement in the area. In fact, it is likely that such settlement was banned for many centuries. The Salt Monopoly, in the interests of controlling salt- smuggling, wanted to have the areas around its salt-fields made Restricted Districts, banned to ordinary citizens of the Empire except with passes issued by the Salt Intendant. It is likely that, for almost a thousand years after the establishment of the salt-fields at Kowloon City,
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