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History

An excavation of the Qing-dynasty fort on Tung Lung Chau has revealed fascinating details of the internal arrangements of the fortification and everyday utensils of the remote garrison during the final days of imperial China. Archaeological investigations at the Kowloon Walled City site uncovered remnants of the old garrison wall and the two stone plaques above the original South Gate, which bore the Chinese characters 'South Gate' and 'Kowloon Garrison City', respectively. Remains of the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge, built in 1875 as a landing pier linking Kowloon Walled City and the coast, were discovered during an environmental impact assessment for the Kai Tak Development project.

A Place from Which to Trade

In its early days, Hong Kong with its dry and largely infertile mountainous terrain was regarded as an uninviting prospect for settlement. A population of about 3,650 was scattered over 20 villages and hamlets, and 2,000 fishermen lived on board their boats in the sheltered harbour the city's one natural asset. Victoria Harbour was strategically located on the trade routes of the Far East, and was soon to become the hub of a burgeoning entrepôt trade with China.

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Hong Kong's development into a commercial centre began with British settlement in 1841. At the end of the 18th century, the British dominated the foreign trade in Canton (Guangzhou) but found conditions unsatisfactory, mainly because of the conflicting viewpoints of two quite dissimilar civilisations. The Chinese saw themselves as the only civilised people, and foreigners trading in Canton were subject to residential and other restrictions. Confined to the factory area, they were allowed to remain only for the trading season, during which they had to leave their families in Macao. They were forbidden to enter the city or learn the Chinese language. Shipping dues were arbitrarily varied and much bickering resulted between the British and Chinese traders. Yet, there was mutual trust and the spoken word alone was sufficient for even the largest transactions.

Trade had been in China's favour and silver flowed in until the growth of the opium trade - from 1800 onwards - reversed this trend. The outflow of silver became more marked from 1834, after the East India Company lost its monopoly of the China trade, and the foreign free traders, hoping to get rich quickly, joined the lucrative opium trade which the Chinese had made illegal in 1799. This led to the appointment of Lin Tse-hsu (Lin Zexu) in March 1839 as special Commissioner in Canton with orders to stamp out the opium trade. A week later, he surrounded the foreign factories with troops, stopped food supplies and refused to let anyone leave until all stocks of opium had been surrendered and dealers and shipmasters had signed a bond not to import opium on pain of execution. Captain Charles Elliot, RN, the British. government's representative as Superintendent of Trade, was shut up with the rest and authorised the surrender of 20,283 chests of opium after a six-week siege.

Elliot would not allow normal trade to resume until he had reported fully to the British government and received instructions. The British community retired to Macao and, when warned by the Portuguese Governor that he could not be responsible for their safety, took refuge on board ships in Hong Kong harbour in the summer of 1839.

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