Hong Kong Snapshot (61) – Look for Tsim Sha Tsui Village, the village the change the history of Hong Kong, China and the World 香港隨拍 (61) - 尋找改變了香港、中國甚至世界歷史的尖沙咀村

Students in Hong Kong must have learnt “1839, because of Lin WeiXi Incident in Tsim Sha Tsui Village, the First Orium War between China and Britain broke out, resulting in Hong Kong Island ceded to Britain. Since I knew it, I wanted to find out where Tsim Sha Tsui Village is.

在香港的學生，讀書時一定會讀到「1839年，因尖沙咀村林維喜案，引發了中英兩國第一次鴉片戰爭，導致香港島被割讓予英國」，從那時開始，我就一直都想知道當年的尖沙咀村在哪兒。

Lin WeiXi Incident is one of the most important events in Modern Chinese History. The incident triggered the First Opium War and China signed the “Treaty of Nanking”, China’s first unequal treaty. Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain which was the start of China’s lands to be ceded to the Great Powers. It changed the history of Hong Kong, China, Asia and even the world.

In 1839, China scholar-official Lin Zexu destroyed all the opium seized from British traders at Humen. It was called the “Destruction of Opium at Humen”. At the same time, British traders were not allowed to trade in Guangzhou. Most of them just stayed at Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. On the 17th of May, two sailors were drunk. They conflicted with Lin WeiXi from Tsim Sha Tsui Village and killed him.

林維喜案是中國近代史其中一件最重要的事件，這案引起了中英兩國的第一次鴉片戰爭，讓中國簽訂了有史以來第一個不平等條約《南京條約》，割讓香港島予英國，亦是中國國土被列強割讓之始，這案可說是改變了香港、中國、亞洲以至全世界的歷史。

1839年，當時的中國清朝欽差大臣林則徐《虎門銷煙》，銷毀了所有英國商人在中國的鴉片，同時，英國商人被禁止到中國廣州從事鴉片生意，故所有英國商船都停泊在香港九龍尖沙咀一帶。5月17日，英國商船其中兩名水手酗酒，在尖沙咀村與村民林維喜發生衝突，結果林維喜被打死。

Destruction of Opium at Humen 虎門鎖煙
(photo from Wikipedia)

Lin Zexu forced Charles Elliot, the Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, to turn the sailors over to China. He only agreed to paid compensation to Lin’s family. Elliot arrested the two sailors and sent them back the Britain. Lin Zexu later banned all the trading of British opium traders in China. He recalled Chinese labourers from Macau and issued an edict preventing the sale of food to the British. And the war started.

林則徐查辦案件後，要求當時英國駐華商務總監義律交出兇手，但義律為保護兩名水手，只同意賠償，拒絕交出兇手，並自行在船上判處兇手監禁和罰款，便立即送其回英國本土。其後林則徐禁止英鴉片商的所有貿易，更派兵到澳門驅逐英國人，並停止食物供應。義律向林則徐要求恢復貿易不果，便率先向中國船隻開火。

Lin Zuxu 林則徐 (photo from Wikipedia)

Charles Elliot 義律 (photo from Wikipedia)

There were several small conflicts between the two navies until November. In November, the British attacked Kwun Chung in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was the skirmish of the First Opium War. And I think all you know the story afterward. Britain won the First Opium War and China signed the “Treaty of Nanking”. Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britian.

之後英軍與中國持續發生衝突，英軍在11月侵襲香港九龍的官涌，史稱官涌之戰，成為了鴉片戰爭的前哨戰。之後的故事大家都知了，英國在第一次鴉片戰爭大勝中國，中國簽下《南京條約》，香港島被割讓，香港正式成為英國殖民地。

---

I tried to search for the location of Tsim Sha Tsui Village through the web but there is no result. Finally, I decided to find it out by myself. According to the information, today’s location of The Peninsula Hong Kong was a beach. The Tsim Sha Tsui Village should be somewhere closed to the beach. I went North and saw the Haiphong Road. The meaning of Haiphong in Chinese is Coastal Defence. When Kowloon was ceded to Britain, the British army expelled the villagers of Tsim Sha Tsui and built barracks. And this road is the road of Coastal Defence. I believe it was the old Tsim Sha Tsui Village!

我曾多次上網搜尋資料，希望找到當時尖沙咀村的位置，但一無所得，終於，我嘗試自行找出尖沙咀村的大約位置。根據資料，今天的半島酒店在當時是海灘，而尖沙咀村應該在沿海的地方，我沿半島酒店向北走，走到了海防道，當時英國佔領九龍後，曾驅逐尖沙咀的村民建立軍營，而這條路叫海防道，我想，這很可能就是當年尖沙咀村的位置。

Time passes and we cannot find anything related to village or barrack in haiphong Road now. it is now one of the busiest road in Hong Kong.

時光飛逝，今天的海防道已經車水馬龍，成為香港其中一個最熱鬧的街道，絲毫沒有當年村落及軍營的痕跡。

One end of Haiphong Road is Nathan Road, the main road of Kowloon. The other end is Harbour City, which is the biggest shopping mall with many branded boutiques in Hong Kong. In the middle of Haiphong Road, we may see the Hong Kong Style! Signboards!

海防道一邊連接彌敦道，是九龍最主要的道路，另一邊的盡頭就是海港城，是香港最大的購物中心，而在海防道的中段，我們仍見到很多充滿香港特色的招牌。

There was bazaars selling chicken eggs, quail eggs and sweet potato. As the weather was cold, it must be great to have this foods!

我在海防道的那天，竟見到有小販賣雞蛋、鵪鶉蛋及蕃薯，在10度不夠的冬天吃這些一定很爽！

Today, we can see commercial buildings and Tong Laus (old Hong Kong style tenements) together in Haiphong Road. One of the Tong Laus was renovated and was beautiful now. We can see that dismantle is not the only result of Tong Laus.

今天海防道已是商廈與唐樓混集，我看到其中一座唐樓被翻新了，變得很漂亮，可見，唐樓可不一定要拆掉，其實好好粉飾一番，它們還是很實用！

When I left, I saw a sex toys shop which had the style of Europe, USA, Japan and Korea. Any difference between them?

臨走的時候，見到一家歐美日韓情趣用品店，卻不知，各地的情趣用品會有什麼分別呢？

I mentioned about the battle of Kwun Chung. So I will bring you to the Kwun Chung Road in the next article!

上文提到了官涌之戰，所以下一次我會帶大家到官涌道看看，大家不要錯過！

!steemitworldmap 22.2980174 lat 114.1682816 long d3scr

---

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！

Please Upvote and Follow me @aaronli