- Li Chengxin
- BBC Chinese correspondent Hong Kong reports
September 19, 2022
image source,BBC News Chinese
The exterior of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was a British colony for over a century, and many places were named following British monarchs or celebrities. However, the Hong Kong landmark crowned by Queen Elizabeth II, who just passed away earlier this month, has only survived. Historians pointed out that this was because the British wanted to downplay the colonial color following the war and win the hearts and minds of the people before the crisis of 1997.
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841 until the handover of sovereignty to China in 1997. During these 156 years, six monarchs were in power – Queen Victoria (60 years in total), Edward VII (9 years in total), George V (26 years in total), Edward VIII Edward VIII (less than 1 year), George VI (16 years in total) and Elizabeth II (45 years in total).
Many places and road names in Hong Kong are related to the British royal family, including Victoria Harbour (Victoria Harbour), Victoria Peak (Peace Hill), Queen’s Road (Queen’s Road), which is nearly 5 kilometers long, and Queen Victoria Street (Queen Victoria). Street), King’s Road, Prince Edward Road, Princess Margaret Road and more. Most of the “queen” here refers to Queen Victoria, because the English of “queen” and “queen” are both “Queen” and mistranslated, and it has been customary to this day. The landmarks named by Victoria in Hong Kong are all at the core and extremely iconic, and even have the meaning of declaring sovereignty.
But Queen Elizabeth II, who is also the Queen, has been the Hong Kong-British “sovereign lady” (commonly known as the proprietress) for nearly half a century following she ascended the throne in 1952, but there are very few landmarks named following her, with only three buildings. and two small roads – Queen Elizabeth School, Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Road and Erie Queen Elizabeth Hospital Path.
Toned down colonial colors following the war
image source,BBC News Chinese
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trail.
Why is Queen Elizabeth II so much more low-key? Liu Zhipeng, a professor of history at Lingnan University and a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, pointed out to the BBC Chinese that the Second World War was a watershed in history. “Hong Kong was the first British colony to fall. It was a great setback to surrender and surrender to Japan. After the war, Britain’s return to Hong Kong was not a very recognizable action, because the Chiang Kai-shek government had no confidence. , to win over the United States to put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek. Under the trouble of the future, Hong Kong is not like the possession of the British Empire under Queen Victoria. There is nothing to be honored.”
In 1941, when Japan attacked Hong Kong, the British army stationed in Hong Kong fell following 18 days of hard fighting. Japan occupied Hong Kong for three years and eight months. At the end of World War II, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government hoped to take the opportunity to recover Hong Kong, and won the support of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the Cairo Conference in 1943, while British Prime Minister Winston Churchill strongly opposed it.
After Roosevelt’s sudden death in 1945, his successor, Harry S. Truman, turned to support Britain. On the eve of Japan’s announcement of surrender, both China and the UK planned to send troops to take over Hong Kong. The vanguard of the national army had already been stationed in Kowloon, but General Cecil Harcourt of the British navy took the lead to obtain the right to surrender and restore the exercise of British sovereignty over Hong Kong.
However, the post-war Britain was no longer the “empire on which the sun never sets” before the war. With the rise of nationalist movements around the world, many colonies including India became independent, and the United Kingdom began to “decolonize” governance. Liu Zhipeng said: “Britain will no longer pretend to be the colonists arrogant, and the “June 7 riots” remind them that more than 90% of Hong Kong is Chinese, and it is necessary to ‘conquer China with China’, train colonial officials locally, and they can enforce the colonial rules. policy, but without being colonial.”
The Queen’s Named Buildings Are All People’s Livelihood Projects
image source,BBC News Chinese
Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
Hong Kong historian Yang Yingyu also told the BBC Chinese that the pre-war colonial color was reflected in the consistency of public buildings. “Every colony has a Queen’s Statue Square.” But following the war, this specific form was no longer used. Invisible, “the royal family exists in the invisible”. Yang Yingyu continued that the British Hong Kong government even kept demolishing old colonial buildings in the 1970s and 1980s, including the General Post Office and Tsim Sha Tsui Railway Station. So that you can’t accuse it, it’s ‘washing the bottom’ with memory loss.”
In the face of the crisis of Hong Kong’s future, the British Hong Kong government must wrestle with China by properly developing Hong Kong. At the same time, it must win the hearts and minds of the local people, actively invest in people’s livelihood construction and increase social welfare. This also explains why Hong Kong’s building named following Queen Elizabeth II , all of which are livelihood projects of education, medical care and sports.
Yang Yingyu described it as a “battle for people’s hearts and minds.” “When people talk regarding colonies today, what Hong Kong people remember is free education, a complete medical system, and public housing. The British used good politics and good governance to wash away their memory of their dissatisfaction with the colonies, and even started Praise the Queen.”
BBC Chinese has compiled three of the buildings in Hong Kong named following Queen Elizabeth II (Queen Elizabeth II):
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
image source,www.grs.gov.hk
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the 1960s (file photo of the Information Services Department, Hong Kong).
Among the buildings named following the Queen, the most popular is the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Tsim Mong, Kowloon. The hospital was originally called “New Kowloon Hospital”. In 1952, the Hong Kong government approved the construction of the hospital in response to the public medical needs of Kowloon and the New Territories. ) Prince laid the foundation stone, named following Queen Elizabeth II, and opened in 1963.
The hospital is still the main hospital in Kowloon and one of the busiest hospitals in Hong Kong. It has more than 2,000 beds and provides 24-hour emergency services. It also has 15 clinical departments, 3 specialist clinics and 6 general outpatient clinics. Clinic. Many medical staff in Hong Kong have been taught and trained in the hospital.
Queen Elizabeth Hospital is abbreviated as “QE” or “Yiyuan”, but “Yiyuan” and “hospital” have the same pronunciation, and the public generally refers to the full name to avoid confusion. Zhang Chaodun, an expert on civil archaeological conservation, told the BBC Chinese: “Queen Elizabeth II does not have such powerful landmarks as Victoria Harbour and Queen’s Road in Victoria, but these landmarks have abbreviations, but few people will remember that they are related to Queen Victoria. On the contrary, Queen Elizabeth Hospital is not very big but very functional, and the name cannot be abbreviated, and everyone often mentions her full name in disguise.”
image source,AFP
Queen Elizabeth Hospital is not very big but very functional.
The courtyard covers an area of 7 hectares and has a square and plain appearance. Architectural historian Li Junwei pointed out that on the one hand, this style is a post-war architectural trend, on the other hand, it also has political considerations, symbolizing a new era. “The exterior is neither prominent nor flashy, but that’s exactly the image it wants to present, it’s functional and close to the ground, and it’s very scientific, and the windows of each ward can let sunlight in. It’s different from pre-war buildings. style, to preserve the image and face of the British Empire before the war, but following the war there was absolutely no motive for that.”
Queen Elizabeth Stadium
image source,www.lcsd.gov.hk
Early photos of the completion of the new Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
Another well-known one is Queen Elizabeth Stadium, which has two “Old Iraq Hall” and “New Iraq Hall”. The former’s full name is “Queen Elizabeth II Youth Playground”. It was built in 1952 to commemorate the Queen’s coronation. Part of the Queen’s dowry funds were used to build it. It was completed in September 1953. ) hosted the unveiling.
image source,www.lcsd.gov.hk
Old Ikan.
image source,Hong Kong Playground Association
The site of the old Yiguan.
image source,The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group
The former Morrison Hill.
The Old Yi Hall was the first gymnasium in Kowloon at that time, and it was also the most advanced indoor sports venue in Asia. In addition to sports facilities, it also had a library, a neighborhood welfare association and a cheap canteen for children. It was a good place for many young people. The venue was eventually demolished in October 2008 and rebuilt as the current MacPherson Stadium.
As for the “Xin Yi Pavilion” in Wanchai, the original plan was called “Morrison Hill Indoor Sports Stadium”. It was named Queen Elizabeth Stadium when the Queen visited Hong Kong in 1975. Sir Murray Maclehose presided over the opening, which was the best stadium in Hong Kong at that time. The 12-storey building is not only used for sports, but also a large-scale performance venue with 3,000 seats. Singers such as Teresa Teng, Beyond, Chen Baiqiang, Andy Lau, and He Yunshi have all held concerts in Xinyi Hall.
Queen Elizabeth Stadium was the last building to be completed on Morrison Hill. Morrison Hill was originally a small hill, which used to be a quarry. The British Hong Kong government started planning to level it as early as the 1920s. After the start of construction, it was found that the rock was too hard to excavate and was put on hold. It was only following the war that the mountain removal project continued. Conservation expert Zhang Chaodun said that when the rocks were exploded in the 1960s and 1970s, the stones were stored and transported at the site of today’s Yi Pavilion, “You can’t build anything until all the stones have been transported away, so the Xin Yi Pavilion is the latest development of the whole mountain. part”.
image source,BBC News Chinese
Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
image source,BBC News Chinese
Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
Queen Elizabeth Secondary School
Queen Elizabeth Secondary School is located on Sai Yee Street, Mong Kok. The school was established in 1953 to commemorate the enthronement of Queen Elizabeth II. It is also the first English-language government school in Hong Kong to admit students regardless of gender. The school even used the British crown as the school logo, until following the handover of Hong Kong sovereignty in 1997, the crown was changed to the logo of the Education Department. The school motto “Cultivation of Self and Kindness” is still in use today, which is “Vos Parate Ut Serviatis” in Latin and “Prepare Yourselves That You May Serve” in English.
During the “Anti-Amendment Bill” campaign in 2019, a group of students from Queen Elizabeth Secondary School sent a letter to Buckingham Palace, referring to the Queen’s name and the school’s motto, “I beg Her Majesty the Queen to support us in our struggle to restore Hong Kong’s former glory and prosperity. Prosperity”, urging the UK government to “resolutely respond to Beijing’s violations of the Sino-British Joint Declaration”.
