Hong Kong is a captivating city, with a rich and colourful history. The city truly shines the most where the arts and entertainment are concerned; after all, its thriving martial arts movie scene gave the world Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. As a result of this, Hong Kong is a thriving tourism destination, and accommodation such as the Cosmo Hotel Wan Chai Hong Kong, one of many luxury hotels in Wan Chai Hong Kong, would never be hard to find.
Out of countless attractions Hong Kong has to offer, one of the most peculiar and fascinating is the Noonday Gun, which can be seen close to the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. The gun itself refers to a vintage piece of naval artillery that is owned by the British conglomerate Jardine Matheson. Every day, precisely at noon, an employee of the British conglomerate fires the gun. This has become an iconic occurrence, and people flock everyday to see this concept in action.
The story behind this is quite intriguing, and starts in the 1800s, when the land the gun occupies, East Point, was sold through public auction to Jardine Matheson. During the late 1800s, the private militia of Jardine Matheson would welcome important employees of the company with a gun salute. A British senior Naval officer got annoyed by this practice, since it is reserved for important military and government personnel, and he ordered that the company fire a gun salute everyday at noon indefinitely as a form of punishment.
Although Hong Kong hasn’t been under British rule since 1997, the practice still endures. The gun is also fired at midnight at New Year’s Eve to commemorate the arrival of the New Year.
If you ever find yourself in Hong Kong, be sure to check one of the most peculiar yet intriguing concepts in the world.
Intrigued by history, art and food, Lavinia Woolf is a writer who is passionate about the extraordinary and writes of the exhilarating and enchanting.