Printed August 16, 2022
8 min learn
Stacks of towering buildings. Chaotic avenue markets. Taxis, trains, and double-decker buses carrying millions of speeding residents. These are the scenes that on the subject of mind when most deem Hong Kong. But these photos are furthermore honest as authentically Hong Kong: A sampan chugging its capacity all the draw thru a harbour. The regular, low beat of a drum as dragon boaters prick their blades thru the water in unison. Waves crashing on a white sand seaside on one of many city’s 263 islands.
Hong Kong – Cantonese for “Fragrant Harbour” – changed into as soon as but a cramped fishing settlement when British merchants arrived two centuries within the past, and realised its capacity as a port. The harbour, later named after Queen Victoria, had each and every east and west entrances, and changed into as soon as perfectly positioned on major buying and selling routes. Quickly, town changed into as soon as a thriving centre of commerce and its population grew to 1.4 million by the 2d World Battle.
As a seafaring population, we naturally cherish Tin Hau, the goddess of the ocean and the empress of heaven. Her impact still holds solid in Hong Kong, where there are over a hundred temples dedicated to her, including the Tin Hau Temple in Causeway Bay and its namesake MTR self-discipline. Every three hundred and sixty five days, tens of thousands again raucous celebrations in honour of the Tin Hau Festival. And for like minded motive: the arena’s oceans present no longer honest protein for billions, but furthermore half of the oxygen we breathe.
Reliance on the ocean for our livelihoods capacity a concerned consciousness of its power, unpredictability, and inhabitants. Hong Kong’s oceans are remarkably various, with more coral species than the Caribbean and more reef fish species than Hawaii. Finless porpoises and Chinese language white dolphins, effectively-known for his or her rosy hue, name our waters home and are effectively identified to native fishermen, as they frequently note fishing boats within the hopes of snagging a snack for themselves. Yet their numbers are dwindling hasty because of pollution, boat web bid online web bid online visitors, and below no conditions-ending development: some place confidence in there are totally a couple of dozen of the enduring pink dolphins left in our waters.
Marine ecosystems are more advanced than we would possibly ever understand. On the opposite hand, we attain know th