Central is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in the northeastern corner of the Central and Western District,on the north shore of Hong Kong Island,across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui,the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula. The area was the heart of Victoria City,although that name is rarely used today.
Shangchuan Island is the main island of Chuanshan Archipelago on the southern coast of Guangdong,China. Its name originated from São João.
HSBC Main Building is a headquarters building of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation,which is today a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based HSBC Holdings. It is located on the southern side of Statue Square near the location of the old City Hall,Hong Kong. The previous HSBC building was built in 1935 and pulled down to make way for the current building. The address remains as 1 Queen's Road Central.
Statue Square is a public pedestrian square in Central,Hong Kong. Built entirely on reclaimed land at the end of the 19th century,Statue Square consists of two parts separated by Chater Road into a northern and a southern section. It is bordered by Connaught Road Central in the north and by Des Voeux Road Central in the south.
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited,commonly known as HSBC and formerly known as HongkongBank,is the Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary of the HSBC banking group,for which it was the parent entity until 1991. The largest bank in Hong Kong,HSBC operates branches and offices throughout the Indo-Pacific region and in other countries around the world. It is also one of the three commercial banks licensed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to issue banknotes for the Hong Kong dollar.
The Mercantile Bank of India,London and China,later Mercantile Bank Ltd,was an Anglo-Indian bank with business focus in the Far East. It was founded in Bombay in 1853 as the Mercantile Bank of Bombay;and later in 1857 was renamed to Mercantile Bank of India,London,and China with London as its headquarters.
The HSBC Building is a six-floor neo-classical building in the Bund area of Shanghai,China. It served as the headquarters of the Shanghai branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1923 to 1955,and currently houses the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. The building is situated at number 12,the Bund. Designed by the British architecture firm Palmer &Turner Architects and Surveyors,construction of the building lasted from 5 May 1921 to 23 June 1923.
Sir Arthur Morse was the head of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation during and after World War II. He was a British banker born in Tipperary in Ireland. He worked in Shanghai,London and Tientsin and finally many years in Hong Kong. He rebuilt HSBC and did much to revive Hong Kong after the war,retired in 1953 and moved to London where he died in 1967.
Dent &Co. or Dent's,was one of the wealthiest British merchant firms,or Hongs,active in China during the 19th century. A direct rival to Jardine,Matheson &Co,together with Russell &Co.,these three companies are recognised as the original Canton Hongs active in early Colonial Hong Kong.
HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited was one of the first foreign banks to incorporate locally in mainland China in 2007. It is part of the worldwide HSBC Group and is wholly owned by Hong Kong-based HSBC.
Various headquarters and branch buildings of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation feature a pair of lion sculptures. The HSBC lions have become distinctive landmarks in their own right in Hong Kong and Shanghai,with further pairs to be found in London and Birmingham.
Sir Vandeleur Molyneux Grayburn was the chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1930 to 1943. He was the most powerful financier in the Far East in the 1930s,and took an important role in establishing Hong Kong dollar as the official currency of the colony. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II,Grayburn was arrested for providing monetary and logistics aid to military prisoners and bank employees held hostage,imprisoned,and later died at Stanley Prison.
John Dent (1821–1892) was an English merchant of the then prominent trading firm Dent &Co. and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council.
John Francis Chomley was an Irish businessman in Hong Kong and China in the mid-19th century. He was the first chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
Bank Street is a short street in Central,Hong Kong. It links Des Voeux Road Central to Queen's Road Central. It is named after its location between HSBC Building and the Bank of China Building,the headquarters of HSBC in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific and the former headquarters of the Bank of China Group in Hong Kong respectively.
Achille-Antoine Hermitte was a French architect who is known for designing the Hong Kong City Hall and the Palais du Gouverneur,Saigon. His life is not well-documented and there is uncertainty about the date and place of his death. His only surviving building is the small Chapel of the Tomb of St Francis Xavier on St. John's Island,southwest of Canton (Guangzhou).
Marie Gustave Hector Ohier was a French admiral who was Acting Governor of Cochinchina from 1868 to 1869.
The Saigon Governor's Palace,also known as the Norodom Palace and then renamed Independence Palace,was a government building in Saigon,French Cochinchina,built between 1868 and 1873.
Dent's Fountain,also known as the City Hall Fountain,was a fountain in front of the first generation of Hong Kong City Hall on Queen's Road Central in Victoria,Hong Kong. It was donated to the people of Hong Kong by merchant John Dent of Dent &Co. in 1864 but was not installed until the completion of the City Hall in 1869. It was demolished in 1933 due to construction of the third generation Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Building.
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