The generic forms of Hong Kong place names are mainly Cantonese, Hakka and British English, although other languages also contribute to Hong Kong place names.
The majority of generic forms are suffix such as Chung in Kwai Chung. Some indicators of ordering and direction could be as prefixes, for example, Tai Pai (大白, lit. first white), Yi Pai (二白, second white).
It is common that Cantonese place names change Chinese characters of similar pronunciation because of misinterpretation by mandarins or visitors from foreign villages and cities, illiteracy of local villages, seeking of good fortune and replace of disgusting
| Name | Character | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Am, Ngam | 岩 | rock, rock face, crag |
| Au | 坳 or 凹 | mountain pass |
| Chai/Tsai | 仔 | small/minor, word suffix indicating a diminutive. |
| Chai | 寨 | defensed village |
| Chau | 洲 | islet, island |
| Che | 輋 | place near hill/mountain |
| Chung | 涌 | estuarial lagoon at mouth or confluence of stream, stream |
| Ha | 下 | lower |
| Hang | 坑 | valley |
| Hau | 口 | opening |
| Heung | 鄉 | village, rural area |
| Ho | 河 | river |
| Hoi | 海 | sea |
| Hom | 磡 | pillar, mill-stone |
| Hui | 墟 | market, locality within a town |
| Kai | 街 | street |
| Kan | 澗 | stream |
| Kap | 甲 | something that sticks out, bulge, appendage. |
| Kau | 滘 | basin |
| Kiu | 橋 | bridge |
| Ko Tan | 高灘 | elevated plain |
| Kok | 角 | point (of land), horn, angle |
| Kuk | 谷 | valley |
| Lam | 林 | wood or forest |
| Leng/Ling | 嶺 | hill-top, ridge |
| Long | narrow elongated valley between hills | |
| Lo Wai | 老圍 | old walled village |
| Mei | 尾 | tail (of a place) |
| Mun | 門 | door/gate, opening, channel |
| O | 澳 | cove, small bay or harbour |
| Pai | 排 | slab (of rock), (rocky) reef. |
| Pik | 壁 | cliff |
| Ping | 坪 | plain |
| Po | 埗 | pier |
| Po | 埔 | plain (?) |
| Pun | 盤 | basin |
| San Tsuen | 新村 | new village |
| Sha | 沙 | sand, sandy beach, sandy cay or shoal |
| Shan | 山 | hill, mountain, mountainous island/islet |
| Shek | 石 | rock |
| Sheung | 上 | upper |
| Shing | 城 | walled city |
| Shui | 水 | water, stream |
| Tam | 潭 | pool |
| Tan | 灘 | beach or shallow band |
| Tau | 頭 | head (of a place) |
| Tei | 地 | land, place |
| Tin | 田 | field (flooded or dry) |
| To | 島 | island |
| To | 肚 | valley |
| Tong | 塘 | pond, plain |
| Tong | 堂 | hall |
| Tun | 墩 | small (usually rounded) hill |
| Tung | 洞 | cave (and ?) |
| Tung | 峒 | |
| Tsim | 尖 | sharp, sharp peak |
| Tsui | 咀/嘴 | pointed headland |
| Tsuen | 村 | village |
| Tuk | 篤 | the very end (of a place) |
| Wai | 圍 | walled village |
| Wan | 灣 | bay |
| Wan | 環 | district |
| Wo | 窩 | basin, hollow, coombe |
| Yiu | 窰 | kiln |
Most common Chinese translation in brackets.
Most common Chinese translation in brackets.
Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of 16,390 per square kilometre (42,400/sq mi), as of 2008. The island had a population of about 3,000 inhabitants scattered in a dozen fishing villages when it was occupied by the United Kingdom in the First Opium War (1839–1842). In 1842, the island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the UK under the Treaty of Nanking and the City of Victoria was then established on the island by the British Force in honour of Queen Victoria. The Central area on the island is the historical, political and economic centre of Hong Kong. The northern coast of the island forms the southern shore of the Victoria Harbour, which is largely responsible for the development of Hong Kong due to its deep waters favoured by large trade ships.
Lantau Island is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands District of Hong Kong. A small northeastern portion of the island is located in the Tsuen Wan District.
Zhongshan is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 inhabitants. The city-core subdistricts used to be called Shiqi or Shekki.
The culture of Hong Kong is primarily a mix of Chinese and Western influences, stemming from Lingnan Cantonese roots and later fusing with British culture due to British colonialism. As an international financial center dubbed "Asia's World City", contemporary Hong Kong has also absorbed many international influences from around the world. Moreover, Hong Kong also has indigenous people and ethnic minorities from South and Southeast Asia, whose cultures all play integral parts in modern-day Hong Kong culture. As a result, after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong has continued to develop a unique identity under the rubric of One Country, Two Systems.
Sha Tau Kok is a closed town in Hong Kong. The last remaining major settlement in the Frontier Closed Area, it is Hong Kong's northernmost town.
Gweilo or gwailou is a common Cantonese slang term for Westerners. In the absence of modifiers, it refers to white people and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use. Cantonese speakers frequently use gwailou to refer to Westerners in general use, in a non-derogatory context, although whether this type of usage is offensive is disputed by both Cantonese and Westerners.
Cantonese is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. It is the traditional prestige variety of the Yue Chinese group, which has over 82.4 million native speakers. While the term Cantonese specifically refers to the prestige variety, it is often used to refer to the entire Yue subgroup of Chinese, including related but partially mutually intelligible varieties like Taishanese.
The Hong Kong Government uses an unpublished system of Romanisation of Cantonese for public purposes which is based on the 1888 standard described by Roy T Cowles in 1914 as Standard Romanisation. The primary need for Romanisation of Cantonese by the Hong Kong Government is in the assigning of names to new streets and places. It has not formally or publicly disclosed its method for determining the appropriate Romanisation in any given instance.
Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project.
Dai pai dong is a type of open-air food stall. The term originates from Hong Kong but has been adopted outside Hong Kong as well. The official government name for these establishments is "cooked-food stalls". The more common name, dai pai dong, literally means "big licence stall" in Cantonese, referring to the stalls' license plates, which are larger than those of other licensed street vendors.
The romanisation of the Chinese language in Singapore is not dictated by a single policy, nor is its policy implementation consistent, as the local Chinese community is composed of a myriad of topolect groups. Although Hanyu Pinyin is adopted as the preferred romanisation system for Mandarin and the standard of Chinese education, the general lack of a romanisation standard for other Chinese varieties results in some level of inconsistency. This may be illustrated by the many variants for the same Chinese characters often found in surnames such as Low, Loh, Lo; Tay, Teh; Teo, Teoh; Yong, Yeong.
Yau Ma Tei Theatre, once the largest theatre in Kowloon, is located at the junction of Waterloo Road and Reclamation Street, in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong. It is classified as "Grade II Historic Building" It is the only remaining pre-World War II theatre in Kowloon. It was recently converted into a venue for Cantonese opera. Another historical structure, Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market is adjacent to the theatre, across Reclamation Street.
Hong Kong Cantonese is a dialect of the Cantonese language of the Sino-Tibetan family.
Articles related to Hong Kong include:
The Hong Kong Morris is an English morris dancing team or side founded in Hong Kong in 1974. The side now has two chapters, the Hong Kong Morris and the Hong Kong (UK) Morris, colloquially known as The Brackets, in the United Kingdom. In its heyday, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Hong Kong Morris was one of the largest Cotswold morris sides in the world. The side maintains that it is committed to the principles of multiculturalism and inclusivity, and has always encouraged a multicultural membership and mixed dancing. The return of the former British colony of Hong Kong to China in 1997 has had no effect on the side's activities, and it continues to flourish as a notable example of the resilience of Western cultural activity in postcolonial Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, localism is a political movement centered on the preservation of the city's autonomy and local culture. The Hong Kong localist movement encompasses a variety of groups with different goals, but all of them oppose the perceived growing encroachment of the Chinese central government on the city's management of its own political, economic, and social affairs. Issues of concern to localist camp include land use and development, cultural and heritage conservation on the left, parallel trading and the increasing number of mainland immigrants and tourists on the right. On the autonomy of Hong Kong, many of them advocate the Hong Kong people's right to self-determination, while milder elements advocate for greater autonomy while remaining part of China, and the most radical call for return to British rule or full independence as a sovereign state. Certain right-wing localist camp also advocate for a more aggressive and militant approach in defending popular interests.
The Zu Mountain Saga was a 20-episode Hong Kong television drama series that aired on Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) Cantonese-language Jade Channel between 22 July and 16 August 1991. It was aired in India in 1996 Home Tv channel and gained huge popularity. Starring local actors, it was a loose sequel to The Gods and Demons of Zu Mountain (蜀山奇俠) that aired in 1990.
The month of September in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests saw again citywide unrest. Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on 4 September that the extradition bill, in suspension since July, would be fully withdrawn, which fulfilled one of the five demands of the protesters. Also, following an earlier promise, Lam held a discussion session with randomly selected members of the public on 26 September. These acts, however, had little to no effect on the protests, as protesters insisted that all of the five demands be met. That this latter goal would be hard, if not impossible, to achieve – due to the very limited room given to Lam's administration by mainland Chinese authorities, as transpired from comments by officials – did not discourage the protesters from continuing to take to the streets.
Patrick Hugh Hase is a historian specialized in the history of the New Territories, Hong Kong. He is a retired civil servant of British Hong Kong, living there from 1972 to present.
The written traditional Chinese characters for vertical banners are "直幡", and the horizontal counterpart, horizontal banners are written as "横額" in traditional Chinese.
