Where was Ha Wan? | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Where was Ha Wan?

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Submitted by breskvar on Wed, 2011-04-13 08:55

Today there is 上環 Sheung Wan and 中環 Central, but the name 下環 'Ha Wan' also gets bandied about from time to time.  Where is the approximate geographical area for it?  Is it modern day Admiralty?  Or elsewhere?

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Submitted by David on Wed, 2011-04-13 09:07.

Hi Breskvar,

A map from 1889 (Plate 3-2, Mapping Hong Kong) has several districts labeled along the shore. Here they are, with original spelling, and the nearest landmark in brackets:

  • District No. 2 - Sei Ying Poon (Centre Street)
  • District No. 4 - Sheung Wan (Bonham Strand)
  • District No. 5 - Choong Wan (Pottinger Street)
  • District No. 6 - Ha Wan (In front of today's Police HQ)
  • District No. 7 - Wang Hai (Burrows Street)

Regards, David

Submitted by breskvar on Thu, 2011-04-14 11:15.

I asked in that thread because I suspected Ha Wan referred to the Admiralty of today.  But evidently I was wrong.  There was a jump from Pottinger in Central to Arsenal Street.  So all of 'Admiralty' was omitted from the naming scheme you found. 

But then Wang Hai in Burrows Street presents another question to me.  We call it Wan Chai now, is 'Wang Hai' simply a misspelt rendition of Wan Chai?

Submitted by David on Sat, 2011-04-16 21:40.

Just a misspelling I'd guess. There were plenty of chances for it to get corrupted, either in Hong Kong when compiling the map, or in Britain when the hand-drawn maps were engraved for printing.

Regards, David

Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2011-04-16 22:03.

Ha Wan is rarely used these days but prior to the Praya East Reclamation Scheme, it represented the area between Wanchai Road and Arsenal Street. (Source: City Of Victoria publication by the Urban Council).

Submitted by annelisec on Sun, 2011-04-17 12:13.

The original Ha Wan  下環  predated the British.  It refered to  everything East of Glenealy, and the British officially adopted it in 1844. 

So in its original meaning, it did include Admiralty.

In 1903 "Central" expaned into "Ha Wan".  In the new scheme Ha Wan was from Arsenal St. to Wan Chai Road.

More detail here http://gwulo.com/node/6372

Ha Wan - 1901 map

Submitted by David on Tue, 2011-04-19 13:24.

Hi Annelise,

"In 1903 "Central" expaned into "Ha Wan".  In the new scheme..."

1903 sounds too late, as the 1889 map mentioned above already shows the multiple districts. I think it would have happened in 1857, as you mentioned  over here.

Regards, David