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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Ha Wan
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:
Regards, David
Thanks David,
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?
'Wang Hai'
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
Re: Ha Wan
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).
1903 - 7 districts of the City of Victoria
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 - dates
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