Hong Kong Island was the first part of HK which was colonised by Britain. This is also the place where most of the foreign Western people live. Naturally this makes it the place where early government headquarters are based.
The Island also houses the the colony's financial and banking centre: Central. This is the place where some of the colony's, or even world's, tallest buildings stand.
Origin of the name...
The island's name can be translated as "Fragrant Harbour", but the actual origins of the name are obscure. Some historians believed that the island's Chinese name was partly due to its export of fragrant incense, but that has not been proven yet (or disproven, for that matter).
Means of transport:
In Hong Kong Island the cheapest way to get around is by the colony's oldest form of transport: trams. It was constructed in 1904 and runs from Sheung Wan to Shau Kei Wan. Although the trams are now showing its age a bit it is still one of the favoured means of transport by the locals. Also available, mainly for tourists, is the Peak Tram funicular railway, built in 1885. This takes passengers from Admiralty to Victoria Peak, the highest in Hong Kong Island. Although more than a century old, it is still going strong due to constant upgrading of its stations and rolling-stocks.
One of the newest form of transport made available to people in HK Island is the Central - Mid-Level Escalators., opened in late 1993. "What?" I hear you cry. Let me explain: this system of escalators makes life a bit easier for the inhabitants of Mid-Level (at least for their servants), by allowing them to travel from their homes to Central Market, (at the bottom end of the escalators) at Sheung Wan without the need of climbing a hill (and believe me, it is an up-hill task to do if you are carrying a load of stuffs, esp. food, up there).
But of course there are other forms of transport available in the Island. MTR (Mass Transit Railway) had the Island Line constructed in 1985. Taxis and mini-buses are here to serve and buses are run by the CMB (China Motor Bus Company) but CityBus is cutting a slice of profit (and passengers) from CMB by operating on propular routes with better buses (and better, ie. cheaper, fares).
Pictures of the Island:
Somebody once said, "Pictures are worth a thousand words." So let me save my breath and let the pictures do the talking:
All pictures below are thumbnail version of the original. You can download the originals by clicking on them. To see the list of contributors, go to "Credits"
On the left is(was) the old Bank of
China, which has been replaced by the new Bank of China, shown on the right,
next to the CitiBank building (by the way, the new ChinaBank is the one on the
left). Incidentally, the photo of the old Bank of China was taken from its back.
Ah, the beauty of sunset. The photo on the right, as you can see, is of the
Island at dusk. The fly-over at the front bottom past of the photo is the
Island Eastern Corridor.
Stanley, shown left, is situated on the south coast of the island. It has now
become a tourist's attraction because of its beauty. Also situated in Stanley
is a tourist's market which sell mainly of souvenirs.
According to the source, this picture of Hong Kong Island, shown on the left
was taken in 1989. As
you can see from the photo, the new Bank of China was still in construction.
And The "new" Standard & Charter Bank, which now stand next to the Hong
Kong & Shanghai Bank, had just started being built (I think). As you can
see, every year brings new changes and additions to this colony.
The picture on the right is the Central Plaza, in all its glory.
Although called Central Plaza, it isn't actually located in Central.
Instead it is built at
Wan Chai. This building currently holds the record for being the
tallest in Hong Kong and, I think, the fourth tallest building in the world.
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