Chapter 4 General Han (1803~1863)

Ban Han (1803~1863), also translated as Pu Heng, Wen Xian, Ban Xian, Wen Han.British. From March 1848 to April 1854, he served as the governor of Hong Kong. On March 21, 1848, Banham succeeded Davis as the third Governor of Hong Kong.Banham worked in the British East India Company, and since 1837 has served as the governor of the British colonies of Singapore, Malacca, and Prince of Wales Island.As far as personal experience is concerned, he was the first person who was a British colonial administrator to come to Hong Kong.The intention of the British government is probably to use his experience in colonial work to implement British policies in Hong Kong.

When General Han took office, it happened that the Hong Kong government was unable to make ends meet. In order to save expenses and support the situation, he implemented a fiscal austerity policy.Decided to abandon all public building plans, and some public works that had been started during Davis's period were immediately stopped, and even his own salary was suspended.Due to the implementation of his severe measures, the financial expenditure of the British Hong Kong government was quickly brought under control. The expenditure in 1848 was 62,658 pounds, which was reduced to 36,418 pounds in 1853, which was cut by almost half.

During his tenure, in order to obtain the support of Hong Kong British businessmen for the Hong Kong British government, Banham proposed to the British government: appoint two local residents to the Legislative Council and the Executive Council.The British government agrees with the addition of non-official members to the Legislative Council, but not to the addition of non-official members to the Executive Council.He tried to improve the sanitation of the city and implemented the earliest urban development plan in Hong Kong, which stipulated that the houses should be built with bricks and stones, the houses should be arranged in straight rows and horizontal rows, and the planned space should be used as streets. In April 1854, he left his post and returned to China.He was later made a baron. Died in 1863.

From Davis, the second Governor of Hong Kong, through Banham, the third, to the resignation of Bowling, the fourth, it took a total of 15 years.During this period, due to the Opium War, the Qing government became more corrupt, humiliated the country externally, brutally oppressed the people internally, and social conflicts intensified day by day. In 1843, Hong Xiuquan secretly organized anti-Qing forces. In January 1851, he held an uprising in Guiping, Guangxi. 14 years long.In the face of this Chinese civil war, the three governors of Hong Kong and their ancestral families took a lot of thought.

The third term Ban Han met with Hong Xiuquan During Davis' tenure, it was the early days of Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's anti-Qing movement, and the Tiandihui was active in Guangdong.Due to the suppression of the Qing government, many Tiandihui members could not stand in Guangdong and temporarily fled to Hong Kong for refuge.At that time, residents in the Mainland and Hong Kong could travel freely. These people were dissatisfied with the corrupt Qing government and mobilized people to rebel. Of course they were not criminals.After arriving in Hong Kong, they never violated the laws of Hong Kong at that time, so the Hong Kong government has no reason to treat them as criminals.However, Davis colluded with Qiying, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to deal with the members of the Tiandihui. In 1845, a special decree was promulgated, stipulating that the Hong Kong police had the right to arrest the China Tiandi Society and other secret association members who fled to Hong Kong from the mainland of China, imprison them, and cover their faces with a mask equivalent to that of Chinese criminals when they were exiled into the army. The tattoo-like brand was then sent to China and handed over to the Qing government.

In this way, even if the prisoner does not die under the butcher knife of the Qing officials, the traces of shame on his face will not be removed for life, which is more cruel than treating a murderer.Later, when this law was sent to London for assent, it was amended to provide for branding on the flanks, but not on the face. After Ban Han took over, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement had reached its peak.Banham's attitude towards the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not as simplistic as Davis's, but instead observes its development and chooses the opportunity to act. In January 1851, after Hong Xiuquan launched the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in Guiping, Guangxi, it quickly swept across most of China from South China.Many wealthy families in South China fled to Hong Kong with their property and family members in order to seek refuge.Later, the Qing government suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, and a group of working people who participated in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement also ran to Hong Kong.In this way, not only a large amount of capital has been brought to Hong Kong, but also a large number of labor force, which has injected new vitality into the development of Hong Kong's economy.The population of Hong Kong has undergone new development. In 1848, the total population of Hong Kong was only 23,988, of which 23,485 were Chinese residents.By 1854, the total population reached 55,715, of which 54,072 were Chinese residents. Over the past 6 years, the number of Chinese has increased by 30,587, which is an increase of 130%. In 1853, there were 2,416 Chinese households on Hong Kong Island, while there were only 491 foreign households, which was only 1/5 of the Chinese households.

In March 1853, the Taiping Army captured Nanjing.Faced with the powerful offensive of the Taiping Army, the Qing government tried to use the military power of foreigners to destroy the Taiping Army, so it turned to Britain, the United States and other countries for help.At this time, Britain, the United States, and France had already forcibly occupied the concession in Shanghai and had a certain sphere of influence.In the struggle between the Taiping Army and the Qing government, it was not clear who would win and who would lose at that time, so all the imperialists declared "neutrality."Proceeding from the interests of Britain, the Governor of Hong Kong, Ban Han, naturally adopted a "neutral" policy towards the Taiping Army.On the one hand, he notified the Qing government to Wu Jianzhang in Shanghai, declaring that "except for protecting the lives and properties of the British people", he could not use soldiers to help him ask for aid, but he could rent ships for the use of the Qing army to attack the Taiping army.On the other hand, in order to ascertain the facts, on April 27, 1853, Banham went to Nanjing in person, asked to see Hong Xiuquan, expressed his neutrality to Hong Xiuquan, and explained that the British ships used by the Qing army were completely "privately owned by the British". The sale of his ships is beyond the law," and has nothing to do with the British government.Banham also demanded that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom respect the rights and interests of foreign businessmen in the treaty ports, hand over the Chinese copy of the Treaty of Nanjing to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and demanded that Hong Xiuquan recognize Britain's vested interests in aggression, and claimed that if they refused to accept their existing privileges in China, Britain would support the Qing Dynasty. The government suppressed the Taiping Army.

Ban Han's so-called "neutrality" was entirely for the purpose of maintaining British interests in China, and wanted to win over and use the Taiping Army. He hoped that Hong Xiuquan would recognize and continue to implement the unequal "Nanjing Treaty".Hong Xiuquan only stated that Britain was allowed to operate business in the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and to enter and exit freely.However, he was not afraid of Banham's intimidation and threats. In addition to denying the "Nanjing Treaty", he also warned the British side not to help the Qing government, "even if they help it, it is useless."

Pan Han was not happy that he was not treated politely by Hong Xiuquan.He felt that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a more terrifying group than he had ever imagined.The real reason why Ban Han was unhappy was that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, while advocating equal international status and free international trade, strictly prohibited the import of opium and did not recognize the unequal treaties signed by the Qing government.Secondly, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom stated that it will run new types of transportation and new industries by itself.This will move China away from feudalism and towards capitalism.The foreign aggressors knew that it was in their interest for China to stay in a backward state, and that the germs of capitalism in China had to be destroyed. This was another reason for their opposition to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.They declared "neutrality" for the time being. On the one hand, they had scruples about the developing Heavenly Kingdom Revolution. On the other hand, the Qing government was not so obedient and needed a greater impact from the Taiping Army to create greater pressure.Ban Han had to wait for the opportunity to join forces against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in exchange for more benefits from the Qing court.

When Banham returned to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong British government did not immediately change its "neutral" attitude towards the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He declared that if Britain was not directly attacked, it would never interfere with any warring group. At the same time, in response to the fact that members of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the Mainland came to Hong Kong for activities, in 1854, the Hong Kong British government formulated and announced the "Deportation Regulations", which stipulated that if the captured criminals were not born and bred in Hong Kong, and the government believed that they could not be allowed to stay in Hong Kong, deport him from the country.According to this regulation, the Hong Kong government ordered the gang leaders Lu Dongjiu and other gang leaders associated with the Taiping Army to leave Hong Kong. On December 21, the British Hong Kong authorities arrested more than 100 members of the Taiping Army and Tiandihui and deported them. In January 1855, Baoling and the naval commander Sterling led 5 warships, under the pretext of protecting the British expats in Guangzhou, they sailed to Bai'etan in Guangzhou to suppress the Taiping Army and Tiandihui Rebel Army that surrounded Guangzhou.

After the Second Opium War, the British, French, American, and Russian invaders all supported the Qing government to suppress the Taiping Revolutionary Movement. When the Taiping Army captured Shanghai and attacked Wuchang in the west, they were all interfered by foreign invaders. In 1862, the Taiping Army fought heroically against the British, French and American invaders in Shanghai and Ningbo. Under the joint attack of Chinese and foreign reactionary forces, Suzhou and Hangzhou fell successively. Nanjing was captured in July 1864. In the early days of Hong Kong, piracy was rampant.During his term of office, the "pirate" Cheung Po Tsai was rampant.Zhang Baozai was originally the son of a Jiangmen fisherman in Xinhui, Guangdong. He went fishing with his father at the age of 15, but was taken away by pirate Zheng Yi and started his career as a pirate.Because of his young age, he was called Zhang Baozai.Later, Zheng Yi encountered a hurricane at sea, capsized and fell into the water and died.The pirates supported Zheng Yi's wife, Shi Shi, as their leader, and people called Shi Shi Zheng Yisao.Zheng Yisao had an affair with Zhang Baozai, so she handed over all her subordinates to Zhang Baozai.At the peak of Zhang Baozai's power, there were more than 40,000 troops and more than 600 warships.Merchant ships passing through the areas under his control must pay "traveling water", that is, protection fees.Those who refused to pay could hardly escape being robbed and killed.Zhang Baozai was born in a poor family, and he paid more attention to caring for ordinary people.When they buy food and goods from the villagers, they often give double the money, and strictly prohibit their subordinates from plundering the people in the area where they are stationed. The pirates in Hong Kong were distinguished from each other by the color of the flag.The one with the red flag is Zhang Baozai, the one with the black flag is Guo Podai, and the one with the blue flag is Wu Shier.Three groups of famous pirates joined forces to resist the Qing navy.Sun Quanmou, the admiral of the Qingshui Division, and Lin Fa, the commander-in-chief, were repeatedly defeated by them.The military campaign was ineffective, and the local officials of the Qing Dynasty turned to the policy of recruiting security to divide and disintegrate.Guo Podai accepted the recruitment first.After Guo's surrender, Zhang Baozai's military pressure increased.Pan Han took the opportunity to send troops to cooperate with the Qing army's navy to encircle and suppress. Zhang Baozai died in the fierce battle. There are many relics and legends related to Cheung Po Tsai on Hong Kong Island.According to Mr. Xu Dishan's investigation, today's Xiyingpan is the old name of Zhang Baozai's camp.In the mid-levels of Hong Kong Island, that is, on the hillside of Mount Gough, there are remains of the trenches that Cheung Po Tsai used to guard the island.According to legend, the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road today was also built by Cheung Po Tsai. According to records, during the same period as Zhang Baozai, the famous pirates who appeared in Hong Kong and its adjacent areas include Xu Yabao and Shiwuzai.Xu Yabao has nearly 2,000 troops, 23 warships, and 18 cannons.Shiwuzai has more than 3,000 people, 64 warships, and more than 1,000 artillery pieces. At that time, there were not only Chinese pirates, but also some foreign pirates.For example, the Englishman Fenton drove a mast ship flying the British flag and engaged in piracy in the name of escorting bodyguards. In June 1851, he led a pirate ship and killed two Portuguese officers who were going to investigate at sea.In December of the same year, he robbed a Chinese ship, but the Chinese ship sank his mast, captured him alive, and took him to Hong Kong.Because he is British, the Panhamma authorities try to cover him.On January 5 of the second year, the special criminal court opened a trial.The three Chinese pirates who were accomplices with Fenton were accused of killing Portuguese officers, guilty of pirate homicide, and sentenced to death.Fenton himself was acquitted.The Portuguese authorities in Macau expressed dissatisfaction with this and brought witnesses to Hong Kong to confirm that Fenton was undoubtedly the murderer.The British authorities in Hong Kong had no choice but to sentence Fenton to 3 years in prison. American Mashi conducted research and analysis on the resurgence of Chinese coastal pirates after the Opium War.In his opinion, the rampant piracy of the Chinese coast "was probably brought about by the incompetence of the government in dealing with the British enemy on the coast and the total destruction of the navy's junks; it was perhaps encouraged by the illegal operation of opium smuggling after 1839; But, to a greater extent, it was a clear expression of popular discontent and ubiquitous rebellious movements at sea and in the estuaries.The sea from the borders of Tokyo to the mouth of the Yangzi River and the coast of Shantung was teeming with pirate ships that All have been fully armed under the licenses issued by the Chinese authorities during the war against Britain." Ma Shi's words reflect the complex situation of piracy in China's coastal areas, including Hong Kong, after the Opium War.According to the investigation of historical data at that time, some pirates only knew how to kill and rob, and even participated in opium smuggling.Their actions have affected normal maritime trade and are indeed very destructive.However, under the severe situation of foreign capitalist armed aggression against China, there are also some "pirates" with a sense of justice and patriotism who point the finger of struggle against foreign invaders and become a non-governmental force for the Chinese people to resist foreign aggression.It should be said that Xu Yabao is a typical example.Foreign countries invaded China, plundered the people, the government was corrupt and incompetent, feared foreigners, and did not allow the people to resist, what to do, there is only one way out, take risks and deal with the sea. According to records, Xu Yabao hated opium trafficking by the British, and most of the targets he attacked were opium smoking ships.He cooperates with Fifteen Boys in a division of labor, and he scouts the British ship's voyage, route, etc. After receiving the information, he immediately informs Fifteen Boys who are active on the ocean.Due to the tacit cooperation and the changeable mode of action each time, they often succeeded, causing the British opium smokers and the patrolling British warships to suffer. The incident that occurred in Stanley on February 25, 1849 reflected Xu Yabao's character of acting bravely and his national spirit of resisting foreign oppression.At that time, there were two officers of the British Army stationed in Hong Kong. One was Costa, a captain of the Royal Engineering Battalion; the other was Daya, a lieutenant of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment.That evening, they got drunk and went door to door in Wong Ma Kok Village in Stanley to pick fights.Walking to the last house in the village, I saw a young daughter-in-law cooking.Costa hugged her and moved her hands and feet.The daughter-in-law's parents-in-law heard the screams and came out of the back room to stop her.Two British officers beat them with whips, and the two old men ran to the door and shouted "help".Neighbors heard the sound and rushed to rescue, the British officer continued to beat people with whips, and several villagers were beaten to the point of bleeding.At that time, Xu Yabao's ship happened to be anchored in Stanley. He heard that the red-haired ghost was molesting women in the village and beating people. He immediately led several companions and came with spears, trying to drive the British officer away.Unexpectedly, they refused to leave, and snatched a spear from Xu Yabao's partner and broke it on the spot. Xu Yabao was furious.Seeing that the situation was not good, the two British officers wanted to flee through the door, but it was too late.Xu Yabao poked them down with a spear, and then asked his companions to lift up the corpses, walked to the cliff on the top of Stanley Mountain, and threw them into the sea. That night, the barracks found that Costa and Daya had not returned to the camp, so they sent people to look for them and reported to their superiors.After the Hong Kong government and the police received reports that two military officers were missing in Stanley, they immediately launched a massive search.The police sent people to Stanley and Tai Tam to investigate the whereabouts of the two men. The Ceylon Rifle Regiment also sent 100 armed soldiers to search the whole island. At the same time, the British ship "Fury" also sailed into Stanley Bay. go on patrol.When they searched Huang Majiao Village, the soldiers found that all the residents of the village had fled, which meant that the two officers must have encountered an accident. On the evening of the 27th, Costa's body was found at sea, but Daya's body was not found, and has never been found since then. The police arrested 6 villagers from Stanley, but they unanimously denied having anything to do with it. All six were sent to Victoria Prison.At this time, the old man who was wounded by the British officer surrendered himself to the barracks. He said that he "had not done anything wrong, so he didn't want to escape", but just explained what happened.So the old man was also detained. From the confessions of these 6 villagers, the investigative division of the court gradually understood the truth of the murder case.While releasing these suspects, the Hong Kong government ordered Xu Yabao and his men to be wanted.At first, a reward was offered for the capture of those who participated in the killing of British officers. Anyone who could capture one person would be rewarded with a bonus of 100 gold pounds; later, the reward was increased. Murderers, each rewarded with 100 oceans. On March 1, the British Army Garrison in Hong Kong held a grand funeral for Costa.The governor Banham and the chiefs of the navy and army all came to offer sacrifices in person.This bloody case immediately became the central topic of discussion in the streets of Hong Kong at that time.Especially Xu Yabao, who was wanted with a reward of 500 pounds, became the center of everyone's attention. Two officers were killed, drawing London's attention.At that time, piracy was rampant, which not only endangered Hong Kong's commerce and shipping, but also because of the complexity of the pirate's insider organization, arms intelligence and the source of gangsters were all involved in Hong Kong.So the United Kingdom made up its mind to eliminate it. Just when Britain was preparing to send troops to encircle and suppress Xu Yabao. In June, some of Shiwuzai's subordinates plundered a sailboat belonging to the British near Hainan Island and killed the people on board, which angered the British even more.The British naval fleet launched an attack on Xu Yabao and others, and this action continued throughout the summer.From September to early October, John Hai, the captain of the "Collenco", destroyed Xu Yabao's fleet in two engagements. According to records: "The first time was near Dashawei, and the second time was in Dapeng Bay. He was assisted by the steamship 'Guangdong' of the Iron Line Shipping Company, and the navy 'Frey' and 'Hasting' , destroyed 23 pirate ships with an average load of 500 tons, captured 12 to 18 cannons, and 3 new ships under construction, two small docks, and a considerable number of nautical appliances. During the 1800 years of driving these ships Among the pirates, 400 were killed, and the rest fled in all directions. The pirate gunfire in Mirs Bay was wiped out silently within 45 minutes, and only one British person was slightly injured." During the siege of Xu Yabao and others, the Qing navy sent 8 warships to fight with the British fleet.On October 18, the Sino-British joint navy destroyed 58 of the 64 ships and killed 1,700 people.After the failure of Fifteen Boys, seeing that his old-style pirate fleet could not compete with the new-style British naval artillery, he knew that his golden age had passed, so he led his people to surrender to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in order to preserve his remaining strength. After Xu Yabao was defeated in the naval battle with the British Navy and the Qing Army Navy, he reorganized his army in the second year and prepared to make a comeback.Because Shiwuzi has been recruited by the Qing government, Xu Yabao is also weak.Once when he was passing through Maswan, he was robbed by a small group of scattered bandits.One of the robbers recognized Xu Yabao, so he handed him over to the British merchant ship "Fulikang" he met on the way, and escorted him to Hong Kong to receive the reward. After arriving in Hong Kong on February 16, 1851, Xu Yabao confessed to murder. On March 10, the banhan government organized a special criminal court to hear the case of Xu Yabao's murder of two British soldiers and pirates.The defense of the defendant raised the issue of jurisdiction by taking the place of arrest as the territory of China.The Hong Kong British authorities felt that the British officers were the ones who committed the crimes first, and Xu Yabao was the one who committed the murders. If Xu Yabao is sentenced to a severe sentence, it may arouse even greater public outrage.As a result, the jury ruled that only the crime of manslaughter was established, and the justice should be sentenced to indefinite garrison.No charges were brought for piracy.The Hong Kong government is preparing to hand over Xu Ya to the magistrate of the Qing Dynasty for punishment.In the cell waiting for release, Xu Yabao hanged himself. After the British invaded Hong Kong, the initial financial expenditures and construction costs in Hong Kong were completely drawn from the total amount of Chinese indemnities in the Opium War. The allocated funds in this indemnity had already been used during the tenure of the second Governor of Hong Kong Davis. most.By the time Banham became the governor of Hong Kong, there was not much money available, and the Hong Kong government's expenditure and public construction costs were quite large, and the initial commercial development was very limited, and there were not many taxes.If Banhan wants to meet the government's expenses and continue to maintain huge expenditures, he must find other ways of making money, so he thought of selling land. Selling land is a costless business. One is that the Hong Kong government first receives a sum of land premium income, which is non-recurring income.Second, when a businessman buys land, he will definitely build a house on the ground. After the house is built, the Hong Kong government will have regular income such as land tax, property tax and rates.The land in Hong Kong, China, and the money of merchants, most of which are the money of Chinese merchants, the Hong Kong government can get nothing but huge profits without much effort, so why not do it. The Hong Kong British government auctioned land as early as 1841.On June 7 of this year, Elliot presided over the first land auction, and the auction site was in Macau.Because most of the foreign firms from various countries were in Macau at that time, and Hong Kong at that time was just an undeveloped fishing village.If the British wanted to develop Hong Kong into a commercial port, they had to rely on the power of foreign firms from various countries. Therefore, the first land auction was held in Macau. Most of the winners of this land auction were British businessmen, and the largest buyer was Jardine Matheson.According to records at the time, a total of 100 lots were auctioned this time, among which the highest price was Lot No. 1, covering an area of ​​6,700 square feet, which was won at 80 pounds; the largest lot was No. 11, covering an area of ​​11,200 square feet feet, at £52. When Pu Dingcha was the governor of Hong Kong, he was also very interested in auctioning land, but he found that many foreign businessmen were not interested in the public land auctioned by the government, and would rather buy land from local Chinese to build houses. The Hong Kong government has conducted research and found that the reason why foreign businessmen are not interested in the Hong Kong government's land auctions is that the government has not determined the period of use of these public lands.As a result, Pudingcha established a land committee. In addition to actively clearing up the land purchased by foreign businessmen from Chinese, ordering registration and paying land premiums; for 75 years. The British businessmen who won the first auction, as well as many foreign businessmen who bought land from the Chinese at a low price, felt that the property rights were only 75 years, which was too short, so they asked Pudingcha’s successor, Davis Asked to extend the management period, Davis refused their request. In 1848, Banham took over as the governor of Hong Kong, and he also saw a way to make money by selling land.The British businessman seized the opportunity and asked Banham to extend the land use right. At that time, Banham was negotiating with Xu Guangjin, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and asked to allow British businessmen to enter Guangzhou for trade. He needed the support of foreign businessmen in Hong Kong, so he agreed to the foreign businessman's request for the extension of the purchased land rights. Foreign businessmen did not have high expectations for Banham, thinking that it would be good for Banham to extend the term of land management for decades, but unexpectedly Banham was very generous and changed the land management right to 999 years, an increase from the original 75 years. More than ten times larger than expected by foreign businessmen in Hong Kong. The reason why Banham dared to do this was that he found a ready-made precedent that could be used as a legal basis.Singapore, like Hong Kong, is also a British occupation.At that time, in order to encourage local Chinese to buy land, the Governor of Singapore used a period of 999 years to attract the interest of local Chinese.Because the Chinese are used to buying land and passing it down from generation to generation, Singapore's long land management rights have been approved by the British government.Generally, there are examples to help, so they followed the example of Singapore and submitted a report.However, this measure was shelved by the London side and has not been approved for a long time.The British government believes that the situation in Hong Kong is different from that in Singapore. Singapore is a piece of flat land with a lot of land for development.But Hong Kong is a high mountain, and the usable land is only a small piece of land by the sea.If the term of land management rights is too long, there will be no new land for development in Hong Kong in the future. Banham disagreed, and he used the same reason as Singapore to fight against the British government.He said that if Hong Kong seeks long-term development, it must attract Chinese businessmen to buy land, build houses, and develop industrial and commercial enterprises. If the tenure is too short and Chinese businessmen are not interested, Hong Kong will not be able to develop. The strategy of the Hong Kong government is really effective, because the 999-year management title is almost a freehold title.Wealthy businessmen from Shanghai, Guangzhou and the Mainland are all scrambling to buy property in Hong Kong, preparing to pass it on to their children and grandchildren.During the tenure of Banham Hong Kong Governor, the Central and Upper Ring area soon became densely populated with buildings. Seeing that Banham's method could indeed achieve results, the British government finally approved his request, and the land management period in Hong Kong was extended to 999 years.In addition to being published in the Gazette published on March 3, 1849, this new regulation was also posted advertisements all over the thoroughfare, making it well-known to the citizens of Hong Kong. In addition to increasing income by selling land, Banham also used ingenious means to meet the tax reduction requirements of British businessmen.One of the ways is to exempt the auction tax, but require the auction house to obtain a license. The auction method was introduced to Hong Kong from Europe, so the auction houses are all British businessmen.At that time, the Hong Kong government charged a 2.5% tax on auction items, which was called auction tax.The auction house merchants were very dissatisfied with the Hong Kong government's regulation, so they united and asked Banham to reduce or exempt the auction tax. However, the Hong Kong government was in urgent need of financial resources at that time, and Banham did not agree at the beginning.Some auction house hosts have close ties with the British government, and through their networks, they use their power to exert pressure on Banham.Banham was finally exempted from the auction tax, but he came up with a new trick, requiring the auction house to obtain a license. The license fee was not less than the auction tax, and the Hong Kong government added another income in disguise. The church is one of the three important symbols of traditional colonies, and Hong Kong is no exception. On March 11, 1847, the foundation stone laying ceremony of St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong was held at the corner between Garden Road and Fort Lane in the Central District of Hong Kong Island. It was officially completed on March 11, 1849, and the total construction cost was 8,736 pounds.There are 640 seats in the chapel.It is one of the earliest Christian churches in Hong Kong.The first worship ceremony was held on the day of its completion, which became a grand event in the Banhamma period.In the same year, the Royal Charter of St. John's Cathedral in the United Kingdom granted the establishment of the Bishop of Victoria and the Diocese of Hong Kong and Macau. In March 1850, Father George Smith arrived in Hong Kong as the first bishop of the Anglican Church. The status of a cathedral was officially granted to the new church in 1852. At the beginning of the British occupation of Hong Kong, Catholicism and Christianity began to spread to Hong Kong. In 1841, the Holy See established a parish in Hong Kong.Before the completion of St. John's Cathedral, the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Hong Kong was built on a hillside between Wellington Street and Pudingcha Street in 1843. Because the Virgin Mary of Immaculate Conception was the patron saint of the church, Hence the name, also known as Hong Kong Catholic Church.Because of the large number of believers and the crowded places, in 1888, another new cathedral was built on Caine Road, that is, a large main hall. The length of the church is 272 feet, the widest part inside is 132 feet, and the height is 70 feet.There is also a 150-foot-high bell tower, and there is a 5-foot-high woodcut statue of the Immaculate Conception in the porcelain stone niche on the main wall of the main church. Hong Kong is a religiously open city. During the more than 150 years of British rule in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong British government has given religious organizations legal, political and economic protection and preferential treatment.In the formal ceremonies of major events of the Hong Kong government, the ranking of the Bishop of the Hong Kong Anglican Church and the bishop of the Catholic Hong Kong Diocese are all ahead of the chief members of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, and only behind the Governor of Hong Kong, the Department of Justice, the Chief Secretary and the Commander of the Armed Forces .Among the non-official members of the Hong Kong government, Catholics and Christians together account for about 22.5%. During World War II, Japan attacked Hong Kong and St. John's Cathedral was damaged.After the war, restoration and expansion were carried out, the interior of the main building was decorated, reconfigured, and new buildings were built around it.The main building is cross-shaped, sitting west to east, including the bell tower, the west gate, the cross-shaped transept, the altar and the altar, the pulpit, the bishop's seat and three prayer halls. In the past, many streets in Hong Kong were named after the Governor of Hong Kong or the Colonel Secretary. After the Anti-Japanese War, except for one Harcourt Road, the streets were no longer named after the Governor of Hong Kong, but were named after buildings. In the mid-levels of Hong Kong, there is a road leading to Saiyingpan, called Bonham Road, which was later renamed Bonham Road.This road is used by the Hong Kong government to commemorate Banham.There is a strip of Wenham Street in Sheung Wan, which is also used to commemorate Ban Ham.At that time, the Chinese teacher of the Hong Kong government changed the Chinese name of Banham Hong Kong Governor to Wenhan, just like the later Hong Kong Governor also had a Chinese name, such as Youde, Wei Yixin and Patten.Chinese Chinese characters are originally very elegant, but when the road names were changed, those Chinese masters somehow changed the Chinese characters into salty characters, which is neither fish nor fowl. There was no Bonham Street in Sheung Wan, because the location of this street was originally a beach by the sea.Since selling land can bring a lot of income to the Hong Kong government, Banham opened up a large area of ​​land in the Sheung Wan area to sell to builders while digging mountains and filling the sea.The land on Bonham Street, Wing Lok Street and Chawei Street were obtained in this way.These roads are relatively narrow, so they are not called roads, but streets. Later, Hong Kong gradually became a good entrepot. Commodities from Europe and Southeast Asia were first shipped to Hong Kong and then transferred to mainland China. Chinese local products and raw materials were also first shipped to Hong Kong and then transferred to ocean ships shipped abroad.Even if the goods in China itself are transported from the north to the south, or from the south to the north, because the sea freight is cheaper than land transport, and it is much safer and will not be damaged.Therefore, they are first shipped to Hong Kong, and then transferred to the south and north.These commercial firms that specialize in the communication of goods from China's North and South are called "North and South Lines" by Hong Kong people.Since Bonham Street is close to the seaside pier, it is easy to take care of the shipping business, so many north-south lines are opened on Bonham Street. Regardless of whether the streets are named after the Governor of Hong Kong or the Colonial Secretary, the reason is that they have contributed to the British invasion of China and worked hard for the British rule of Hong Kong.This situation is well represented by the Gishley Street in Queen's Road Central, between Stanley Street and Wellington Street. Ji Shili was just an official of the "Fuhua Road" at the same level as the current Department of Civil Affairs. In the Hong Kong government, his official position is not very high, but there must be a special reason for a street to be named in memory of him. In other words, it has special credit for Britain. The Chinese translation of Ji Shili is Jiali, or Guo Shili.According to historical records, in the eyes of the British and those foreign businessmen who invaded the Chinese market with opium and force, Ji Shili was a great hero.Therefore, he can be used as a general official, and Beau has the street named after him. During the Opium War, Ji Shili served as a translator for the British army and also as a counselor for Yilu.He saw that the British army was defeated by Lin Zexu and Guan Tianpei's army at the mouth of the Pearl River, so he suggested that the British army should avoid the most important ones and go northward to attack Dinghai and approach Tianjin.The Qing court was caught off guard, and was taken advantage of by the British army, and finally signed a peace treaty to cede Hong Kong and compensate a large amount of military expenses.For the British army, this is not a small turning point. Ji Shili is a German who was originally a missionary. He and the British Morrison came to Macau from Europe and worked for the East India Company. Before coming to Macau, Ji Shili and Morrison had studied Chinese language and characters in Malacca. They were one of the few Westerners who could read Chinese books and write Chinese at that time. Before 1832, Ji Shili and Morrison jointly wrote 3 Chinese books, which were printed in Macao.The titles of the books are "Beginners of Daily Classes", "On Zhang Yuanxi's Friendship", "A Brief Introduction to the Characters and State Affairs of the English Country".The first is a missionary propaganda material, and the second is to promote the benefits of making friends with Westerners and persuade Chinese not to discriminate against Westerners.The last book is to promote the strength of the British nation at that time, the British colonies spread all over the world, the British must avenge their enemies, the Chinese should not be enemies with the British, and they must do business with each other to improve trade relations. The Qing court attached great importance to the three books of Ji Shili, and ordered Wei Yuanliang, the acting governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, to ascertain the contents of these three books. After Ji Shili wrote these three books, in January 1832, under the order of the boss of the East India Company, he came to northern China with the ship "Roll Armed" with Hu Xiami as the captain.His identity is the captain's Chinese secretary, and he has three tasks. One is to survey and map the situation of islands in China's coastal waters; Chinese. The "Roller Armest" departed from Macau and passed through Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and other places along the way, measuring the water levels of various ports and drawing maps along the way.Ji Shili knew Chinese and could speak Chinese. In addition to distributing three books of his own along the way, he also paid a lot of money to buy information everywhere, and dealt with corrupt officials in China. When he arrived in Fuzhou, Ji Shili bribed Fujian governor Wei Yuanliang through a middleman, and secretly made more than 10,000 yuan in business in Fuzhou.In Zhoushan and Ningbo, the same method was used to bribe local officials and do a lot of business.However, when he arrived in Shanghai, he encountered two nemesis: one was Lin Zexu and the other was Guan Tianpei. Lin Zexu just happened to be transferred to be the governor of Jiangsu Province, and Guan Tianpei was the general of Su Song.Lin Zexu ordered Su Songtai, who was in charge of Shanghai, to teach Wu Qitai, telling him not to associate with foreigners.Guan Tianpei mobilized the navy to closely monitor the movement of the "Roll Almersted".Subsequently, Guan Tianpei ordered Su Songtai to follow Wu Qitai and inform Hu Xiami to leave Shanghai immediately.Ji Shili is a cunning person, he wants to prolong his stay in Shanghai, looking for a chance to bring the dead back to life.So, he wrote a letter to Wu Qitai.The report falsely stated that the "Roller Amherst" was damaged by wind at sea and had to stop for a while for repairs.Wu Qitai returned the report, and approved a few lines on the report, ordering the "Roller Amster" to leave immediately. At this time, Captain Hu Xiami knew that it was impossible to do business in Shanghai, but because the crew surveyed the Shanghai port, it would take a few days to complete.便请吉士笠设法在上海水域多留几天。 吴其泰所批的那几行字中，把胡夏米船长称为夷人，这是当时官场对外国人的统称。吉士笠便抓着这一点大做文章，认为这是侮辱，要求吴其泰把这种称呼改正过来。 由于吉士笠熟识当时中国官场的陋习，公文往来十分缓慢，往往要花好几天时间。有了这几天时间，船上的人便可以把测量和绘图的工作完成了。 吴其泰果然中计。他绞尽脑汁，引经据典的写了回复公文，说明在呈文上以“夷人”相称，并无侮辱外国人的涵义。吉士笠又写信辩驳，公文来来往往，船上的人已有很从容的时间完成绘制上海沿岸地图的工作了。“罗尔亚美士德”号被驱逐出上海水域之后，继续北上，沿途照旧测量水位和绘画地图，圆满地完成了任务。 这艘货轮所经过的地方，其中舟山和镇江，是后来第一次鸦片战争中英海军交战的地方。至于其他地方如福州、上海等地，也就是后来在第二次鸦片战争，清军战败后提出和议，英方要求五口通商的城市。可见吉士笠这次沿中国海北行，完全是为英军以后的侵略战争做了准备工作。 清廷在鸦片战争大败后，与英方签订《南京条约》，吉士笠也曾参加，担任英方翻译。到了英国正式统治香港，论功行赏，也因为他懂得写中文和说汉语，便委任他为华民政务司。 他离任后，港府为赞扬他的“功勋”，用他名字命名一条小街道来纪念他。但港府的华文师爷，却把他的名字译成吉士笠。 有论者说，吉士笠对于当时的大英帝国，确实很有功劳，但对被侵略的中国，吉士笠实在是罪大恶极。香港许多街道的名字，有久远的历史背景，饱含着中国人民的血泪。 不久，纪念吉士笠的那条街，却成为外国妓女麇集之所，藏污纳垢，声名狼藉，名和街，也算沆瀣一气了。附近居民也不把这条街叫做“吉士笠街”，却把它叫做“红毛娇街”。“红毛”是对英国人的俗称，妓女称为“阿娇”，“红毛娇街”反而比“吉士笠街”出名，几乎每个外来水手和外商，都来这里胡作非为。只可惜吉士笠以后再也没有机会返回香港，若他看到纪念自己的那条街是那样的乌烟瘴气，真会活活被气死。