Hong Kong is one of the most vibrant places in Asia. Just recently, I had a chance to visit Hong Kong. During my free time, I took a time to visit a museum called Hong Kong Museum of History. This museum contains the history of Hong Kong, from pre-historic until the more modern Hong Kong. Through this article, I’ll bring you inside the Museum through a brief summary.
The First Gate of History
The museum brings you backward to about 400.000.000 years ago. In this area of the museum, you will be able to see the geographical history of Hong Kong. This first encounter shows the natural setting of Hong Kong.
Going deeper, there is a forest inside the building. It is of course not a real forest. The trees and animals inside are fake. They though provided sounds of nature making it feel natural. Some rocks and old salvaged pots are as well displayed, giving more information on the nature and a little bit of culture of older Hong Kong.
The Pre-Historic Hong Kong
Going deeper, you will be brought into the display of the pre-historic life on the island.
This part gives a glimpse of how pre-historic people of Hong Kong lives. It has quite a large view with “people” working and making a living during the prehistoric era of Hong Kong.
The Dynasties: From the Han to the Qing
In this section, you will be brought through multiple of dynasties ruled in the previous era. As the title says, from the Han dynasty to the Qing dynasty. You will see as well how the impact of culture and government among the dynasties to the development of the cities.
Folk Culture in Hong Kong
Hong Kong was not built solely on one single ethnic. There were several ethnics come and made a living in Hong Kong. This ranging from the Hakka, the Punti, the Boat Dweller, and the Hoklo. Each ethnic has its own unique culture and way of living, as presented in many ornaments and images.
The Opium Wars and the Cession of Hong Kong
For this section, you will need to go to another level of the Museum.
In this section, you will be brought to the dark history of Hong Kong during the Opium wars. Here as well visitors able to learn how Hong Kong ceded to Britain and its development.
Birth and Early Growth of the City
This section depicts the early portrait of the City during the development. The gallery contains three-storey European style structure.
The Japanese Occupation
In this section, visitors will be brought to the time when Japanese started occupying Hong Kong. Having defeated British during the war, Japanese imperial colonised Hong Kong and brought the country to darker era. To give false impression to the international, Japanese even created and spread a video showing how Hong Kong was better during Japanese colonisation era.
Japanese admitted defeat after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by the US, starting the end of the World War II and the re-entrance of British to Hong Kong.
Modern Metropolis and the Return to China
In this section, visitors will be brought to view the development of Hong Kong after the war. Together as well describing when British ended its colonisation and returned Hong Kong back to China.
There is a cinema inside this section playing a video of the return of Hong Kong from British to China.
One of the good things I like about this museum is that it has plenty of cinema rooms, that play related videos with each of the section. This gives better visualisation if text or images sometimes not that clear to visitors.
That’s it with the Museum. There are much more details that I did not cover here. If you are interested with the history of Hong Kong or just want to improve your genera knowledge somehow, it is really worth it going to this Museum.
Happy learning and all the best.
