Abstract: Apparently a well-known Hong Kong attraction, Victoria Harbour still has quite a few unsung facts and tales, as also described in video games. In this article, we are going to unveil these Victoria's secrets one by one.
維多利亞港這個貌似無人不曉的香港景點, 其實一如部分電子遊戲所言, 隱藏著鮮為人知的事實與傳說。本文將會為大家一一解密。
Visitors of Hong Kong would never want to miss the Victoria Harbour area. With its deep sheltered waters and strategic location, the harbor led to British's establishment of Hong Kong as a colony and later a prosperous trading center. Nowadays the harbor is mostly remembered for its stunning metropolitan view with thousands of skyscrapers standing on its shores, especially at night when the buildings are decorated with lights of various colors. Such an iconic view is often presented in video games which would like to claim the place that they are portraying is indeed Hong Kong.
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| An aerial view of Victoria Harbour (middle water area) which is in between Kowloon Peninsula (top land area) and Hong Kong Island (bottom land area) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Lupin the 3rd - Hong Kong no Mashu (CSK Research Institute. FM Town: 1990) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong Mahjong (Nine Dragon. DOS: 1991, Microsoft Windows: 1996) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror! (Azeroth, Inc., DOS: 1992) |
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| Victoria Harbour in 3×3EYES 聖魔降臨伝 (Yutaka. SNES: 1992) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Outrunners (Sega. Arcade: 1992, Sega Genesis: 1994) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Shinobi Legions (Sega. Saturn: 1995). |
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| Victoria Harbour in Cruis'n Exotica (Midway Games. Arcade/Nintendo 64/Game Boy Color: 1999) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Death or Alive 3 (Temco. Xbox: 2001) |
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| Victoria Harbour as the background in Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (Activision. Xbox/GameCube/PlayStation 2: 2002) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon (Universal Interactive. Xbox: 2002) |
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| Victoria Harbour in Gran Turismo 4 (Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2: 2004-2005)/Tourist Trophy (PlayStation 2, Sony Computer Entertainment, 2006). |
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| Victoria Harbour in FIFA World Cup: Germany 2006 (Electronic Arts. Game Boy Advance/Gamecube/Nintendo DS/Xbox/Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 2/Xbox 360: 2006) |
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| Victoria Harbour as the background in Chapter 5 of Wet (Bethesda Softworks. PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2009) |
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| Aerial view of Victoria Harbor in Air Traffic Controller 3 Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport テクノブレイン ぼくは航空管制官3 香港カイタックエアポート (Technobrain. Microsoft Windows: 2009) |
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| A Star Ferry moving on Victoria Harbour in 光輝歲月 1988 (Lakoo. iOS/Andorid: 2016) |
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| A Peak tram in WanChai Connection (Sega. Saturn: 1995) |
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| Viewing Victoria Harbour from the Peak in WanChai Connection (Sega. Saturn: 1995) |
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| Viewing Victoria Harbor from the Peak in Kowloon Gate (Bun Fun Factory. Microsoft Windows: 2003) |
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| Position of the Victoria Peak (star) relative to the Victoria Harbour. Source: Google Maps |
Nonetheless, there are still a few hidden yet interesting facts and tales, as also hinted by some video games. In the following, we will go through them one by one.
Fun facts about The Peak Tram
In
Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3: 2012), the Peak tram is hidden. One needs to do a few special moves in order to meet the tram.
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| Special moves needed to meet the hidden tram in Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012) |
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| The Peak Tram in Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012) |
Of course in the real world the Peak Tram is easily accessibility. What are hidden are the following unsung fun facts.
1) Built in 1888, the Peak tram is the first electric transportation system in Hong Kong and Asia.
2) Having a gradient of 27 degree maximum, the tram offers its passengers a spectacular visual illusion: when going uphill, the high rises of the right ride of the tram appear to fall toward The Peak. The illusion is induced by a change of the subjective vertical caused by the tilted visual environment and reclining body position of observers inside the tram. The illusion is even more noticeable when you ride at night, during which time you get fewer cues from other objects than the rest of the day (The Peak Tower Ltd., n.d.).
3) The Peak Tram is run by Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, who also manages the Peak Tower leisure complex at the line's summit, and the Peninsula Hong Kong Hotel on the other side of the harbor.
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| The Peak Tram Station in Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012) |
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| The Peak Tower (right) in GRID 2 (Codemasters. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013, OSX: 2014) |
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| A hotel that is based on The Peninsula Hong Kong in Shenmue II (Sega. Dreamcast:2001, Xbox: 2002) |
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| A hotel that is based on The Peninsula Hong Kong in Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (Activision. Xbox/PlayStation 2/GameCube: 2002) |
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| Google Map 3D view showing the location of The Peninsula Hotel (middle, circled) on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour in 2017 |
4) If you are travelling in a group, you may save much money by taking a taxi instead (Yomadic, 2012, March 6).
5) Single cabled, the tram system has yet come across any operational accidents.
6) When you queue up for the tram at the lower terminus station, you will receive a note card that reminds you to be careful on crossing the road that separate the queuing area and ticketing area.
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| "Cross the Road Carefully" note card distributed while queuing at the lower terminus station of the Peak Tram |
Tales of the mountains around the harbor
In
Kowloon Magic, (Bun Fun Factory. Microsoft Windows: 2003), it is described that nine dragons are sleeping on the north side of the Victoria Harbour, and by waking these dragons up, your wish could be made a reality.
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| Screenshot of Kowloon Magic (Bun Fun Factory. Microsoft Windows: 2003) telling the tales of the nine dragons in Kowloon |
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| Introduction of Kowloon Magic (Bun Bun Factory. Microsoft Windows: 2003) describing the nine dragons and the magic matrix |
We do indeed have a counterpart tale in the real world. Once upon a time, a Chinese Feng Shui master climbed up the Victoria Peak and looked at the other side of Victoria Harbour. What amazed him were the numerous mountain ranges on the other side of the harbor. These ranges appeared to be like many Feng Shui dragons bowing towards Hong Kong Island where the Victoria Peak was on (which may be the origin of its Chinese name of that other side of the harbor -- Kowloon, 九龍, literally means nine dragons.). In traditional Chinese Feng Shui, mountain ranges are regarded as the apparition of Feng Shui dragons, an mystic creature bring precious Qi and hence good fortune. The Island is thus regarded as a Feng Shui Island by some people. The song
Hong Kong Kowloon (complete lyric can be found
here) included in
Sleeping Dogs has the following description on Hong Kong Island.
一個風水島 呢度係中國國寶
(translated as: here we have a Feng Shui Island, a national treasure of China)
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| What a dragon looks like in Chinese Feng Shui. Note the ups and downs along the back of the body, which looks like mountain ranges. Source: Wikipedia |
Besides that nine-dragon tale, there is another tale involving a tortoise crawling up the Victoria Peak slowly (陳雲, 2015, April 27). When the turtle reaches the top, it would be the end of Hong Kong.
The tortoise is believed to be a rock near Lugard Road on the Victoria Peak. In the past, the turtle rock headed towards the Peak top and looked like crawling upward. Now the rock turtle was found beheaded, and its body was strongly pressed by some survey barge.
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| The rock turtle now. You can see clearly of the survey barge on the body of the beheaded turtle. Source: men's uno HK |
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| Comparing the Turtle Rock, past and present. You could see the head appears to have been cropped off. Source: TVB 香港玄案 第三集 香港陸沉之謎 |
Nowadays, the tale is expanded with multiple constructions located along the two sides of the Victoria Harbour. The dome-shaped space museum is thought to resemble a tortoise's egg to lure the tortoise to move to the ocean, rather than crawling up the mountain. Meanwhile, the new extension of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center looks like a tortoise (rather than a seagull which is officially advertised) to some people, thus being suspected to be a Feng Shui construction which is used to replace the stone tortoise in the mid-level. Doing this essentially makes the tortoise go further away from the Peak and thus take way much more time to reach the mountain top.
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| The Hong Kong Space Museum. Source: Wikipedia |
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| Another view of the Hong Kong Space Museum (left) in the real world. Source: Google Maps |
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| The dome-shape Space Museum in Test Drive 6 (Infogames, Inc. Dreamcast/Game Boy Color/PlayStation/Microsoft Windows: 1999) |
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| The dome-shape Space Museum (left) in Gran Turismo 4 (Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2: 2004) |
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| An aerial view of the Space Museum. Source: Google Maps |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (top left) in Test Drive 6 (Infogames, Inc. Dreamcast/Game Boy Color/PlayStation/Microsoft Windows: 1999) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (middle right) in Cruis'n Exotica (Midway Games. Arcade/Nintendo 64/Game Boy Color: 1999) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in 007: Agent Under Fire (Electronic Arts. PlayStation 2: 2001, Gamecube: 2002) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (Xbox/PlayStation 2/Gamecube: 2002) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Command and Conquer: Generals (EA games. Microsoft Windows: 2003) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Project Gotham Racing 2 (Microsoft Game Studio. Xbox: 2003) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gran Turismo 4 (Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2: 2004) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (left) in Air Traffic Controller 3 Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport テクノブレイン ぼくは航空管制官3 香港カイタックエアポート (Technobrain. Microsoft Windows: 2009) |
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| The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (bottom circled) and the Hong Kong Space Museum (above circled). Do they altogether look like a tortoise heading towards a tortoise egg? |
Some other buildings also have interesting stories too. For instance, the Bank of China Tower which has quite a few sharp points and edges is thought to bring bad luck to occupants of buildings nearby. For details, please check
this article.
Final Remarks
The Victoria Harbour area is more than yet another tourist spot with a spectacular metropolitan harbor view. The Peak tram that you use to climb up the Victoria Peak is the oldest yet safest Asian single cabled tram system. It also brings you an exciting illusion and silently relates to quite a few apparently unrelated items on the other side of the harbor. There is also a Feng Shui dragon tale and a tortoise tale that are related to the fortune and prosperity of the city. Next time when you are in the area, pay attention to these hidden Victoria's Secrets.
References
The Peak Tower Ltd. (n.d.). The Peak Tram Overview. Retrieved July 26, 2017, from http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/5_5_1.asp
Yomadic. (2012, March 6). Hong Kong Peak - Victoria Secrets - Rated PG (Peak Goodness). Retrieved December 05, 2017, from http://yomadic.com/hong-kong-peak/
陳雲. (2015, April 27). 轉角 - 神龜入海，聚散有時. Retrieved December 05, 2017, from http://www.am730.com.hk/column-262125
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