Possession Point

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The crossing point of Possession St. and Queen's Road Central.
The crossing point of Possession St. and Queen's Road Central.

Possession Point (Chinese: 水坑口) is a former point of the land of the north coast of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong, before land reclamation moved the coast further to the north.

It is the location where the Royal Navy landed on Hong Kong Island, before the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. The commander of Far East Fleet, James John Gordon Bremer, came to Hong Kong via the HMS Calliope on 26 January 1841. A flag raising and gun ceremony marked the official possession of Hong Kong, and the landing venue was renamed as Possession Point.[citation needed]

The Point has now disappeared from the coastline, but a street named Possession Street and the sudden turn of Queen's Road West reveals its original location. In maps of the 1980s and before, Hollywood Road Park is marked as Possession Point. This marks the original site which, owing to land reclamation, is no longer located on the coast.

The Chinese name 水坑口 (Shui Hang Hau) means the mouth of water trench, reflecting the mouth of a stream from Victoria Peak.

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