100 Year History Challenge - worst fire in Hong Kong history 香港歷史最嚴重的火災

This is the entry of the “100 Year History Challenge” hosted by @sndbox! When I searched the history of the year 1918, I found the most famous should be the end of the World War I. But the World War I didn’t influence China so that much so I finally choose the biggest event that happened in Hong Kong in 1918. It’s the worst fire disaster in the history of Hong Kong: the Happy Valley Racecourse fire.

@sndbox 舉辦了 100 Year History Challenge, 那我當然一定要參加了！我立時翻查了有關100年前，即1918年的歷史，那一年最著名的歷史自然就是第一次世界大戰的結束了，不過這事件對中國的影響沒有太深遠，所以最後，我選了在香港發生的一件大事：香港史上最嚴重的火災，跑馬地馬場大火。

(photo source: Wikipedia)

Modern horse racing came from the Great Britain. We have no doubt that British love horse racing very much. In 1842, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Great Britain. 4 years after, they had built the first racecourse in Happy Valley of Hong Kong! The name “Happy Valley” doesn’t mean we are happy with horse racing. When the British soldiers first came Hong Kong, they couldn’t adapt to the hot and wet climate. Many of them died because of malaria. They were buried in a valley. As catholic believe death is resting in peace. They are happy to come back to God. So the valley was named “Happy Valley”.

現代賽馬活動源於英國，英國人對賽馬的熱愛應該都是全球之最了，香港島於1842年正式割讓給英國，4年後的1846年，英國人就已建了跑馬地馬場。跑馬地英文名稱是「Happy Valley」，原因並不是因為這裡有賽馬很happy，而是因為這裡是英兵的墳場，當年很多英國士兵來到香港，因不適應香港的濕熱天氣，很多都患上瘧疾死亡，他們都葬在跑馬場，那時的天主教認為這是安息，是快活，就將這個地方命名為「快活谷」，亦即Happy Valley。

Happy Valley 跑馬場, 1873 (photo source: Wikipedia)

Later, the British were eager to build a racecourse in Hong Kong and they chose the Happy Valley. The sports event gradually attracted a lot of non-British and Chinese wealthy people to join. At the time, there was only one racing event in a year. So every year during the race, it attracted thousands of people the join. To cope with the large amount of audiences, the racecourse used bamboo and wood to build sheds with two floors high for Chinese and non-British. The area below the sheds was kitchen and food stalls.

後來，英國人急切需要在香港建一個馬場，就選了這個地方建馬場了。那個時候的跑馬地賽事本來只是英國人的玩意，但慢慢這刺激的運動吸引了不少非英國人與華人富商，由於當時賽馬活動一年只舉辦一次，所以每年的賽馬都是萬人空巷，為了應付華人及非英國人的入場需求，馬場每年都用竹及木板搭建樓高兩層的坐位給他們，就是所謂的馬棚了，而在馬棚底下的空間，就是廚房和食店。

The sheds 當年的馬棚 (photo source: Wikipedia)

And it was the VIP seats for the British 這則是英國人的貴賓席
(photo source: Wikipedia)

On the 26th Feb 1918, the 3rd race, a shed couldn’t stand for the weight of the audiences and collapsed. Many people directly dropped to the stoves and boiled oil. Some were crushed by the falling shed. At the same time, the collapsed shed soon got fire and then the sheds beside…Many audiences were burnt to death…

1918年2月26日，周年大賽的第3場比賽，其中一個馬棚因負荷不少馬迷的重量而倒塌，當馬棚倒塌時，很多人就直接掉進油爐中被燒死，也有一些人被竹棚壓死或插死，同一時間，倒塌的竹棚很快就著火了，更牽連了附近的幾個馬棚，很多走避不及的馬迷都因此而燒死…

(photo source: Wikipedia)

When the firemen came, they could do nothing. What they could do was just to pick the dead bodies. The number of death was 600. As too many people died, the government could just find a mass grave to bury all of them. 4 years later, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals finally succeeded to fight for a permanent cemetery for them, which is the Mount Caroline Cemetery at So Kon Po today.

當消防員來到的時候，由於火勢太大，他們根本就救不了他們，能做到的只有收屍。據統計，被燒死的至少有600人，由於死掉的人太多，政府只能隨便找一個亂葬崗就屍體埋葬就算了。四年後經東華三院的爭取，他們終於有了正式墓地，就是在今天掃桿埔咖啡園的墓地。

the Mount Caroline Cemetery (photo source: Tung Wah Group of Hispotails)

儘管發生了如此悲劇，但跑馬地馬場的賽馬活動從未停止，事至今天，連同新建的沙田馬場，香港已成為世界其中一個最著名的賽馬都市，舉辦世界最頂尖的賽馬盛事，而跑馬地亦成為了香港最昂貴的地段之一。
The horse racing of Happy Valley is still one of the hottest event in Hong Kong despite of the tragedy. Today, together with the Sha Tin racecourse, Hong Kong is organizing one of the most famous international horse racing event in the world. And the Happy Valley is now also one of the most expensive district in Hong Kong…

Happy Valley racecourse today (photo source: Wikipedia)

Happy Valley today (photo source: Wikipedia)

Next time when you visit Hong Kong, try your luck and join the horse racing!

下次如果你來香港，也不妨都馬場碰一碰運氣！

!steemitworldmap 22.2728501 lat 114.173116 long d3scr

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！