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Reporters: Wan Houde, Xu Langxuan, Xu Shumin
Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, December 11 Title: Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui Bell Tower: A Hundred Years of Bells Ringing Time Resonance
Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Qiantian
In Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour landscape, the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower is an integral part. It stands prominently on the shores of Tsim Sha Tsui for more than a century, witnessing the rapid changes on both sides of the strait day and night.
This is the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower in Hong Kong. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wan Houde
As an important part of the former Kowloon Terminus of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower not only records the story of the departure and progress of the older generation in Hong Kong, but also witnesses the early development of the Hong Kong Railway.
The bronze bell in the bell tower began to chime the time for the public in 1921, but from 1950 onwards, technical difficulties caused the bell to no longer function. 2021 marks the centenary of the operation of the bronze bell. After 71 years of silence, the melodious bells of Qingyue reverberated again over Victoria Harbour at 6 p.m. on December 9, evoking memories of the city.
Century-old bells ring all over Victoria Harbour
When, when, when... Six deep and clear bells arrived as expected amid the anticipation of Hong Kong citizens.
In the distance, the sky is getting dark, and a red sunset hangs in the sky. Passengers on the xiangjiang river came and went on ships to record this historic moment with their mobile phones.
Citizens photograph the clock tower in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, where the bell is ringing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wan Houde
Nearby, the square under the Bell Tower, the Wharf of the Stars, and the Avenue of Stars are already crowded, and the citizens can't wait to meet the bells that have crossed the centuries.
"Only our older generation has heard the bells of the bell tower." Mr. and Mrs. Lin, who had gray hair, stood hand in hand in the crowd, looking at the bell tower and listening to the bells. Recalling his childhood experience, he said: "At that time, we didn't have a watch, we didn't know the exact time, but when we saw the clock tower and heard the chimes, we could know what time to buy a ticket to avoid missing the bus by mistake." ”
Mrs. Lin next to her was even more full of emotion: "Hearing the long-lost bell again today, I can't help but think of my old friends, and I think of the excitement and happy experience of taking the train from here to the far side together when I was young." ”
"This bell tower carries the joy of returning to our hometown in the mainland to visit our relatives when we were young." Mr. Chan, a 79-year-old Hong Kong resident, said the bell tower impressed him most was "the starting point for returning to his hometown." He said that when he was a child, he and his parents took a train from here, along the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, and returned to Guangzhou from Tsim Sha Tsui. "When I came to the bell tower, I was close to my hometown. The loud bells also seem to be a blessing for every returnee. ”
Ho Scho-ming, Senior Manager of Plaza and Waterfront Management at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, said: "For the people of Tsim Sha Tsui, the appearance of the Clock Tower is an epoch-making change. "Because when the Hong Kong Observatory was established, it was one of its missions to provide accurate chiming services, and the emergence of the bell tower seems to inherit this mission, in a more popular way - loud bells and clear hours and minutes, to ring the bells to the public."
He Shaoming said that the most common sentence of the rickshaw drivers under the bell tower in the past was: "One point of hard work is one point of harvest, and there are many people and many cars under the bell house, and the most business!" Looking at the clock tower time, the most urgent thing is to know the time to return to the house to eat. (The most important thing is to know when to go home for dinner.) ）”
Guangjiu memory through a hundred years
Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower is an important part of the former Kowloon Terminus of the Canton-Kowloon Railway. Known as the "family line" between Guangdong and Hong Kong, the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway once connected Guangzhou to Kowloon, Hong Kong, and the former Kowloon Terminus was once the southernmost railway station in China, a gateway to the flow of people and logistics between the mainland and Hong Kong, and a symbol of the blood connection between the two places.
"The construction of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway is extremely important for Hong Kong's development." Liao Jieying, Assistant Curator (Building Protection) of the Hong Kong Office of Antiquities and Monuments, said that after the opening of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, in addition to opening up the commercial and passenger networks between Hong Kong and the mainland, it will also facilitate citizens to travel between urban and rural areas, and establish a transportation foundation for the development of areas along the route.
"At that time, the stations along the line, such as Kowloon, Hung Hom, Yau Ma Tei, Sha Tin, Tai Po Market, Fanling, etc., were mostly in the countryside. Nowadays, almost all the areas along the route have developed into densely populated towns. Liao Jieying said.
"The Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower was once the landmark of the Eastern Terminus of the Eurasian Railway Link, witnessing the history of railway development and connection between Hong Kong and the Mainland." Wu Guoliang, First Assistant Curator (Gu Jian) of the Hong Kong Office of Antiquities and Monuments, introduced that the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway connects the railway system between Hong Kong and the mainland, and along the railway can go all the way north to Harbin, and then connect with the trans-Siberian railway to the European continent.
With the development of Hong Kong's cities, the old Kowloon Terminus was no longer able to cope with the demand, and Tsim Sha Tsui Railway Station was moved to the current site of Hung Hom Station.
According to a station manager, on November 29, 1975, the last train from Kowloon Terminus departed at 14:55, and the station broadcast system broadcast "Long Live Friendship", ending the historical task in music.
After the Kowloon Terminus building was demolished, the Hong Kong Space Museum and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre were built on the original site, while the Bell Tower is still preserved and declared a monument.
The bells return concentrically and concentrically
On closer inspection, the bell tower is built of red brick and granite, in the Style of Edwardian Classical Revival architecture. The building is 44 meters high and the roof is equipped with a 7-meter-high lightning rod. "At the time, it was a skyscraper." Liao Jieying said with a smile. The upper part of the bell tower is octagonal, with a domed bell tower, and the white classical decorations such as rolled buttresses, pillars and eaves contrast strongly with red brick.
Since the first chime of the bronze bell in March 1921, the bell of the bell tower has accompanied the pace of Hong Kong people's struggle and upward movement, silently witnessing the prosperity and development of Hong Kong. In 1950, due to technical reasons, the bronze bell stopped telling the time for the public, and the calm and melodious bell quietly fell silent.
This is a bronze bell placed on the ground floor of the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wan Houde
In 2021, as the 100th anniversary of the operation of the Bell Tower Bronze Bell, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre hopes to make the long-lost bell ring again by holding the celebration of "100 Years of Bells – Keeping Memories with Bells". However, due to the reinforcement works carried out after the bell tower was moved away from kowloon terminus, some floors were sealed with concrete, making it difficult to hang the bell back to its original position, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre embarked on a sound search journey as far away as the United Kingdom.
He Shaoming said that after reviewing the data in the archives, the staff found that the bronze bell of the bell tower weighed one ton, and the bell sounded in a lower E tone. "We tried to find the sound that best matched the tone, timbre, casting and tuning method of the bell to restore the bell."
The British John Taylor Clock Foundry found that shortly after they cast the Hong Kong bronze bell in 1919, they cast another E-tone copper bell in the same way, with the same craftsman and material. The bronze bell is now housed in a museum in Loughborough, England.
"Therefore, the bells heard by the public today are connected to the network time of the Hong Kong Observatory through the digital bell system, which connects the E-tone copper bell bells stored in the Loughborough One Museum with the network time of the Hong Kong Observatory to achieve synchronous chimes." He Shaoming said.
When talking about the significance of today's bronze bell chimes, He Shaoming said that the key to time is not only in accuracy, but also in synchronization - when the time instruments in all places are in sync, all sectors of society can work together in parallel and exert their effective capabilities.
"I hope that the return of the centennial bell will not only awaken everyone's collective memory, but also bring more confidence and expectations to the future." He Shaoming said.