A few weeks back I wrote about being excited to find this 150 year-old map at the UK National Archives:

The map was drawn as part of Governor Kennedy's sales pitch to the UK government to build a new road, shown by the red line on the map. That was definitely part of the map's story, but I also wanted to write about some of the other features I'd seen.

Delights

Here are examples of items on the western part of the map that caught my interest.

• A: Ouchterlony Battery.
   
• B: Queen's Road West ends here (roughly where St Louis School stands today), as the land to the west is occupied by the battery.
   
• C: The map shows the streams that are mostly hidden in underground pipes today. This one runs in a nullah along the centre of Water Street. It's the first time I've noticed that.
   
• D: The buildings marked in red are also worth a closer look, as they were government property. Ouchterlony Battery is an example of a military site, while D's arrow points to the No. 7 Police Station.

Here is another crop, this one showing Central district:

Here's a scene to set the collector's heart a flutter!

It's a view of Britain's largest postcard fair, The Festival of Cards, held in Somerset last month. I was in the UK at the time to visit family, so I took the chance to head along to the fair.

After taking the photo, I headed downstairs to the dealers, asking each one in turn, "Do you have anything from Hong Kong?" Most said "No", but sometimes I'd be directed to a box like this. 

The hunt is on!

First I'll make a quick pass through the photos, looking for any that:

This week's newsletter is a team-effort guest post. It introduces a bumper crop of essays about wartime Hong Kong and the military structures whose ruins can still be seen around the Hong Kong countryside.

1. The Battle of Hong Kong: a Note on the Literature and Effectiveness of the Defence
   [View online via JSTOR or in print at the HK Public Library]
   • Lai, L.W.C. (1999{2001})
   • Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 39, pp.115-136. [Publisher: Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society; ISSN: 0085-5774]
      
2. Survey of the Devil’s Peak Redoubt and Gough Battery
   [View online via JSTOR or in print at the HK Public Library]
   • Lai, L.W.C., Ho. D.C.W., and Leung, H.F. (2003)
   • Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 42, pp. 101-137. [Publisher: Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society; ISSN: 0085-5774] 
   • Related pages on Gwulo.com: 
     • Devil's Peak Redoubt
     • Gough Battery
3. Survey of the Pottinger Battery