The Noonday bullet

I could see the Noonday gun directly below my hotel at Causeway Bay and was intrigued to see how the Chinese would handle this old British colonial tradition.

There was not a great deal of ceremony. The guy in the picture unwrapped the covering of the gun before a handful of Noonday tourists arrived. With about a minute to go he appeared again, this time in uniform. He looked at his watch, walked to an adjacent bell and rang it twice. He then walked up the steps to the gun and immediately pulled the cord to fire the gun. If you are waiting for a smoke or flame filled picture you need to be very quick; I was not, hence the bullet. Far more impressive than those used by any of my shooting friends!

Story behind the gun - In the early 1900's an overenthusiastic employee of Jardine and Matheson, one of Hong Kong's most influential companies at the time, fired the gun to salute one of the companies ships as it sailed into the harbour. Gun salutes were supposedly the sole privilege of the Governor, who was so outraged by this break in protocol that he ordered the gun be fired every day. Firing stopped during the war and commenced again in 1947.

Noel Coward immortalized the gun in his song "Mad Dogs and Englishmen", in the lyrics - In Hong Kong/They strike a gong/And fire off a noonday gun/To reprimand each inmate/Who's in late. The song inspired the phrase "only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun".