Noonday Gun

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  • Address
    Hong Kong Island, 221 Gloucester Rd, Causeway Bay
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  • Transport
    underground rail: Causeway Bay (exit D1)

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Lonely Planet review

Noel Coward made the so-called Noonday Gun famous with his satirical song Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1924), about colonials who braved the fierce heat of the midday sun while the local people sensibly remained indoors: 'In Hong Kong/they strike a gong/And fire off a noonday gun/To reprimand each inmate/Who's in late'. Apparently when Coward was invited to pull the lanyard, he was late and it didn't go off until .

Built in 1901 by Hotchkiss of Portsmouth this recoil-mounted 3lb cannon is one of the few vestiges of the colonial past in Causeway Bay and is its best-known landmark. The gun stands in a small garden the first plot of land to be sold by public auction in Hong Kong (1841) - and is fired at noon every day. Eight bells are then sounded, signalling the end of the forenoon watch. The gun also welcomes in the New Year.

Exactly how this tradition got started remains a mystery. Some people say that Jardine Matheson fired the gun without permission to bid farewell to a departing managing director or to welcome one of its incoming ships. The authorities were so enraged by the company's insolence that, as punishment, Jardine's was ordered to fire the gun every day. Another explanation is that a gun was fired at noon daily so that ships' clocks - crucial for establishing longitude and east-west distances at sea - could be set accurately.