How Hong Kong Got Its Name

文/马修·基根 译/赵秋蕾 审订/黄勤

By Matthew Keegan

The name Hong Kong is actually a phonetic translation of the city’s Cantonese name 香港 (heung gong), which literally means “Fragrant Harbour”. Over the years, Hong Kong has been given a number of nicknames. It has tried to rebrand itself as Asia’s World City. It has also been called the vertical1 city, for its density of skyscrapers, but the name that stuck and has persisted for centuries is “Fragrant Harbour”.

Historians believe “Fragrant Harbour”was a name inspired by the city’s past as a major trading post for fragrant incense. Inparticular, agarwood2, known as the “King of Incense”—just two ounces of precious agarwood resin3 can sell for thousands ofdollars.

During the Ming dynasty (1368—1644) and early part of the Qing dynasty (1636—1912), the villages surrounding Hong Kong, now known as New Territories, were noted for the production of incense. Agarwood was shipped, by junk boats, from a port in Hong Kong’s Aberdeen Harbour to provinces in Chinese mainland, Asia and even as far as Arabia.

Because of this exportation of incense, the port in Hong Kong’s Aberdeen area was called “the incense port” or “fragrant harbour” by the local boat people at the time known as Sui Seung Yan. “Hong” and “Kong” are the words for fragrant harbour as pronounced by the Sui Seung Yan in their Cantonese accent. The story goes that when British arrived in the 1840s, they couldsmell this wonderful fragrance burning and the name stuck and was applied to the whole island.

Before the British invaded Hong Kong in the 1800s, the area counted only around 7,500 inhabitants. These local villagersstarted planting trees around Hong Kong, known as Aquilaria sinensis4, believing these trees had good feng shui. To this day,practitioners of feng shui believe that the wood that forms in these trees, agarwood, contains special and auspicious5 energy (qi) that can improve luck, health and environment, especially when burnt as an incense to release its purifying scent andspiritual energy.

The villagers discovered that when insects or extreme weather started to attack the trees, they would repair themselves by producing a dark resin. This resin became known locally as ChamHeong, which is also commonly referred to as agarwood resin.

But for as long as there have been agarwood trees in Hong Kong, there have been poachers6. Ho Pui-han, a local conservationist, explains that there has been a long tradition of cutting theseincense trees in southern China. “The poachers call the resin ‘black gold of the forest’,” says Pui-han. “It’s sometimes worth millions of dollars and so these poachers are crazy for it.” The resin the poachers extract from the trees can be used for incense sticks, for worship, for perfumes and the wood is used for carvedsculptures of Buddhist figures.

The incense trees have also long been used in Hong Kong for Buddhism and Taoism. Followers believe that the fragrance of agarwood can induce clarity, peace of mind and ward7 off bad luck. It’s used for offerings, in meditation, scripture8 chantingand in other holy ceremonies.

Small amounts of agarwood resin are used for creating incense chips and even these can sell for around HK ,000 per kilogram. Larger logs of agarwood, often sold as hand-carved sculptures, can be sold for millions. Today, the resin is often distilled9 to create oud10 oil—an oil that has become a highly sought-afteringredient in high-end perfume, selling for up to HK 0,000 per kilogram.

Agarwood is also a sought-after commodity for practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Herbal pharmacists have used agarwood resin for centuries as a sedative11, pain killer,digestive aid and even as an aphrodisiac12.

However, due to deforestation and poaching, the agarwood trees have greatly declined in numbers, especially in Hong Kong. “They are nearly extinct”, says Pui-han. “Maybe less than 300 trees remain in Hong Kong.”

In response to the mass poaching and felling of the trees, the Hong Kong government announced a protection action plan in 2017. The plan involves protecting the remaining valuable trees with iron fences and installing cameras to monitor targeted areas. “So far, it has helped to save some of the remaining trees”, saysPui-Han.

Meanwhile, companies like Asia Plantation Capital are working with local farmers to invest in agarwood plantations where the wood can be harvested in a sustainable way. In April 2014, they teamed up with a local farmer in Hong Kong to plant 1,000 saplings. They have also worked with the Association for the Ecological & Cultural Conservation of Aquilaria Sinensis to help educate and promote the protection.

Despite ongoing efforts to protect the trees, conservationists like Pui-han say that poachers are still very active today and are searching and chopping the remaining incense trees that have not been fenced. However, while uncertainty hangs over the future of the trees, it’s safe to say they formed an integral part of the early incense trade that first put Hong Kong on the map and have secured their legacy by inspiring the city’s enduring name. ■

香港这一名称，实际上是这座大都市粤语名称发音heung gong（香港）的音译，字面义为“芬芳的港口”。多年来，香港被赋予了许多昵称。它一直试图将自己重塑为亚洲国际都会。由于摩天大楼密集，香港也被称为垂直城市，但沿用了数百年的还是寓意“芬芳的港口”的这一名称。

历史学家认为，如此命名的灵感源于这座城市曾是香料的主要贸易站。尤其是被称为“香料之王”的沉香，仅两盎司珍贵的沉香树脂就能卖到数千美元。

在明朝（1368—1644）和清朝（1636—1912）早期，香港周围的村庄（即现在的新界）以生产沉香而闻名。沉香木从香港仔湾的一个港口通过帆船运往中国内地各省、亚洲各地，甚至远至阿拉伯半岛。

由于经营这种香料出口业务，香港仔地区的这座港口被时称“水上人”的本地渔民叫作“香料港口”或“芬芳的港口”。Hong和Kong对应渔民们粤语发音的“香”和“港”二字。据说，19世纪40年代，英国人来到这里时，闻到了香料燃烧后散发的浓郁香味，于是沿用此名，并以此称呼整个岛屿。

19世纪英国入侵香港之前，该地区仅有约7500名居民。当地的这些村民开始在香港周围种植一种名为土沉香的树木，他们相信这些树会带来好风水。时至今日，风水大师仍然相信，这些树产出的木材“沉香木”蕴含特殊而吉祥的能量（气），可以提升运气、增进健康及改善生存环境，尤其是作为香料焚烧时，可以释放出净化心灵的香味与精神能量。

村民们发现，当昆虫或极端天气开始侵袭树木时，它们会分泌出一种深色树脂来自我修复。这种树脂在当地被称为Cham Heong，即通常所说的沉香树脂。

但是，香港自有沉香树之时便不乏盗采者。本地环保人士何佩娴（音译）解释说，在中国南方，砍伐这些香树的传统由来已久。“偷采者称这种树脂为‘森林黑金’。”何佩娴说道，“它有时价值数百万美元，因此这些偷采者为之疯狂。”偷采者从沉香树中采集的树脂可用于制作线香和香水，也可用于祭祀供奉，木材则可用于雕刻佛教人物的塑像。

在香港，长久以来，佛教和道教也需要香树。信徒们相信沉香木的香气可以提神醒脑，而且能驱除厄运。他们在供奉、冥想、抄经、诵经和举行其他神圣仪式时都会使用沉香。

零星的沉香树脂通常用于制作香片，就连这些香片每公斤也能卖到58,000港元左右。较大的沉香木通常做成手工雕刻件出售，售价可达数百万港元。如今，沉香树脂通常经蒸馏后制成沉香油，这种油已经成为高端香水非常抢手的原料，每公斤售价高达300,000港元。

沉香木也深受中医的青睐。几个世纪以来，草药医师们一直将沉香树脂用作镇静剂、止痛药、助消化药，甚至催情药。

然而，由于毁林和偷采，沉香树的数量已大大减少，尤其是在香港。“沉香树几乎灭绝了，”何佩娴说，“香港可能只剩下不到300棵。”

针对大规模偷采滥伐沉香树的现象，香港政府于2017年宣布了一项保护行动计划。该计划包括用铁栅栏保护剩余的珍贵树木，并安装摄像头监控目标区域。何佩娴说：“到目前为止，该计划已帮助拯救了一些残存的沉香树。”

与此同时，亚洲种植园资本公司等公司正与当地农民合作投资沉香木种植园，如此便能以可持续的方式进行采收。2014年4月，他们与一位香港本地农民合作，种植了1000棵沉香树苗。这些公司还与土沉香生态及文化保育协会合作，帮助开展沉香保护教育和宣传。

尽管人们一直在努力保护这些沉香树，但正如何佩娴等环保主义者所说，偷采者如今仍然非常活跃，他们仍在搜寻和砍伐尚未被围护起来的剩余沉香树。然而，尽管这些沉香树的未来还不确定，但可以肯定地说，它们是早期香料贸易的重要组成部分，正是香料贸易使香港为人所知，并赋予了这座城市恒久的名字，从而使它载入史册。

（译者单位：华中科技大学）

1 vertical垂直的，直立的。

2 agarwood沉香木。

3 resin树脂。

4 Aquilaria sinensis土沉香，瑞香科沉香属植物，为中国特有。

5 auspicious吉利的，吉祥的。

6 poacher偷猎者，非法捕猎的人。

7 ward防止，避免（危险、疾病、攻击等）。

8 scripture（某宗教的）圣典，经文，经典。

9 distill蒸馏，用蒸馏法提取。

10 oud沉香。这个词来源于阿拉伯语的音译，常用于香水产业。

11 sedative镇静剂。