Having enjoyed the execution show, travellers could turn a bit south to visit Sung Wong Toi, then “the foremost site to dwell on the antiquated past”. Sung Wong Toi, also known as the “Sacred Hill”, was originally a mound at the southern coast of Kowloon City, roughly 35m above sea level. Since Kowloon City was an imperial salt yard in the Sung dynasty, rumours at later age had it that Sung Wong Toi was the remain of a stone temple of a Sung emperor, and the words “Sung Wong Toi”, which means literally “Sung Emperor’s Terrace”, were inscribed onto a boulder at the top of the hill in the Late Qing dynasty.

When Hong Kong was opened to foreign trade, some Western sinologists, Chinese scholars, merchants and residents of the Kowloon City boosted the status of Sung Wong Toi as a historic remnant of the Sung era and urged the British government to preserve the area. In response to their appeal, the government declared the Sacred Hill and Sung Wong Toi monuments in 1899, to save them from damage and exploitation. It was just like what every country is doing nowadays — to fight for the “world heritage” prestige. Later on, Sung Wong Toi was listed as one of the “top ten sites of Hong Kong” and attracted droves of Chinese and Western tourists ever since.