I'm in China, but it certainly feels like I'm in Great Britain.
我现在是在中国,但我真的有种在英国的感觉。
Hong Kong, under British rule, has grown a modern western city in an eastern setting.
在英国的统治下,香港逐渐发展成了东方环境下一座颇具西方特色的现代化城市。
And right in the center of downtown Hong Kong are the British Cricket Club grounds.
香港市中心的是英国板球俱乐部的所在地。
Cricket has been played on these grounds since 1880.
自1880年以来,这里就一直有人打板球。
Hong Kong is a peculiar place.
香港是一个非常奇特的地方。
It's a British colony until just 1997 and because of that the British culture here is so visible.
1997年前香港一直是英国的殖民地,正因如此,香港的英国文化才如此普遍。
This ferry was set up by the British in 1888.
这艘渡轮是英国人1888年建造的。
Day and night the 5 star ferry comes and goes, providing core harbor transportation.
这艘五星级渡轮日以继夜地进港出港,承担着两岸主要的港口运输工作。
These trams, brought over by the British in the early 1900s.
这些电车也是英国人20世纪初带过来的。
If you go to London, you'll see double-decker buses that actually look exactly like the buses here.
如果你去伦敦,你在那边看到的双层巴士其实跟这边的差不多。
Do you notice what side of the road they're driving on?
注意到车辆是靠哪边行驶的了吗?
So many of the street names,road names, are British.
好多好多的街道、马路都是用英国人的名字命名的。
The famous Happy Valley racetrack, reputedly the most beautiful in the east.
著名的跑马地赛马场,据说是东方最美丽的赛马场。
Rolling through this park and I stumbled upon a legit bowling green, a place where they play bowls.
穿过这个公园,我意外地来到了一个正规的草地保龄球球场,他们香港人打保龄球的地方。
Old, old, old, British sport.
这是一项非常非常非常古老的英式运动。
That is just right here in the middle of Hong Kong.
这项运动也来到了这里,来到了香港的腹地。
The British brought good administration and a gracious way of living.
英国人带来了清明的吏治,和优雅的生活方式。
Typified by these homes and apartments on Victoria Peak.
最典型的例子就是这些位于太平山顶的住宅和公寓。
Around the late 1600s, early 1700s, Britain started trading with China.
大约在17世纪末,18世纪初,英国开始与中国展开贸易。
China had all sorts of stuff that the West wanted; porcelain, silk.
中国有西方想要的各种物品;瓷器、丝绸。
But there was one thing that Britain loved more than anything else: the herb called tea.
但英国最喜欢的要数一种叫做“茶”的药草。
China was really the only place on earth that was producing tea on a massive scale
当时,中国的确是世界上唯一大量种植茶叶的地方,
and the people back in Britain became totally hooked on it.
而英国那群人又对这种东西如痴如醉。
But there was one snag for the British government when it came to the tea trade,
然而,在茶叶贸易问题上,英国政府面前有一个障碍,
which is that the Chinese emperor would only take pure silver bullion,
那就是中国皇帝只接受纯银锭,
basically coins and like bars of silver, in exchange for tea.
差不多就是银币或银条,来换取茶叶。
That was the deal and the British were fine with that,
这就是交换的条件,而英国人也欣然接受了,
they were like whatever man,we'll pay for this, it's such a valuable thing.
他们好像觉得,随你便,我们给钱就是了,毕竟是茶叶这么宝贝的东西。
Eventually britain's treasury ran really low on silver and it became a national crisis
最终,英国财政部的银两变得奇缺,甚至还演变成了一场全国性的危机,
so Britain came up with a horribly unethical solution to their tea silver problem.
因此,英国想到了一个非常不道德的方法来解决他们的茶叶换银两的贸易问题
They started smuggling in opium, the highly addictive narcotic that was illegal in China.
他们开始走私鸦片,鸦片是一种非常容易令人上瘾的麻醉剂,而且鸦片在中国是非法的。
Britain would sell this opium in exchange for Chinese silver, which they then used to buy tea
英国就出售这种鸦片,来换取中国的白银,然后再用换来的白银买茶叶,
and this was the solution to their problem: an illegal drug trade, which is just mind-blowing to me.
这就是他们想的办法:非法的毒品交易,想想都让人觉得震惊。
Eventually, the Chinese government caught on to this illegal drug trade and they cracked down.
最终,中国政府识破了这场非法的毒品交易,并开始打击毒品交易活动。
They seized all the opium and threw twenty thousand chests of opium into the sea.
他们没收了所有的鸦片,往海里扔了足足两万箱的鸦片。
Britain wasn't happy about China seizing all of its opium,
英国对中国夺取了他们的鸦片感到不悦,
so it showed up with its big gunboats and started a war, the Opium Wars.
便带着他们的大型炮舰对中国发动了战争 - 也就是鸦片战争。