All language subtitles for Great Asian Railway Journeys Series 1 01of20 Kowloon to Wan Chai 1080p

published at the height
of European imperialism.

My 100-year-old guidebook will lead
me on a railway adventure

dotted with hills, forests

and paddy fields.

I'll tour towering megacities

and magnificent mosques.

I'll encounter golden Buddhas
and jewelled temples

and experience some of the world's
most spectacular

and notorious railways.

As I travel through the diverse
nations of this vast region,

I'll learn how they asserted
their independence

against the British, French
and Dutch empires to become

the economic tigers
and dragons of today.

My 2,500-mile exploration
of Southeast Asia

begins in Hong Kong.

My Bradshaw's, 1913, tells me
that Hong Kong is the chief centre

for British commerce in China
and the most important

military and naval station
in the Far East.

It is the principal port
of the British Empire.

The tonnage being more than double
that of London.

Britain had won it after
a disgraceful war,

but its permissive Government

allowed the economic dynamism
of the Chinese population

to make it into a great success.

When Britain gave up control
in 1997,

the People's Republic of China
agreed to respect its autonomy.

But in recent years, the anxiety
of Hong Kongers to preserve

their separateness has led to mass
demonstrations,

which Beijing dislikes and fears.

My first port of call
will be the Kowloon Peninsula

before I cross Victoria Harbour
to Hong Kong Island.

I'll head north to visit the walled
villages of the New Territories

and west to the remote and tranquil
Lantau Island.

On my travels, I hear what British
colonisation meant for Hong Kong.

They had transformed what was once
referred to as a barren island

into an international metropolis.

Learn the traditional art
of noodle making...

I hope no-one comes in now.

..and discover the extent of
Britain's railway ambition in Asia.

The British were building
railways all across China.

They wanted Hong Kong's position
as the main port in southern China

to be strengthened.

This global trading
and financial hub

sits on one of the world's
finest natural harbours.

Flanked by mountains and sea,

Hong Kong's 420 square miles
are home

to seven and a half million
people.

It's one of the most densely
populated places in the world.

When Britain returned Hong Kong
to China in 1997,

the territory became a Chinese
Special Administrative Region

with a distinct political system.

I've alighted at Kowloon.

Hong Kong first impressions -

with about 9,000 high rise
buildings -

eat your heart out,
New York City.

I'm in the Avenue of Stars

where Hong Kongers
celebrate their cinema industry.

The waterfront promenade
overlooks Victoria Harbour

and Hong Kong Island beyond.

The first Chinese war, the Opium
War, says Bradshaw's,

terminated in 1842

by the cession of Hong Kong Island
to England

and the opening of Chinese ports
to British trade.

A journey through colonial history
is an uncomfortable ride

past imperial atrocities
at a time when both the Chinese

and the British
felt racially superior.

But Britain's war to impose
its opium upon China

was one of its least noble ventures.

It's pointless trying to apply
the values of the 21st century

to the 19th.

The conflict gave Hong Kong
to Britain

and this has been the result.

To understand the role that opium
played in British colonial rule,

I'm meeting historian
Doctor Chi Chi Huang.

Chi Chi, in the 1830s and 1840s,
why was it so important to Britain

to send opium to China?
In the 19th century,

the East India Company were trading
with China and they were importing

a lot of tea, porcelain and silks
to Britain and they were paying

the Chinese government,

the Qing government then,
in silver.

And of course,
this is really expensive.

They were running out of silver.

And so the East India Company
imported opium from India into China

as a way of addressing
this trade imbalance.

The merchants of the British East
India Company made good profits

on Chinese goods, but the Chinese
weren't interested in acquiring

British products in return.

They wanted only silver.

So this powerful corporation,
and others, smuggled

Indian opium into China.

Customers paid in silver,
which was used to buy the tea.

By 1839, sales of opium to China
funded Britain's entire tea trade.

Within a year,

ten million Chinese people

were addicted to opium
and China took steps

to impound and destroy it.

Britain responded with the full
might of the Royal Navy,

blockading and besieging
Chinese ports

and forcing China into submission.

What was the result of the war?

So after some back and forth,
Captain Charles Elliot decides

to conclude the war.

A treaty was signed to hand over
this island of Hong Kong to Britain.

How would you describe at the time
the British attitude to the Chinese

and the Chinese attitude
to the British?

There was a big misunderstanding
in cultural perception.

So the British believed
the Chinese to be quite stubborn.

They refused to trade with them.

How dare they?

The Chinese government did really
believe that they were the centre

of the world and that they didn't
need the outside world.

The island didn't look like this
then, what was it like?

It was basically a fishing island.

There wasn't any infrastructure
as we know it now.

The British were very quick
to bring in roads.

The land was reclaimed
into the sea here.

So there was a lot more flat
land to build on

rather than just steep hills.

And it was a lot greener.
By the time of my guide book,

what had the British managed
to make of Hong Kong?

They had transformed what was once
referred to as a barren island

into an international metropolis.

It was the third most busy port city
after London and Liverpool

by the turn of the 20th century.
They were very proud of it.

It was almost an example
of what a good British tropical city

should look like
and should function like.

I'm leaving the Kowloon Peninsula
to explore the area

surrendered to the British
after the first Opium War.

Off to Hong Kong Island.

And surely there's only
one way to go.

50,000 people a day can't be wrong.

Take the ferry.

The ferry is one of the things
you have to do when you visit.

These boats have been going back
and forth since 1888.

And until 1972,
when they built a road tunnel,

this was the only practical
way to make the journey.

And what a way to see
this extraordinary island.

I've arrived in the district
of Central on Hong Kong Island -

the first area to be colonised
by the British in 1842.

Today, it's the financial
and retail district

and home to the Hong Kong
and Shanghai Bank,

founded in 1865
by Scottish shipping merchant

Thomas Sutherland to finance
the colony's growing trade.

The bank's present building,
designed by Norman Foster,

is an icon of the city skyline.

Amidst this density of buildings,

and in humidity that tops 80%
in the summer,

Hong Kong's climate is challenging.
To escape the mugginess,

I'm making a journey suggested
in my guidebook, which begins

just ten minutes' walk away
from the HSBC building.

Bradshaw's tells me that
in the hot season,

people live in bungalows
at The Peak,

where quite a town has grown
up connected with the city

by the funicular rail.

It's now rather misleadingly called
the Peak Tram, but it's a survivor

and the technology is the same.

And in a moment, it will
whisk me nearly 400 metres

for an unforgettable view
of Hong Kong.

At the time of my Bradshaw's,
the highest mountain in Hong Kong,

The Peak, was reserved for
privileged expatriates to retreat

from the scorching summer heat.
Before the advent of the funicular,

in 1888, wealthy residents
were carried up

by Chinese bearers.

Bradshaw's tells me that the usual
conveyances are sedan chairs

and the image of wiry Chinese
toiling up The Peak

carrying portly Europeans is a kind
of stereotype of empire.

And it makes me relieved
that the funicular would at least

have made it unnecessary
going up the mountain.

The Peak Tram was the first cable
funicular railway in Asia.

On its first day, 600 people took
the journey to the top.

By the end of its first year,
it had carried 150,000 passengers.

You think when you are amongst
those high buildings

you can't get higher, but you can
when you're at The Peak.

The bright lights of the ultimate
metropolis.

This is one of 14 Rolls-Royce
Phantoms bought by my hotel in 2006.

The manufacturer's largest
ever single order.

The paintwork is in
Peninsula green.

I've returned to Kowloon.

Welcome to Peninsula.
Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you.

The Peninsula Hotel built
beside the quays where liners

from all over the world docked
and next to the railway station,

which was the terminus of
the Trans-Siberian Railway.

When it opened its doors in 1928,

it was intended to be the most
luxurious hotel east of Suez.

There were regular tea dances
and nightly dinner and dancing.

I'll settle for air conditioning

and a view.

I've spent the night
in Hong Kong's oldest hotel.

The Peninsula Hotel, with its
magnificent views, is named

after the Kowloon Peninsula,
which was ceded to Britain by China

in 1860 after the second Opium War
in a very unequal treaty.

The hotel served as the headquarters
for Japan after it seized the colony

and the British Governor

was humiliated in a surrender
ceremony

on the third floor
below us on Christmas Day, 1941.

The hotel had been founded by two
Jewish brothers from Iraq,

and at the end of the Second World
War, Jews who had fled Europe

were being repatriated through
Hong Kong and were invited to sleep

in the hotel ballroom.

This region has been described
as the Far East,

but Hong Kong has always been very
close to British interests.

Over the road from the hotel,
I've spotted an intriguing remnant

of the colonial era.

Now, here's a mystery - a solitary
clock tower by the water's edge.

Would anyone build such a noble,
soaring structure to stand alone?

I think not.

And who needed to know the time?

Railway passengers, slaves
to their Bradshaw's timetables,

scurrying towards relentlessly
punctual trains.

I have a nose for the site
of a former railway station.

And although not a brick remains
excepting the clock tower,

I'm sure that there was one here,
and my guide book tells me

that the Kowloon to Canton Railway
opened towards the end of 1911.

Adonis Min Yan Li, from
the University of Hong Kong,

is writing his PhD on railway
history in the region.

Hello, Michael, nice to meet you.
Very good to meet you.

My guidebook tells me
that the railway line into Kowloon

opened only in 1911, which is quite
late for a railway because Hong Kong

was already well connected.

Yeah. Hong Kong had many connections

by sea and by river
and there were actually

early plans for a railway

all the way back
in the mid-19th century,

but those never materialised.

What about railway building
in China, generally?

Had other railways been built?

There were many foreign concessions
that were granted to various

countries to build these railways.

For example, you had the Chinese
Eastern Railway up in the north.

That linked the Trans-Siberian
Railway to Manchuria

and then Vladivostok. The other
railway lines in China,

who'd been building them?

You had Germans in the north west.

You had Russians up in north China.

You also had the French
in the south west as well.

And of course, the British
were building railways all across China.

The Germans, Russians, French.

Did the British in Hong Kong
feel threatened

by these imperial competitors?

Certainly there were British
merchants

and Chinese merchants that wanted
a connection from Hong Kong to Canton.

And they wanted the trunk line
to have its southern terminus

in Hong Kong and nowhere else.

They wanted Hong Kong's position
as the main port in southern China

to be strengthened.

The construction of the line
from Canton, present day Guangzhou,

to Hong Kong was plagued
with problems.

The mountainous terrain
was challenging.

It took five years to build
the track and cost

more than double the estimate.

Kowloon Station eventually
opened in 1916.

I've guessed that the old railway
terminus was here.

What was it like?

So this was a massive, red brick
building right in the centre

of the urban area of Kowloon.

But unfortunately, in the 1970s,
due to the need for land,

the station was demolished.

Well, was it quite an attractive
station, would you say?

I'd say so. Red brick buildings,

in fact clock towers
are hard to come by in Hong Kong.

So it was definitely an attraction
in itself.

And it was possible to travel
from Europe to Hong Kong by train.

Tell me about that journey.

Yep, you would have taken
the Trans-Siberian Railway

across the Great Eurasian Plains
and the Great Eurasian continent,

made a connection at Beijing
and come down here to Hong Kong.

Although that would have been
a long journey,

it would still have been
quicker than coming by sea.

Yes, and as a railway historian,
a lot more exciting

than travelling by boat.

Exactly so.

The old terminus has gone.

Today, Hong Kong is connected to
the rest of China

by high speed trains and travellers

begin their 1,000 mile
journey to Beijing

from a new station in Kowloon.

Hong Kong West Kowloon High
Speed Station -

an extremely futuristic structure

that, to me, looks a little bit
like a giant squid, but it also

intrigues me to know
what lies inside.

Opened in 2018, the station's
giant curtain wall features

over 4,000 glass panels.

It's the largest underground,
high-speed

rail station in the world.

Well, the station with these curved
ceiling beams

and the splayed
columns really is spectacular.

Minutes after they depart
this station, trains leave

the Special Administrative Region
of Hong Kong.

So along with the ticket offices
and waiting halls,

there's also a checkpoint.

Railways are political.

The British used them throughout
their empire to carry away jewels

and silks and spices to Europe
and to rush troops

to quell rebellions.

This high-speed line
is controversial,

partly because a village was swept
away in its construction,

partly because
it overran its budget.

And this station does seem
to be several times bigger

than is strictly necessary,
but mainly because in part

of the station down below, officials
of the People's Republic of China

enforce their own national laws,

which many here regard
as an infringement

of Hong Kong's sovereignty.

Behind the new station,

the backstreets of Kowloon

are packed with traditional
Cantonese eateries.

I've arranged to meet a restaurant
owner who makes his noodles

in a way that would have been
familiar to the Bradshaw traveller.

Hello. Hello.

Can you help me, please?
I'm looking for Cheong...

This way? OK.

This way?

Going out again.

The Sham Shui Po district
is a working class area

of densely packed restaurants and
apartment buildings.

I don't know where we're going.

Firmly off the beaten track now.

Oh.

Thank you. Thank you.

After you, after you.

This can't be right.

We're going to a flat.

Oh, wow.

Really?

Ah!

Hello.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We found him. OK.

I make the noodle here.

Oh, my goodness, wow.

But your home is completely,
well, covered in flower dust.

You have sacks of flour everywhere.

This is your noodle
factory at home.

Yeah. It's an old-style

noodle factory at home in Hong Kong.

It's, it's amazing.

Has this been in
your family for a long time?

Yeah. From my grandfather.

Yeah.

And is there a traditional way
of making noodles

and then a modern way of making
noodles?

It's the old-style technique
of making noodle by bamboo.

No. I can't imagine what that means.
Can you show me? How do you do it?

OK.

This one?
Yeah, that's the one.

This I don't believe.

HE LAUGHS

I'm in a fifth floor flat
with a man I've never met before

who's bouncing up and down
on a bamboo pole to make noodles.

This is amazing.

Can I try that? Yeah, sure.

Yeah. One by one.

Like this? Yeah.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

I hope no-one comes in now.

Oh, that is exhausting.

In this heat. Good.

So how many times do you do
that? Again and again?

Again and again,
six to eight times.

Wow.

So is it the best restaurants
that use handmade noodles?

Is it a matter of taste? Do some
people love to have noodles

that are made
in the old-fashioned way?

Yes, I think so.

Do they taste better?

Yeah, absolutely.

My father say, dancing in the mouth.

That's a nice expression.
A noodle dancing in the mouth...

..after the noodle maker has danced
on the bamboo pole. Yeah.

Back at the noodle restaurant,

I'm eager to taste
the results of my efforts.

Hello.

Thank you.

Ah! Thank you very much.

A lovely wonton noodle
soup with dumplings

of pork and shrimp and noodles.

Hmm.

Very good.

A little crunchy.

Dancing in the mouth.

Next time, I meet a descendant of
one of Hong Kong's oldest dynasties.

Your family has been here
how long?

Over a thousand years.

Learn about the father of
modern China.

He's the person who came
and make change in a huge way.

And discover why Hong Kongers
are protesting.

20 years after the handover,
we're not being given

what was promised.

The anger and the frustration is
there and it's escalating.