as seen from Battery Path. During the
First Opium War, the
British occupied
Hong Kong in 1841, and—one year later— the territory was ceded to them in the
Treaty of Nanking. The new administration chose the site around present-day Battery Path to build its headquarters and defences. Construction on the path was completed in approximately 1841, at around the same time that its namesake—
Murray Battery—was built. At the time, both the path and the battery were located on
Hong Kong Island's waterfront with
Victoria Harbour. However, it is now situated much farther inland due to the amount of
land reclamation that has been undertaken since its opening. During the early twentieth century, the path was popular with—and frequented daily by—
sedan chair drivers, who would take advantage of the shade provided by the
banyan that lined the sides of the road. Although the use of sedan chairs ceased after the 1960s, the trees remain in the same place. ==Description and features==