The shallow mudflat that skirted the two sides of the Lung Tsun Bridge revealed the natural landscape of the Kowloon City coast. Not only was it a mooring for small fishing boats; being an execution ground, it was for the foreigners a must-see tourist spot.

Although the furious gang of Cheung Po Tsai had surrendered to the Qing court long before Hong Kong’s open-up, other pirates were still active. They were a threat to both the Chinese and the British empires, so also to the Hong Kong government. Naturally the three bodies came to terms with each other in cracking down these freebooters. The Dapeng Brigade was especially predatory to pirates — the captured was invariably beheaded.

The Qing officials as a rule would formally invite British representatives to attend the execution, for which almost all foreigners in the Victoria City were burnt with curiosity.

This shallow bank, which was to become the terminal building of the Kai Tak Airport, is now a sandlot as desolate as it was in the beginning…

Foreigners took picture after the execution of the “Namoa pirates” on 17 April 1891. The Namoa liner was hijacked in 1890, but the pirates, some of whom from Shau Kei Wan, were acquitted on the British court because witnesses could not identify the verdicts. Despite that, the Walled City soldiers laid hold of them soon after their release and had them decapitated at the Walled City territory.