Hong Kong Racing Museum

      The Happy Valley Racecourse is one of the two racecourses for horse racing and is a tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It is located in Happy Valley on Hong Kong Island, surrounded by Wong Nai Chung Road and Morrison Hill Road.

One of Hong Kong’s most enduring and popular pastimes is cheering on galloping horses at the track.

Horseracing has been a strong feature of the city’s living culture since the 19^thcentury, and the Hong Kong Racing Museum is there to preserve and celebrate this slice of Hong Kong’s heritage.

The museum adjoins the stands of the world-famous Happy Valley Racecourse and traces the locals’ love affair with the ponies by charting the history of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

       Happy Valley is an upper-income residential area in Hong Kong, located on Hong Kong Island. Administratively, it is part of Wan Chai District.

The area is sometimes known as Wong Nai Chung Kuk (黃泥涌谷) or Wong Nai Chung Valley because of the, Wong Nai Chung (黃泥涌, lit. yellow mud stream), that leads into the area.

The area is home to the Happy Valley Racecourse, Hong Kong Racing Museum, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, and a number of cemeteries including the Hong Kong Cemetery.

History

The area now known as Happy Valley was formerly known as Wong Nai Chung Valley, where the Wong Nai Chung referred to is a mud-filled river collecting waters from the Wong Nai Chung Gap and surrounding area. The river nourished the rice paddies until the construction of Happy Valley Racecourse in 1846.

In early 1840, the British Army set a military camp in the area. However, the camp was later closed due to the increasing number of soldiers succumbing to malaria. The cause of malaria was unknown at the time and the soldiers apparently suffered a then-unknown fever. Early settlers had suggested the area to be used as a business centre, but the idea was shelved due to the valley's marshy environment, which was causing fatal diseases. The death rate in the area and Victoria City was high in the early colonial days, and the valley became a burial ground for the dead. As a result, the valley was renamed as Happy Valley, a common euphemism for cemeteries. In 1846, the British felt that the valley terrain was ideal for horse-racing, and thus cleared the paddy fields and developed the Happy Valley Racecourse. For this, the Wong Nai Chung river was redirected to the Bowrinton Canal, known as Ngo Keng Kan (鵝頸澗) locally, concurrent with reclamation of Wan Chai. The canal is now covered by Canal Road.

On 26 February 1918, there was a fire in the racecourse and claimed at least 590 lives. By the next day as many as 576 confirmed deaths were reported by the Hong Kong Telegraph. It was caused by the collapse of a temporary grandstand, which knocked over food stalls and set bamboo matting ablaze. Most of the dead bodies became unrecognizable and assumed to be "Chinese". They were buried in the nearby So Kon Po area (now the site of Hong Kong Stadium). A Chinese-styled memorial site known as "Race Course Fire Memorial" was built in the Chinese cemetery (now behind the east stand of the stadium).

In 1922, the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital located in Happy Valley started operation.

On 19 December 1941, the Japanese Imperial Army entered the hill east of the valley and captured the British bunker on the strategic Wong Nai Chung Gap. Hundreds of soldiers lost their lives and dead bodies were thrown into the stream of Wong Nai Chung which would flow down the valley. The river passed through a pool (now Blue Pool Road) where tens of civilians were executed on the following days.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Archive and Museum

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Archive and Museum (or Hong Kong Racing Museum) was set up in 1995 and opened on 18 October 1996. It is now located on the second floor of the Happy Valley Stand of the racecourse.

There are four galleries in the museum:

• The Origin of Our Horses: Shows the migration route horses travelled in the early days from the northern part of China to Hong Kong.
• Shaping Sha Tin: Exhibits the history of construction of Sha Tin Racecourse.
• Understanding Horses: Exhibits the skeleton of the three-time Hong Kong Champion Silver Lining.
• Thematic Exhibitions: The history of the Jockey Club is exhibited. Selected charitable organizations and community projects supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust are also displayed in this gallery.

There is also a cinema and a souvenir shop in the museum.

How to get there.

• MTR Causeway Bay Station, Exit A. Walk along Matheson Street to Wong Nai Chung Road and then continue to walk for approximately 15 minutes.
• Bus 75, 90 or 97 from Exchange Square bus terminus (near MTR Hong Kong Station, Exit D). Alight outside the museum. 

 Address: 2/F, Happy Valley Stand, Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island

Tel:+852 2966 8065

Website: entertainment.hkjc.com

source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Valley_Racecourse