page_title: Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Hong Kong Botanic Garden Fountain at night
context_page_description: The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens is one of the oldest zoological and botanical centres in the world. It occupies an area of 5.6 hectares at Mid-levels, on the northern slope of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. Founded in 1864, its first stage was opened to the public in 1871. It is the oldest park in Hong Kong.
  Similar to Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens provides a natural environment and atmosphere in Central District. It is bigger than Hong Kong Park and contains more plants, birds and facilities.
context_section_description: The park was previously named Bing Tau Fa Yuen (「兵頭花園」). "Bing Tau" literally means "the head of the soldiers" or the "Commander-in-Chief". According to Hong Kong's Leisure and Cultural Services Department, it was nicknamed as such by the city's Chinese community, as it was the former site of the city's Government House. Others said Bing Tau was just the phonetic transliteration of the first two syllables of the word botanical. In the old days, many lovers liked to go there on a date. During the Japanese occupation, it was renamed as Taishō Kōen (Hiragana:たいしょうこうえん, Kanji: 大正公園).
caption: Garden Fountain at night
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "SAMSUNG TECHWIN", "Image Model": "NV24HD, VLUU NV24HD, LANDIAO NV106HD", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "808011", "Image DateTime": "2012:08:06 19:39:07", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "274", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "17364", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "17505", "EXIF ExposureTime": "16/5", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:08:06 19:39:07", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:08:06 19:39:07", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "153/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "43/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "768", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "17220", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "6652", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "6652", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}