Noonday Gun

2011年3月上旬に香港へ行ったときのものです。
Wikipediaによると、

Now part of Causeway Bay, the location on which the Noonday Gun is located was known as East Point. East Point was the first plot of land in Hong Kong to be sold by the colonial government by public auction in 1841, and was purchased by Jardine Matheson.[2] Due to a change in geographical profile caused by later land reclamation in Hong Kong, the name East Point is now disused.
The tradition originated over an incident in the 1860s. Jardines' main godowns and offices were located at East Point, and its private militia would fire a gun salute to welcome a Jardines tai-pans' arrival by sea. On one occasion, a senior British naval officer became annoyed by this practice because he was new to Hong Kong did not know of the such tradition.[2] This was because such a salute was normally reserved for government officials and senior officers of the armed services. As a result, Jardines was ordered to fire a gun every day at noon, for perpetuity.[3]
In 1941, during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Japanese Imperial Army dismantled the gun and it was lost. After British forces regained Hong Kong in 1945, the Royal Navy provided Jardines with a new six-pound gun with which to continue the tradition of the noon-day gun. On 1 July 1947, the Noonday gun was back in operation.[4] Following complaints that the gun is too loud, in 1961 the marine police replaced the six-pound gun with a Hotchkiss three-pounder that saw action in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War.[2]

Noonday Gun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia　より

え？
英語で分からないって？
全く仕方が無いですね。
訳しましょうか。

1841年，怡和洋行從港英政府購得東角岸邊土地，興建渣甸貨倉，並設有貨運碼頭，作為起卸貨船上貨物的用途。為對付海盜，怡和洋行便於該處設立一座炮台。而每有大班抵港或離港，都會鳴放禮炮以示禮意。
到了1850年代的某一日，怡和洋行的總經理羅拔渣甸爵士剛從英國回到香港，員工便鳴放代表最高敬意的21響禮炮。然而，此舉引起了英軍不滿，認為怡和洋行只是商行，無權鳴放禮炮。怡和洋行為表歉意，便負責於每日中午12時鳴放禮炮報時，以作自我懲罰。當時的禮炮長3呎，炮聲遍及維多利亞港的兩岸。
1941年12月，日軍佔領香港，將大炮奪去，至今下落不明。1945年香港重光後，英國海軍向怡和洋行送贈一門可發射6磅重炮彈之大炮，使怡和午炮的傳統能夠延續。1947年7月1日，怡和午炮恢復正常運作。1961年有附近居民投訴午炮炮聲過響，水警收去原有大炮，代以一門發射3磅重炮彈之速射炮，該炮一直沿用至今。

怡和午炮 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书　より

人によってはもっとわからないですね。
すみません。