Sulphur Channel

{{Short description|Channel near Hong Kong island}}

File:Sulphurchannel 1.JPG

{{Chinese|t=硫磺海峽|p=Liúhuáng Hǎixiá|j=Lau4 Wong4 Hoi2 Haap8}}

File:Sai Wan Swimming Shed 201508.jpg and Little Green Island viewed across Sulphur Channel. The Sai Wan Swimming Shed is visible in the foreground.]]

The Sulphur Channel is a narrow inshore passage between Green Island and the northwest tip (West Point) of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The Sulphur Channel is mainly used by small craft and inter-island ferries passing between Victoria Harbour and the East Lamma Channel.

The channel was named after HMS Sulphur,{{cite book

|year=2002

|last=Bard

|first=Solomon

|chapter=Introduction

|title=Voices from the Past: Hong Kong, 1842-1918

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXtFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1

|publisher=Hong Kong University Press

|isbn=9622095747

|oclc=49785200

|page=1}} a bomb vessel commanded by Edward Belcher who took the first British survey to Hong Kong harbour on 25 January 1841. Captain Belcher left HMS Sulphur with a landing party on 26 January 1841, disembarked on the northern foreshore, and raised the Union Jack over Hong Kong at Possession Point (what is today Hollywood Road Park). After raising a toast to the Queen with his companions, he officially declared the island the property of Her Majesty Queen Victoria and a Colony of the British Empire.{{Cite book |last=Rao |first=Jiucai |title=香港地名探索 |publisher=Cosmos Books Ltd. |year=2003 |isbn=9789629502614 |language=zh |trans-title=Hong Kong Place Name Exploration}}

In the 1990s, the Hong Kong Government had planned to reclaim the channel but withdrew later due to opposition from environmental concern groups.{{Cite web |date=2000-10-15 |title=港府顺应民情保留青洲及硫磺海峡 西区填海大削六成 |trans-title=The Hong Kong government retains Green Island and Sulphur Channel in accordance with the needs of the people, and the reclamation of the western district has greatly reduced by 60% |url=http://pdf.sznews.com/hkcd/2000/1015/newsfile/n1-3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051003201754/http://pdf.sznews.com/hkcd/2000/1015/newsfile/n1-3.htm |archive-date=2005-10-03 |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Hong Kong Commercial Daily |language=zh}}