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Urban Council [Hong Kong]

Sanitary Board

See also:

Urban Council

by John Ma

The Sanitary Board was formed in 1883, and was renamed Urban Council in 1935. Its role was expanded to the maintenance of markets, cultural and sporting facilities in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. In the 1960s it assumed a coat-of-arms which I would describe as: "Or (yellow) a bauhinia blossom proper (natural colour, i.e. magenta), a chief azure (blue), on a wreath azure and argent (silver) a demi-lion crowned or holding a pearl proper." Therefore the crest of the coat-of-arms of the colony of Hong Kong appears inside the chief of the shield. Since the 1970s a simpler device was used instead, a hollow bauhinia blossom with thick magenta or red outline. Since the 1980s this badge appeared on the flag of the Urban Council, which was a magenta flag with a *magenta* bauhinia blossom with thick *white* outline. Proportions 1:2. In all three cases the bauhinia had five petals, the top one larger than the two underneath, which in turn were larger than the bottom two. The Urban Council became the Provisional Urban Council immediately after the Handover to China, and was abolished in December 1999.
Miles Li, 8 November 2002