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100 Dollars 2006, Hong Kong

in Krause book Number: 209c
Years of issue: 01.01.2006
Edition: 26 419 946
Signatures: Executive director: Peter Wong
Serie: No Serie
Specimen of: 2003
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 154 x 77
Printer: Hong Kong Note Printing Limited, Hong Kong

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100 Dollars 2006

Description

Watermark:

watermark

HSBC Main Building and denomination 100.

HSBC Main Building is a headquarters building of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which is today a wholly owned subsidiary of London based HSBC Holdings. It is located along the southern side of Statue Square near the location of the old City Hall, Hong Kong (built in 1869, demolished in 1933). The previous HSBC building was built in 1935 and pulled down to make way for the current building. The address remains as 1 Queen's Road Central. The early British settlers in Hong Kong had an interest in Feng Shui; thus, most of the earliest buildings in Hong Kong, and many buildings constructed thereafter, were built with the philosophies of Feng Shui in mind. The Chinese believe that those who have a direct view of a body of water-whether it is a river, a sea, or an ocean-are more likely to prosper than those who do not (water is strongly associated with wealth in Feng Shui). The HSBC building has a wide open area (the Statue Square) in front of it, with no other buildings blocking its view of Victoria Harbour; thus, it is considered to have "good feng shui".

Avers:

100 Dollars 2006

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation lionOne of HSBC lions is on the left side.

Various headquarters and branch buildings of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the HSBC Group, into which the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation has evolved, feature a pair of lion sculptures.

Cast by J W Singer & Sons in the English town of Frome, to a design by Henry Poole RA, these lions had quickly become part of the Shanghai scene, and passers-by would affectionately stroke the lions in the belief that power and money would rub off on them. They became known as Stephen and Stitt: an in-joke. Stephen was named for A G Stephen, formerly Manager Shanghai, and in 1923 the Chief Manager of HSBC, and G H Stitt, the then Manager Shanghai. Stephen is depicted roaring, Stitt quiescent, and again insiders said that this represented the characters of these two famous bankers.

They are seen as one of the key symbols of HSBC, so much so that HSBC is locally known in Hong Kong as "the Lion Bank".

Denominations in numerals are in top corners and in words centered.

Revers:

100 Dollars 2006

The Tsing Ma BridgeThe Tsing Ma Bridge is a bridge in Hong Kong. It is the world's ninth-longest span suspension bridge, and was the second longest at time of completion. The bridge was named after two of the islands at its ends, namely Tsing Yi and Ma Wan. It has two decks and carries both road and rail traffic, which also makes it the largest suspension bridge of this type. The bridge has a main span of 1,377 meters and a height of 206 meters. The span is the largest of all bridges in the world carrying rail traffic.

The 41-metre wide bridge deck carries six lanes of automobile traffic, with three lanes in each direction. The lower level contains two rail tracks and two sheltered carriageways, used for maintenance access and traffic lanes when particularly severe typhoons strike Hong Kong and the bridge deck is closed to traffic.

On the background is the Lantau Link, formerly known as the Lantau Fixed Crossing, is a series of infrastructures linking Hong Kong International Airport to the urban areas in Hong Kong. It was officially opened on 27 April 1997, and it opened to traffic on 22 May the same year.

Denominations are in top left and lower right corners.

Comments:

Special Administrative Region of China since 1997.