The Noon Day Gun, located beside the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, has been fired every day at, well, noon – since the tradition started around the 1850s. Apparently, an employee of Jardines trading company fired a one-gun salute when the head of the company sailed into port. The Royal Navy was miffed at the public display, and as penalty the company was ordered to fire the gun at noon every day to signal the time.

The daily ritual begins with the ringing of a bell to signal the end of the morning watch; a Jardines guard in uniform then fires the naval artillery. The practice is immortalized in the 1930s Noel Coward song Mad Dogs and Englishmen (for only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun) and was referenced by Joe Cocker in a live album in 1970. Today the daily firing remains a tourist attraction, but because it lasts for only a few minutes, be sure to be there before noon.