Discover

'Victoria City', or the 'City of Victoria', was one of the first urban settlements in Hong Kong after it became a British colony in 1842. It was initially named 'Queenstown' but was soon known as Victoria. The name "Victoria" is rarely used today except to refer to the Victoria Park, The Peak and the harbour. It was often said to be the capital of Hong Kong during its time as a colony of the United Kingdom, as almost all government departments have their head offices located there.

Contents

Location

History

Districts

See also

External links

References

Location

It was located in present-day Central area, and was named after Queen Victoria, the then Queen of the United Kingdom in 1843. The City originally covered the present-day Central, Admirality and part of Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island.

History

In 1857, the British government expanded the scope of Victoria City and divided it into four "''wans''" (環) (Literally translates to the English word "rings"). The four ''wans'' are ''Sai Wan'' ("West Ring" in Chinese, present-day Sai Wan, including Kennedy Town, Shek Tong Tsui, and Sai Ying Pun), ''Sheung Wan'' ("Upper Ring" in Chinese, present-day Sheung Wan), ''Choong Wan'' or ''Chung Wan'' ("Central Ring" in Chinese, present-day Central) and ''Ha Wan'' ("Lower Ring" in Chinese, present-day Wan Chai). Except "Ha Wan"; "Sai Wan", "Sheung Wan" and "Choong Wan" retain the same name in Chinese today.
The four ''wans'' are further divided into nine "''yeuks''" (約) (similar to "district" or "neighbourhood"). The coverage also included parts of East Point and Happy Valley (West of Wong Nai Chung Road on the east side of the Racecourse). In 1903, six boundary stones were established to mark the City's boundary and are still preserved today. The stones began from Happy Valley to Pok Fu Lam^[1].
In the 1890s the city was a capital extending 4 miles long. Buildings were made of granite and bricks. Omnibuses and the the newly arriving tramways would become the main form of transportation in the area^[2].

Districts

Also called ''yeuks''.

★ Shektongtsui

★ Sai Ying Poon

★ Taipingshan

★ Sheung Wan

★ Choong Wan (today's Central)

★ Ha Wan (today's Admiralty)

★ Wan Chai

★ Bowrington (between today's Wan Chai and Causeway Bay)

★ Soo Kun Po

See also

★ Praya

★ History of Hong Kong

★ List of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong

★ List of places named for Queen Victoria, for a list of places named after Queen Victoria

External links

★ Boundary of the City of Victoria as defined in Hong Kong Laws, Cap 1 SCHED 1 of Hong Kong Law

★ Article on history of Hong Kong (in Chinese)

★ Photos of the 1903 boundary stones

★ A article on the "four wans and nine yeuks" in Chinese (Adobe PDF format)

★ Another article on "four wans and nine yeuks" (in Simplified Chinese)

References

1. Wordie, Jason. [2002] (2002) Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-2095631
2. Sanderson, Edgar. [1897] (1897) The British Empire in the Ninteenth Century: Its Progress and Expansion at Home and Abroad. Blackie publishing. No ISBN digitalized doc from Stanford university