Victoria City

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, the harbour and a number of roads and streets. 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.

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, jyutping: waan4, pinyin: huàn, literally 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, jyutping: joek3, pinyin: yuē, 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, boundary stones were established to mark the City's boundary and six of them are still preserved today. The stones spread from Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town^[1].

In the 1890s the city was a capital extending 4 miles long. Buildings were made of granite and bricks. Buses and 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

Coordinates: 22°16′42″N, 114°10′28″Ede:Victoria City io:Victoria (Hong Kong) lt:Siangangdao pl:Victoria (Hongkong) pt:Cidade de Victoriazh-yue:維多利亞城