Victoria City
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- There were historical provincial and federal electoral districts with the name Victoria City in the Canadian province of British Columbia. For the federal electoral district see Victoria City (electoral district) and for the provincial district see Victoria City (provincial electoral district).
| Victoria City | ||
|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese: | 維多利亞城 | |
| Mandarin | ||
| Hanyu Pinyin: | Wéiduōlìyà Chéng | |
| Cantonese | ||
| Jyutping: | wai4 do1 lei6 aa3 sing4 | |
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 and the harbour. It was misquoted as the capital of Hong Kong during its time as a colony of the United Kingdom, but many government and administrative offices of Hong Kong are located there.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] 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. Omnibus and the the newly arriving tramways would become the main form of transportation in the area[2].
[edit] 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
[edit] See also
- 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
[edit] 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)
[edit] References
- ^ Wordie, Jason. [2002] (2002) Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-2095631
- ^ 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
