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).
Image:Victoria City and Kowloon 1915.jpg
Victoria City or the City of Victoria (Traditional Chinese: 維多利亞城, abbr. 維城, Simplified Chinese: 维多利亚城; Cantonese Jyutping: wai4 do1 lei6 aa3 sing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Wéiduōlìyà Chéng) 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. It was located in present-day Central area, and was named after Queen Victoria, the then Queen of the United Kingdom in 1843. The name Victoria is rarely used today except to refer to the peak (which is increasingly referred to as simply "The Peak") and the harbour. It was informally referred to as the capital of Hong Kong during its time as a colony of the United Kingdom. Many government and administrative offices of Hong Kong are still located there.
The City originally covered the present-day Central, Admirality and part of Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island. In 1857, the British government expanded the scope of Victoria City and divided it into four "wans". The four wans are Sai Wan (present-day Kennedy Town and Sai Ying Pun, Sheung Wan (present-day Sheung Wan), Choong Wan or Chung Wan (present-day Central) and Ha Wan (present-day Wanchai). The four wans (Literally translates to the English word "rings") are further divided into nine "yeuks" (similar to "district" or "neighbourhood"). The coverage also included parts of East Point and Happy Valley (West of Wong Nei Chong 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.
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
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)de:Victoria City