Victoria City
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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 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 and the harbor. It was informally referred to as the capitol of Hong Kong during its time as a colony of the United Kingdom. Many Special Administrative Region government and administrative offices are still located here.
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 meaning to "district" or "neighborhood").
In 1903, six boundary stones were established to mark the City's boundary. These boundary stones are still preserved today. The coverage of the then City included parts of Causeway Bay (north of Causeway Road) and Happy Valley (West of Wong Nei Chong Road on the east side of the Racecourse).
See also
- History of Hong Kong
- List of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong
- Victoria, for a list of places and people called Victoria
- 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 (http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_ind.nsf/E1BF50C09A33D3DC482564840019D2F4/B433C7F894FA9F9E48256648002F6F13?OpenDocument), Cap 1 SCHED 1 of Hong Kong Law
- Article on history of Hong Kong (http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:kZhFEpYoYxIJ:cd.ed.gov.hk/pshe/tc/chihistory/downloads/CH_S1-3_Pkg5_07.doc+%22victoria+city%22++hong+kong+1857&hl=en) (in Chinese)
- Photos of the 1903 boundary stones (http://www.hk-place.com/db.php?post=d007004)
- A article on the "four wans and nine yeuks" in Chinese (http://www.cwfestival.org/images/pdf/history/032.pdf) (Adobe PDF format)
- Another article on "four wans and nine yeuks" (http://szlib.szptt.net.cn/hk97/j2a.htm) (in Simplified Chinese)de:Victoria City