City of Victoria 維多利亞市 Victoria | |
|---|---|
 Praya Central of the City of Victoria, 1870s | |
_(cropped).png) Current day boundary of Victoria City (2023) | |
| Dependent territory |  Hong Kong |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Founded as a town | 25 January 1841 (1841-1-25) |
| Incorporated as a city | 11 May 1849 (1849-5-11)[1] |
| Founded by | British Hong Kong,Charles Elliot |
| Elevation | 552 m (1,811 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+08:00 (HKT) |
| City of Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 維多利亞市 維多利亞城 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 维多利亚市 维多利亚城 | ||||||||||||||
| CantoneseYale | Wàih dō leih a shíh Wàih dō leih a shìhng | ||||||||||||||
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TheCity of Victoria,[2] (Chinese:維多利亞市,[3] or維多利亞城)[4] often calledVictoria City or simplyVictoria (Chinese:維城), was thede facto capital ofHong Kong duringits time as a British dependent territory.[5] It was initially namedQueenstown but was soon known as Victoria.[6] It was one of the first urban settlements in Hong Kong and its boundaries are recorded in the Laws of Hong Kong.[7] All government bureaux and many key departments still have their head offices located within its limit.
Present-dayCentral is at the heart of Victoria City. Although the city expanded over much of what is nowKennedy Town,Shek Tong Tsui,Lung Fu Shan,Sai Ying Pun,Sheung Wan,Wan Chai,Happy Valley, theMid-Levels,East Point and parts ofCauseway Bay,[8] the nameVictoria has been eclipsed byCentral in popular usage.[9] However, the name is still used in places such asVictoria Park,Victoria Peak,Victoria Harbour,Victoria Prison, anda number of roads and streets. It is also retained in the names of various organisations such as the Victoria City District of theHong Kong Scout,[10] and the Victoria Junior Chamber.[11] The name Victoria District Court had been used into the 1980s,[12][13][14][15] when it was moved to theWanchai Tower and combined with otherdistrict courts in the territory.
"City of Victoria" had appeared on the statute books early in the 1845,[16] although names such as "Town of Victoria" can be found as well.[17] Letters patent that formally confers the city status and creates the City of Victoria was made on 11 May 1849.[1]
In 1857, the British government expanded the scope of Victoria City and divided it into fourwans (Chinese:環;Jyutping:waan4;lit. 'rings'):
"Sai Wan", "Sheung Wan" and "Choong Wan" retain the same Chinese name today. The fourwans are further divided into nineyeuks (約, similar to 'district' or 'neighbourhood'). The coverage also included parts ofEast Point andHappy Valley (west of Wong Nai Chung Road on the east side ofthe racecourse). In 1903, boundary stones were established to mark the city's boundary and six of them are still preserved today. The stones spread fromCauseway Bay to Kennedy Town.[18]
In the 1890s, Victoria extended four miles west to east along the coastal strip. Buildings were made ofgranite and brick. Buses andthe new tramway would become the main form of transportation in the area.[19]
The city is centred in present-day Central, and named afterQueen Victoria in 1843. It occupies the areas known in modern times as Central,Admiralty, Sheung Wan, Wan Chai,East Point, Shek Tong Tsui, theMid-levels,the Peak, Happy Valley,Tin Hau, and Kennedy Town, onHong Kong Island.
_(cropped)_edited.png)
The city boundaries are defined in the laws of Hong Kong as follows:[2]
According to the 1845 map of Victoria City, 16 streets were initially named for the city. These streets exist mainly in the areas of Central and the Mid-Levels, with two being in Sheung Wan. These street names were finalised by the secondGovernor of Hong Kong,Sir John Francis Davis. All 16 streets were named after persons of great prominence in Great Britain or in Hong Kong, with the location and layout determined according to the position and prominence of the eponymous person:
In 1903, the Hong Kong Government erected several boundary stones to mark the limits of Victoria, measuring 98 cm in height, tapered at the top and with the inscription "City Boundary 1903". As the city’s boundaries were clearly defined by ordinance, these stones were more just physical markers.[20]
Three additional boundary stones were found in 2021,[21] adding the total of discovered stones to 10, including the one disappeared in June 2007.[22]
| No. | Location | Region | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Sai Ning Street | Kennedy Town | Re-erected into Kennedy Town Temporary Playground a few metres away from original location in 1970s[23] |
| 2 |  | Slope ofMount Davis, south ofVictoria Road | Mount Davis | Discovered on 12 December 2021[21] |
| 3 |  | Pokfulam Road, nearSmithfield | Sandy Bay Gap | |
| 4 |  | Slope ofLung Fu Shan, nearHatton Road | Lung Fu Shan | Discovered on 5 December 2021[24] |
| 5 |  | Hatton Road, nearKotewall Road | ||
| 6 |  | Old Peak Road, nearTregunter Path | Mid-Levels | |
| 7 |  | Magazine Gap Road | Removed in June 2007, whereabouts unknown[25][22] | |
| 8 |  | Bowen Road, nearStubbs Road | ||
| 9 |  | Slope nearRosaryhill School, Stubbs Road | Discovered on 12 December 2021[21] | |
| 10 |  | Wong Nai Chung Road | Happy Valley |
In 1866 the nine districts, also calledyeuks, are:[26]
Other places that might be considered asyeuks include:
On 21 May 1982,Sir Crawford Murray MacLehose was made alife peer, weeks after the end of his governorship in Hong Kong. His peerage was announced on 31 December 1981 in the1982 New Years Honours. He was therefore styled as Baron MacLehose of Beoch, ofMaybole in the District ofKyle and Carrick, and of Victoria in Hong Kong. Victoria was listed as the barony'sterritorial designation, alongside MacLehose's hometown Maybole. The Barony went extinct on 27 May 2000 when MacLehose passed away.[27][28]
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22°16′42″N114°10′28″E / 22.27833°N 114.17444°E /22.27833; 114.17444
