Queen Victoria Street () is a one-way street in Central,

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Named after

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, the street stretches from

Connaught Road Central Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

Queen's Road Central Queen's Road is a collection of roads along the northern coast of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong, within the limit of Victoria, Hong Kong, Victoria City. It was the first road in Hong Kong, constructed History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s), by ...

. The street is noted for the many landmarks that it runs past, namely

Central Market Central Market may refer to: Fresh food markets *Adelaide Central Market, Australia * Cardiff Central Market, Wales *Central Market, Hong Kong * Central Market, Casablanca, Morocco *Riga Central Market, Latvia * Central Market (Columbus, Ohio), Uni ...

and the headquarters of the

Hang Seng Bank Hang Seng Bank Limited () is a Hong Kong–based banking and financial services company with headquarters in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of Hong Kong's leading public companies in terms of market capitalisation and is part of the HSBC Grou ...

History

During the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

, the British occupied Hong Kong in 1841 and one year later, the territory was ceded to them in the

Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanking was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese ...

. The street is named after

, who was the reigning

British monarch The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British con ...

at the time Hong Kong was

colonised 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples fo ...

. Particularly, its Chinese name is a mistranslation of "Queen" and means

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

instead of

queen regnant A queen regnant (: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank, title and position to a king. She reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a kingdom; as opposed to a queen consort, who is married to a reigning ...

. At the time of the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, it was believed that Queen Victoria Street would be renamed along with other streets and places to erase memories of the colonial past. This was in spite of a statement by the

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

declaring it generally had no intention of modifying the names of streets that bore colonial references. The renaming did not come to fruition at the handover, and the street still retains its royal name to the present day.

Description and features

From its northern end, Queen Victoria Street begins at

, travelling down one-way past the headquarters of the

, located to the west of the street. It then reaches the intersection with

Des Voeux Road Central Des Voeux Road Central (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 德輔道中) and Des Voeux Road West (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 德輔道西) are two roads on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. They were named af ...

; the next segment of the street ascends up a slope southwards. Here, it passes

—also located on its west side—before ending on

. The street is parallel to the adjacent Jubilee Street, which runs west of Queen Victoria Street and follows the same route, albeit with the landmarks to its east.

Intersections

References

External links

Google Maps of Queen Victoria Street
{{Portal bar, Hong Kong, British Empire, Roads Central, Hong Kong Roads on Hong Kong Island

History

Description and features

Intersections

See also

References

External links