The Central and Western District () located on northwestern part of Hong Kong Island is one of the 18 administrative districts of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. It had a population of 243,266 in 2016. The district has the most educated residents with the second highest income and the third lowest population due to its relatively small size. Central is the central business district and the core urban area of

. Western District covers

Shek Tong Tsui Shek Tong Tsui or Belcher Point is an area in Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it belongs to the Central and Western District. This area is bounded north by the Victoria Harbour, south by Pok Fu Lam Road and Third ...

, Kennedy Town,

Sai Ying Pun Sai Ying Pun is an area in Western District, on Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It is administratively part of the Central and Western District. Etymology In Cantonese, ''Sai'' () means "west" and ''Ying Pun'' () means "camp", especially a ...

, parts of

Lung Fu Shan Lung Fu Shan or Hill Above Belcher's is a hill on the northwestern part of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, and an area on the northeastern slope of the hill where the main campus and centennial campus of the University of Hong Kong are located. The ...

. The district was part of

City of Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, the earliest urban settlement in colonial Hong Kong.

History

Central District, as Victoria City, was the first area of planned urban development in Hong Kong during the

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

era. The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

held a land sale in June 1841, six months after the flag was raised at Possession Point. A total of 51 lots of land were sold to 23 merchant houses to build offices and warehouses. The property buyers included Dent's, Jardine's, Russell's and Olyphant's. At the time, the two roads Albany Nullah (now Garden Road) and Glenealy Nullah (now Glenealy) were mainly used by the British. The streets later became known as Government Hill. In 1857, the British government expanded Victoria City and divided it into seven districts. Those located in present-day Central and Western are:

, Sheung Wan, Tai Ping Shan, Central. The area was essentially a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an area until 1860 when Chinese merchants begin buying up European properties around Cochrane,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

and

Pottinger Street Pottinger Street is a street in Central, Hong Kong. It is also known as the ''Stone Slabs Street'' () since the street is paved unevenly by granite stone steps. It was named in 1858 after Henry Pottinger, the first Governor of Hong Kong, ser ...

s. The Central district was the principal European business district, hence the arrival of the first major bank HSBC. The Western district was the commercial centre for Chinese businesses. When property values in the district rose, a meeting was held in February 1866 to establish a "District Watch Force" to police and protect this specific area. In 1880,

was established, followed by Kennedy Town in the 20th century. By the 1890s the majority of Hong Kong's population was concentrated in the district with about 200,000 residents, mostly in Victoria City.

Politics

District councils in Hong Kong are primarily consultative bodies of the HKSAR government with very limited powers, primarily restricted to building and maintaining parks, open areas, recreational and cultural activities and tourist promotion. The corresponding body for the district is

Central and Western District Council The Central and Western District Council is the district council for the Central and Western District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Central and Western District Council currently consists of 15 members, of which the district ...

. District council elections are held every four years; the last one was held on 24 November 2019, for terms beginning 1 January 2020. Fifteen constituency members are elected while four are appointed by the government. The constituency areas are smaller than the commonly used geographic areas, which are in turn based on the old 1857 and 1880 divisions.

Demographics

In Hong Kong's 2011 Census the district population was 251,519, down four percent from 261,884 in the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, and with an average of 2.7 people for each of the 89,529 households. Among the 18 districts, Central and Western has the second highest median

household income Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence. It includes every form of income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, near cash government transfers like food stamp ...

in the territory (behind only

Wan Chai District Wan Chai District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. Of the four on Hong Kong Island, it is north-central, and had 152,608 residents in 2011, a fall from 167,146 residents in 2001. The district has the second-highest educationally quali ...

). In terms of average size of households, it is third smallest at 2.8 persons, behind only

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area n ...

and

Yau Tsim Mong District Yau Tsim Mong District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong, located on the western part of Kowloon Peninsula. It is the core urban area of Kowloon. The district has the second highest population density of all districts, at . The 2016 By ...

, at 2.7 each. In 2016 census, the district population was slightly reduced to 243,266 or down 3% from 2011. Central and Western District has a relatively ethnically diverse population. 83% of the district's residents are Chinese, and the largest ethnic groups are

Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...

(6%) and white people (5%). 72% of the district's residents speak

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

as their primary language, while 14% use English and 3% use Mandarin.2011 Population Census - Fact Sheet for Central and Western District Council District
Hong Kong Census

Geography and political subdivisions

The district is located at , based on the location of the General Post Office in Central. With an area of , the district occupies the northwestern portion of Hong Kong Island. It is surrounded by

on the east, Southern District on the south, and

Victoria harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in ...

in the north. The district also encompasses Green Island and Little Green Island, two uninhabited islands to the west of Hong Kong Island. Areas from west to east along Victoria Harbour are: Kennedy Town, Sai Ying Pun, Sheung Wan, Central, Admiralty and other localities.

Central

Central is the business centre of Hong Kong, and many multinational financial services corporations have their headquarters there.

Government Hill The Government Hill is a hill in Central, Hong Kong, bounded by upper section of Upper Albert Road on the south, Queen's Road Central north, Garden Road east, and Glenealy, west of Hong Kong Island. The hill has been the administrative ...

, the site of the government headquarters, is also in Central.

Central mid-levels escalator

The Central-Mid-Levels escalator in

is the longest outdoor covered

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

system in the world. The system is long, connecting

Des Voeux Road Des Voeux Road Central and Des Voeux Road West are two roads on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. They were named after the 10th Governor of Hong Kong, Sir William Des Vœux. The name was sometimes spelt with the ligature œ i ...

Central, in Central with

Conduit Road Conduit Road is a road in the Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The road and buildings Conduit Road was constructed in 1910. It is located in Western Mid-Levels. It is named after the aqueduct passing underneath which carries water ...

in the Mid-Levels, passing through narrow streets in

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

. The escalator runs downhill from 6 am to 10 am and uphill from 10:20 am to 12:00 am ( midnight) every day. Apart from its significance in transport linkage, it is also a tourist attraction, with many restaurants, bars, and

shop Shop or shopping refers to: Business and commerce * A casual word for a commercial establishment or for a place of business * Machine shop, a workshop for machining *"In the shop", referring to a car being at an automotive repair shop *A wood ...

s lining its route.

Bank of China Tower

The Bank of China Tower in Central houses the headquarters of BOCHK. Designed by I. M. Pei, the 70 storey building's height is with two masts reaching 3. Construction began in 1985 and the building was completed in 1989. It was the first building outside the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to exceed and to exceed . It was the tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia from 1989 to 1992, when the nearby, taller Central Plaza was completed.

City Hall

Built in 1962, the City Hall complex housed the old central library of Hong Kong, as well as concert halls, restaurants and a marriage registry. The conference room of the former Urban Council was also at the lower building of the City Hall. The garden at the north-western side of the complex includes a memorial to those killed in Hong Kong during World War II.

Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building

The funnel-shaped

Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building The Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building is a 113-metre (371 ft) tall, 28-floor building located within the former HMS Tamar naval base on Lung Wui Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong. It serves as the headquarters of the Peop ...

(formerly, and still commonly known as the Prince of Wales Building) housed the headquarters of the British garrison in Hong Kong until the territory's handover to the People's Republic of China on 30 June 1997. It now houses the local garrison of the People's Liberation Army and is formally known as Central Barracks, in line with PLA convention for naming barracks after the name of the locality.

Other landmarks

Cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

, Hong Kong * Chater Garden *

(formerly the Prince of Wales Building) *

Edinburgh Place Edinburgh Place is a public square in Central, Hong Kong, adjacent to the Victoria Harbour. The Hong Kong City Hall is located in the square. In addition, the Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier and Queen's Pier were also located in the square before t ...

, Hong Kong – including

Queen's Pier Queen's Pier, named after Queen Victoria, was a public pier in front of City Hall in Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong. For three generations it served not only as a public pier in day-to-day use but also as a major ceremonial arrival and d ...

and the Star Ferry pier * Exchange Square * Former Supreme Court Building *

Harcourt Garden Harcourt Garden () is a small urban park in Admiralty, Hong Kong, constructed in the mid-1990s.

Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens is one of the oldest zoological and botanical centres in the world, and the oldest park in Hong Kong. Founded in 1864, its first stage was opened to the public in 1871.Hong Kong Club The Hong Kong Club () is the first gentlemen's club in Hong Kong. Opened on 26 May 1846, it is a private business and dining club in the heart of Central, Hong Kong. Its members were (and still are) among the most influential people in the city, ...

Hong Kong Park The Hong Kong Park is a public park next to Cotton Tree Drive in Central, Hong Kong. Built at a cost of HK$398 million and opened on 23 May 1991, it covers an area of and is an example of modern design and facilities blending with ...

HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building HSBC Main Building is a headquarters building of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which is today a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based HSBC Holdings. It is located on the southern side of Statue Square near the location of the ...

* International Finance Centre *

Jardine House Jardine House (), formerly known as Connaught Centre (), is an office tower in Hong Kong. The building is located at 1 Connaught Place, Central on Hong Kong Island. It is owned by Hongkong Land Limited, a subsidiary of Jardines. At the time ...

* Lan Kwai Fong * Legislative Council building * Lippo Centre * Old Bank of China Building * Peak Tram terminus * St John's Cathedral (Hong Kong) *

St Joseph's College, Hong Kong St. Joseph's College also referred to by its acronym SJC is an elite Catholic all-boys secondary education institution run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Central Mid-Levels district, Hong Kong. It was established ...

* St. Paul's Co-educational College * SoHo, Hong Kong *

Statue Square Statue Square (; lit. "Empress' Statue Square") is a public pedestrian square in Central, Hong Kong. Built entirely on reclaimed land at the end of the 19th century, Statue Square consists of two parts separated by Chater Road into a n ...

Admiralty

* Queensway

Mid-Levels

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

Sai Ying Pun

* Sai Ying Pun Community Complex

Sheung Wan

* The Center

Schools

Secondary schools

Arranged by alphabetical order of their full names in each category. Government-administered schools: * King's College Aided schools: * Caritas St. Francis Secondary School *

Lok Sin Tong Leung Kau Kui College Lok Sin Tong Leung Kau Kui College (, abbreviated as LSTLKKC) is a government-subsidised co-educational secondary school located in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong. The institution is affiliated with The Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society Kowloon and is s ...

* Raimondi College * St. Clare's Girls' School * St. Joseph's College * St. Louis School * St. Stephen's Church College * St. Stephen's Girls' College * Ying Wa Girls' School Schools under Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS): * Hon Wah Middle School *

St. Margaret's Girls' College, Hong Kong ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

* St. Paul's Co-educational College * St. Paul's College International schools: * Carmel School *

German Swiss International School The German Swiss International School (GSIS; german: link=no, Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule; ) is an international school in Hong Kong established in 1969 by German and Swiss families looking for a bilingual German-English educ ...

Hong Kong International School Hong Kong International School (HKIS) is an international private school with campuses in Tai Tam and Repulse Bay, Hong Kong. The school was founded in 1966. Today, HKIS spans from reception one to the twelfth grade. Its Lower and Upper Prim ...

Island School Island School ( Chinese: 港島中學) is a co-educational international school located in Hong Kong. It is the founding school of the English Schools Foundation, and is still a member. The school has been accredited by international organisatio ...

br>
(under funding of English Schools Foundation, subsidised by government) * King George V School * '' Lycée Français International Victor Segalen'' *

Sear Rogers International School, Hong Kong Island The Sahar Elevated Access Road, abbreviated to SEAR, is a dedicated, elevated, Controlled-access highway, express access road in Mumbai that connects the Western Express Highway (WEH) near Hanuman Nagar junction in Vile Parle, with the Courtyar ...

* Sha Tin College * Singapore International School * South Island School * West Island School Vocational and night schools (privately funded): *

Sacred Heart Canossian College of Commerce Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

* St. Paul's Secondary Evening School

Tertiary institutions

The University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fir ...

Caritas Institute of Higher Education Caritas Institute of Higher Education (formerly known as Caritas Francis Hsu College) is a post-secondary college in Hong Kong established by Caritas Hong Kong, with campuses located at Tseung Kwan O, New Territories. The institute is able to ...

Transport

Link

* Route 3 (Hong Kong) * Route 4 (Hong Kong) Major roads that serves the area include: * Harcourt Road * Connaught Road Central,

Connaught Road West Connaught Road is a major thoroughfare on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It links Shing Sai Road in Kennedy Town to the west and Harcourt Road in Admiralty to the east. Location The road consists of two adjoining sections, ...

* Queensway,

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 City. It was the first road in Hong Kong, constructed by the British between 1841 and 1843, spanning across Victoria ...

, Queen's Road West *

Des Voeux Road Central Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), severa ...

Des Voeux Road West Des Voeux Road Central and Des Voeux Road West are two roads on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. They were named after the 10th Governor of Hong Kong, Sir William Des Vœux. The name was sometimes spelt with the ligature (typog ...

* Hill Road Flyover *

Caine Road Caine Road is a road running through Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. It connects Bonham Road to the west (at the junction with Hospital Road and Seymour Road), and Arbuthnot Road, Glenealy and Upper Albert Road to the east. The road is named after Wi ...

* Robinson Road * Park Road *

Bonham Road Bonham Road is a main road in West Mid-Levels, Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong, running mainly East-West. The road connects Pok Fu Lam Road in the west, near the University of Hong Kong, and Caine Road in the east, at the junction with Hospital ...

* Western Harbour Crossing

Public transport

Public transport includes

Hong Kong Tramways Hong Kong Tramways (HKT) is a narrow-gauge tram system in Hong Kong. Owned and operated by RATP Dev Transdev Asia, the tramway runs on Hong Kong Island between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan, with a branch circulating through Happy Valley. ...

, the Peak Tram and the MTR. MTR lines include: *

Island line Island Line or Island line may refer to: * Island line (MTR), one of the lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong * Island Line, Isle of Wight, a railway line on the Isle of Wight, England ** Island Line (brand) Island Line is a brand of the ...

Sheung Wan station Sheung Wan is a station on the of the Hong Kong MTR network. The station serves the neighbourhood of Sheung Wan and the western part of Central District. The livery colour of this station is khaki. The station was originally planned in 1970 ...

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, Admiralty station,

, HKU, Kennedy Town *

Tsuen Wan line The Tsuen Wan line is one of the eleven lines of the metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in red on the MTR map. There are 16 stations on the line. The southern terminus is Central station on Hong Kong Island and the no ...

: Central station, Admiralty station *

Tung Chung line The Tung Chung line is one of the ten lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, linking the town of Tung Chung with central Hong Kong. A part of the Tung Chung line was built along with the Kap Shui Mun Bridge and the Tsing Ma Bridge. The line c ...

Hong Kong station Hong Kong () is a station of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong. It is the eastern terminus of the and . It is situated between Man Cheung Street and Harbour View Street, Central, Hong Kong Island, and sits underneath the International Financ ...

Airport Express The AirPort Express is a Wi-Fi base station product from Apple Inc., part of the AirPort product line. While more compact and in some ways simpler than another Apple Wi-Fi base station, the AirPort Extreme, the Express offers audio output cap ...

: Hong Kong station *

South Island line The South Island line, identified by light green on the MTR route map, is a rapid transit line of Hong Kong's MTR metro system. This line connects the HK business district from Admiralty station to the Southern District of Hong Kong Island ...

: Admiralty station *

East Rail line The East Rail line () is one of ten lines of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) network. It was known as the KCR British Section () from 1910 to 199 ...

: Admiralty station

References

External links

Central and Western District Council

List and map of electoral constituencies (large PDF file)

]. {{DEFAULTSORT:Central And Western District Central and Western District, Hong Kong,