Victoria City

After Hong Kong was occupied by Britain in 1841 and ratified as a colony in 1842, the harbour in the painting was named Victoria, in honour of Queen Victoria. This work shows the appearance of Victoria Harbour between Spring Garden (Wanchai) and Western District in 1854. A few important early colonial buildings, such as St. John's Cathedral, the Bishop's House, Flagstaff House and the early construction of Government House (the thatched building in the centre) can be picked out in this picture. The First Bishop of Victoria, the Rev. George Smith of the Church Missionary Society, commented that the shore presented "the imposing aspect of a European town suddenly grown into existence, with regular streets of substantial buildings, rising one above another, and with a line of military forts, barracks, hospitals, and stores, standing forth as a powerful monument of the energy and strength of Western civilization."

Western techniques are adopted in this painting, showing depth and three-dimensionality, while the mountains in the background are rendered with brushstrokes similar to those used in traditional Chinese landscape painting. The artistic synthesis of East and West is a typical feature of Chinese export paintings.