The best way to discover Victoria!

The oldest Chinese neighborhood in Canada and the second oldest in North America, Victoria's Chinatown was established in 1858, during the Gold Rush era. Immigrants, mostly men, arrived here from the Guangdong Province of China to find jobs assisting with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Some arrived from Northern California, where a similar gold rush frenzy had attracted hundreds of Chinese immigrants a decade before.

Today, Chinatown is a wonderful place to explore. Visitors walk under the beautiful ceramic-tile Gates of Harmonious Interest, crafted in China's Suzhou Province, and enter a world of Chinese restaurants, retail establishments and herbalists practicing ancient medicine and shopping.