Chinatown, Victoria

Victoria's Chinatown is the oldest such district in Canada, established in the 1850s as Chinese migrants arrived during the gold rush and railway era. Its landmark Gate of Harmonious Interest, brightly painted buildings and the famously narrow Fan Tan Alley recall a once-crowded quarter of shops, associations and lodging houses. Restaurants, herbalists and galleries now line the historic streets. The district preserves a significant chapter in the history of Chinese settlement on the Pacific coast.