Kowloon Walled City

[Randy W]

An ongoing topic - click here for Most Recent Post

 

 

This place seems to crop up every so often in articles in various publications - very remarkable, considering that it was demolished in 1992. For more information, Google "Kowloon Walled City" or check the Wikipedia article.

 

The latest article from a couple of days ago -

Peek Inside the Most Densely Populated Place on Earth

 

 

There once existed a place so notorious, so jammed packed, and so crime ridden, the government had no choice but to demolish it. Welcome to the Walled City of Kowloon – a Chinese city on the outskirts of Hong Kong.

 

The Walled City was originally a military fort, but became occupied by residents after the New Territories were released to Britain in 1898. The population grew following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during WWII, and by 1987, the Walled City had 33,000 families and businesses crammed into just 6.4 acres. The area spanned across 300 interconnected buildings.

 

 

 

KWC had water and electricity siphoned from wells and the rest of the city, but was an unregulated mess of ad-hoc infrastructure largely unsupported by government. Police were afraid to venture inside (though unbelievably, postman were reportedly forced to deliver mail there!). It was filled with criminals, drug dealers and prostitutes, as well as honest families, schoolchildren and one-man manufacturing shops.

 

 

 

 

from the SCMP

Infographic: Life Inside The Kowloon Walled City

 

for the best part of the last century, it was the most densely populated place on earth, with 3,250,000 people per square mile, compared to Hong Kong’s mere 17,000.

 

. . .

 

Spending most of its life as a Chinese military outpost, the Chinese hung on to the KWC when Hong Kong was leased to the British in 1898, as its location, right in the middle of the territory, made it easy for them to keep an eye on the new tenants - an idea which didn't sit too well with the British.

What transpired next was decades of confusion and diplomatic sensitivity, as both countries sought to claim sovereignty over the area. It came to a head at the end of WWII when the Japanese, who had captured the city, surrendered. China announced it’s intention to fully reclaim the site, causing floods of refugees to flee there and creating unease with Britain who intended to continue as it had before.

To avoid putting further strain on relations, both countries developed a ‘hands-off’ approach to the city, leaving the enclave more or less ungoverned by police, building codes, health laws, or any other form of regulation. The population of the city boomed as refugees and small businesses flocked there to take advantage of this new city where you didn't need a visa, a licence to operate, or to pay any tax.

The population surge continued unchecked, while politicians, for the most part, stood back. The government provided water mains and mail delivery to the city, as well as orchetrating a series of raids in the 1970's to root out the Triads who had taken control of the city's various brothels, casinos and opium dens. By the 1980’s, the population stood at 33,000, with most people sharing apartments of 250 sqft or less with several other families. The vast majority of the complex’s 350-odd buildings were between 10-14 stories tall and devoid of any input from architects, planners or engineers; their height was restrained only by the proximity of Kai Tak airport.

. . .

However, by the 1980's the squalid conditions had become too much of a concern for the authorities and a joint Sino-British declaration in 1984 set the Kowloon wrecking ball in motion. Despite protests, the government spent HK$ 2.7 billion on relocating the residents. By 1992, the city was empty. Just two years later, it was razed to the ground and replaced by a traditional park; however, not before it was documented by fascinated architects and photographers alike. Today, the only indicator of the site's eccentric history is s small scale-model of the cluster that used to stand there.

 

[Randy W]

Google maps of present day location - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kowloon+Walled+City+Park/@22.3321296,114.1903285,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x780c2ce4eb360e9e

 

Kowloon Park

 

 

This article is fairly comprehensive - http://simenge.tumblr.com/post/829452141

Edited June 17, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Mick]

Great article, Randy. Thanks.

[Randy W]

I didn't realize that on my trips to the U.S. through Hong Kong that I had passed so close to this place - Chungking Mansions, which is a more modern version of the same type of living. I had had to change subway lines at Tsim Sha Tsui to get to Central, where I spent the night before going to the airport.

 

 

There's a fairly good movie from 1994 which takes place almost entirely within this building called Chungking Express

 

[Randy W]

Quentin Tarantino on Chungking Express

 

 

 

The movie which first brought Faye Wong to public attention. Like Quentin says, once you've seen the movie, you'll never be able to listen to California Dreaming, which she plays REPEATEDLY, in the same way again.

 

Edited February 21, 2016 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

A fortunate place
The secrets and truth inside Chungking Mansions

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Hong Kong's iconic Chungking Mansions may disappear from the landscape within a decade because of structural problems, according to those who keep it running.

 

As it turns 55, explore the restaurants, meet the people and embrace the history of a building that has evolved multiple identities over the past 55 years.

 

There are 222 licensed guesthouses at Chungking Mansions with 1687 rooms. But only 146 have unique phone numbers, indicating about a quarter are operated by the same business.

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Mama is from Nigeria, married to a local Chinese man and has been serving African food in Chungking Mansions for more than 30 years. Chungking Mansions is often compared to a buzzing beehive and I think I’ve just met its queen bee.

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Carol Clewlow’s 1978 review of Chungking Mansions as the best place for cheap accommodation in the heart of Hong Kong heralded a reputation that would go worldwide, and a popularity with the global community of backpackers that continues to this day.

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Allon]

Randy, I am so glad you are on top of things China. Really great job of keeping us up on things.

 

I do remember the Chunking Express. The Chinese make some dreary movies that end up surprising you.

 

Some of the movies on the Nanking massacre are just heart rending and yet really colorful.

[Randy W]

I'm not sure why the Walled City came up again, but here it is in the SCMP!

A brief history of Hong Kong’s triad gangs

 

Starting off as a patriotic movement to restore Ming rule in China, triads later turned to crime, including drugs, extortion, gambling and prostitution

 

 

 

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Between the 1950s and 1970s, the Kowloon Walled City, home to about 30,000 ­people, was largely controlled by the Sun Yee On and 14K. It fell into their hands soon after the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, when refugees from the mainland found protection within its walls following China’s civil war.

 

. . .

 

The Hong Kong police have a dedicated division that aims to combat triad activities – the ­Organised Crime and Triad ­Bureau. It is estimated there could be as many as 100,000 triad ­members currently operating in the city.

 

When the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, which opened in 1972, was being built, fights reportedly broke out between rival gangs over who would control the bus drivers travelling through it.

 

 

Despite various crackdowns, triad culture continues to be ­immortalised through films, artwork and video games.

 

 

. . . including the "Chungking Express" movie

Edited January 2, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[msittig]

If you want to experience the guesthouses mentioned above, I recommend the Cosmic Guesthouse at the Mirador Mansion, the next door neighbor to the Chung King Mansion. It has clean but microscopic rooms and is in the middle of Kowloon, within walking distance of the metro and lots of downtown shopping. Notice how the photos on the website linked below show that in many rooms the bed touches three of the four walls. I stayed there a few times on HK visa runs and always paid a little more, but still within my limited means, to stay at this nice guesthouse.

 

http://www.cosmicguesthouse.com/

[Randy W]

An article about this general style of living in Hong Kong - from the SCMP

 

Tai On Building: a relic of Hong Kong’s past merging residences with shops and eateries

The Sai Wan Ho structure is an example of an architectural style that has long given way to glittering skyscrapers and megamalls

 

 

 

 

 

For many people, Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui is a prime example of a building that serves as a microcosm of the community it conceals within. However, this “world inside a building” phenomenon is not unique.

 

While there are an estimated 5,000 such “composite buildings” in the city, there are no more than a couple hundred structures that – like Tai On Building – have more than 15 storeys, said Dr Lee Ho-yin, associate professor and head of the division of architectural conservation at the University of Hong Kong.

 

These self-sustaining “mini-communities” began sprouting up as part of a “distinctive vernacular typology” associated with the 1960s, University of Hong Kong adjunct professor Lynne DiStefano said.

Composite buildings arose as the government’s method of supporting a swelling population and boosting the economy amid an influx of mainland Chinese immigrants in the wake of the second world war and the 1949 revolution.

“The government allowed people to work and live in the same unit at the same time,” Lee said. “This means these buildings were not only self-sufficient communities, but mini-economic entities. Residents theoretically did not ever have to leave the building.”

However, in 1966, concerns over hygiene and health prompted the government to order changes to the way property could be developed. By the early 1970s, developers stopped constructing composite buildings.

“Self-sustaining communities like Tai On Building and Chungking Mansions are a phenomenon unique to Hong Kong,” Lee added. “They were a temporary solution created to deal with a specific problem at a certain moment of Hong Kong’s history.

[Randy W]

on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/vb.355665009819/10155660805919820

 

South China Morning Post

5 hrs ·

Meet the woman who transformed Hong Kong's notorious Chungking Mansions from a den of vicehttps://buff.ly/2xJvEvb (Video from 2015)

 

 

Meet the 75-year-old woman running Hong Kong’s notorious Chungking Mansions

Salina Lam, who has been chairwoman of the Tsim Sha Tsui tower block for 22 years, tells Gloria Chan how she helped turn it from a den of vice into the vibrant commercial centre it is today.

 

By 1988, I had managed to save enough money to buy a property in Chungking Mansions with two friends. It cost HK$600,000 back then. I currently have seven properties and they are all in Chungking Mansions. Running guesthouses is my main business.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

. . . and AGAIN on the 25th anniversary of its demolition in the SCMP. This is a VERY interesting history.

How Kowloon Walled City survived attempts to knock it down for almost a century
On the 25th anniversary of its demolition, Post Magazine recalls how, until 1993, the 'cuckoo's nest' bounced back every time an attempt was made to knock it down.

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After the first opium war, however, when the British had been granted official possession of Hong Kong Island in 1842, the Chinese authorities had reassessed the significance of that tiny outpost. Among other upgrades, they'd built a wall around it.

 

So the 1898 convention had its famous clause, the one that stated "the Chinese officials now stationed there shall continue to exercise jurisdiction except so far as may be inconsistent with the military requirements for the defence of Hong Kong". The fact of it lasted 11 months. The impact lasted for the 99 years of the lease.

 

. . .

 

After that, in the world beyond the walls, much bloodier spats over land were about to begin. By 1947, refugees from China's civil war were heading for Hong Kong, and about 2,000 of them had moved into the one area where China was still insisting it had rights. These new squatters were given notice to quit. They refused.

 

. . .

 

Early on the fine, sunny morning of Wednesday, January 14, 1987, therefore, 360 staff from the Clearance and Squatter Control sections of the Housing Department gathered for their day's duties. Only at 7.30am were they told their destination. As they went inside the Walled City, its 83 entrances were cordoned off. Then the 60 teams of six, each accompanied by a plainclothes policeman, systematically fanned out to gather statistics from within those caverns, formerly measureless to man.

 

At the end of that first day of door-to-door interviews, 19,606 people from 5,116 families had been registered; 22 families had refused to reveal anything about themselves; no illegal immigrants had been found.

 

The following day, a special committee, to advise on the clearance, the rehousing and the compensation arrangements, was established by the Housing Authority. This committee would eventually deal with 28,200 occupants in 8,800 structures.

 

Lamentations immediately began. The response of one shopkeeper, Cheung Mak-ching, had a grimly confident ring about it: "We'll see what China says to this. We have been through many clearance plans. Let's see what will happen this time."

 

What happened this time, however, was that the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a gracious statement: "Bearing in mind the prosperity and stability of the entire Hong Kong [sic], we wish to express a full understanding of the decision made by the British Hong Kong government to take appropriate measures to clear the Kowloon Walled City and build it into a park. Like other parts of Hong Kong, the Kowloon Walled City is a question left over from history."

 

And that, in terms of worrying about China, was that.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/scmp/posts/10156189646469820

South China Morning Post added 6 new photos.

1 hr ·

Quote

Kowloon Walled City 25 years on: vignettes from the City of Darkness.

Full gallery: https://sc.mp/2G2Iu80

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/10156191890494820/

Inside the Kowloon Walled City

 

 

South China Morning Post

2 hours ago ·

 

25 years ago today, bulldozers moved in to tear down the Kowloon Walled City. SCMP Infographics takes a look inside its walls.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from the SCMP - they are STILL dwelling on it (I didn't remember seeing these pictures before, so here they are)

 

Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City: what life was like inside the City of Darkness

 

These pictures from the Post’s archive show how strikingly the enclave sat in Hong Kong’s landscape