[MolsonExport]

The most dense human habitation in world history.

BEHOLD:
http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure12_large.jpg

Kowloon Walled City




Hak Nam, City of Darkness, the old Walled City of Kowloon was finally demolished ten years ago, in 1993, and to the end it retained its seedy magnificence. Rearing up abruptly in the heart of urban Hong Kong, 10, 12 and in some places as many as 14 storeys high, there was no mistaking it: an area 200 metres by 100 metres of solid building, home to some 35,000 people, not the largest, perhaps, but certainly one of the densest urban slums in the world. It was also, arguably, the closest thing to a truly self-regulating, self-sufficient, self-determining modern city that has ever been built.

The City in its final form went back barely 20 years. In origin, however, Kowloon City was much the oldest part of Hong Kong, and one of the few areas in the vicinity populated when the British first arrived in 1841 to claim Hong Kong Island and the southern-most tip of the Kowloon Peninsula for their own. It was a proper Chinese town, laid out with painstaking attention to eternal principles. The Chinese believed that a town should face south and overlook water with hills and mountains protecting its rear, and in these terms the City was very happily placed, with the great Lion Rock just to the north of it and Kowloon Bay immediately to the south.

What the geomantic sages could not control were the infringements of the barbarians. When the British sought to expand their hold on Hong Kong in 1898, with a 99-year lease covering the whole of Kowloon Peninsula and all the nearby islands, most of Kowloon City was subsumed under the new jurisdiction. Under the terms of the lease, however, it was agreed that the small, walled magistrates? fort to the north of the town would remain Chinese territory until the new colonial administration had been properly established and all the details of land ownership, held within the fort, had been transferred.





The situation was never resolved, and for the next 90 years of British rule the City remained an anomaly: within British domain, yet outside British control. The Chinese officials left for good in 1899, but whenever the colonial authorities tried to impose their will, the remaining residents threatened to turn the attempt into a diplomatic incident. And so it remained until the Second World War, when the invading Japanese delivered the first body blow, tearing down the huge granite walls and using them to build Kai Tak Airport in the shallows of nearby Kowloon Bay. The former harmony was destroyed: the creation of the airport drove away the Yin spirit provided by the water and the City was abandoned.

The City may have effectively ceased to exist, but the area?s status as a diplomatic black hole was not forgotten, and in the chaos of the War?s aftermath it proved the perfect place of asylum for many of the hundred thousands of refugees pouring south to escape famine, civil war and political persecution as the Communists gained control in China. Surrounded now only by walls of political inhibition, the City became the place where they could get their breath back; where they could live as Chinese among other Chinese, untaxed, uncounted and untormented by governments of any kind.

And so, the Walled City became that rarest of things, a working model of an anarchist society. Inevitably, it bred all the vices. Crime flourished and the Triads made the place their stronghold, operating brothels and opium ?divans? and gambling dens. Undoubtedly, these few (and it always was a small proportion) kept the majority of residents in a state of fear and subjection, which is why for many years outsiders trying to penetrate were given the coldest of shoulders.

But for most, the main priority was survival and their needs were little different from anyone else?s: a life without interference with water, light, food and space. Of these water was the most indispensable and in the early years the only way to get it was to go down. And so that?s what they did, sinking some 70 wells in and around the City, to a depth of some 300 feet. Electric pumps shot the water up to tanks on the rooftops from where it descended via an ad hoc forest of narrow pipes and connections to the homes of subscribers. Only in the last 20 years were Government stand-pipes installed around the City to provide safe drinking water.

To run the pumps and to light up the City?s many alleys required electricity and initially this challenge was tackled in a similarly robust fashion: it was stolen from the mains, often by Hongkong Electric employees who lived within the City boundaries. Only in the late 1970s, after a serious fire (much the most terrifying hazard in the City), were the authorities allowed in with their meters.

Thus was the substructure of urban life roughly but workably banged into shape. And out of all the chaos and apparent lack of real organisation, a sort of society began to flourish. Soon, there were factories of every description, small shops and even schools and kindergartens, some of them run by organisations such as the Salvation Army. Medical and dental care were no problem, as many of the residents were doctors and dentists with Chinese qualifications and years of experience, but lacking the expensive licences required to practice in the rest of the Colony. They set up their clinics on the edges of the City and charged their patients a fraction of what they would pay elsewhere.

For the moments of relief from toil, there were many restaurants on the City?s fringes and embedded deep in its heart were a temple and a ?yamen?, relics of the City?s distant past. And so life went on. Every afternoon the alleys were alive with the throb of hidden machinery and the clacking of mahjong tiles, while up on the roof, in cages not much smaller than some of the City?s homes, cooed hundreds of racing pigeons, joined there by children playing after school.

And here, in this richness and diversity, lies what was truly fascinating about the City. For all its physical shortcomings, and there were many, its residents had succeeded in creating a true community - and, ironically, one that was to flourish in the City?s final years, after the authorities had moved in to arrange the clearance and the Triads had been forced to move out. Photographed by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot during the City?s last years, this exhibition offers a glimpse of that unique community and of the extraordinary architecture that had evolved over the years to support it.

For more information about Kowloon Walled City, look out for Greg and Ian?s book, City of Darkness, available from specialist architectural bookshops or via our website at watermarkpublications. com.

http://www.arch.columbia.edu/image/21541/medium/Walled%20City_2.jpg

Aerial photo (c. 1973):
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/history4.jpg

Demolition of the Walled City begins in 1993:
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/history5.jpg

A "Street" inside the Walled City:
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/rubbish.jpg

Family-run Noodle factory in the Walled City:
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/choy.jpg

Cookin' Heroin in the Walled City:
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/three.jpg

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/ext1.jpg http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/ext2.jpg http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/alley1.jpg http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/alley2.jpg

The rooftop playground:
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/roof2.jpg

In the Peking Convention of 1898, which leased Hong Kong to Britain for 99 years, the Walled City was excluded, the Chinese governing the area on condition they would not interfere with troops stationed to defend Hong Kong. Britain quickly rescinded the unofficial agreement, announcing in December 1899 that KWC would become "part and parcel of Her Majesty's Colony of Hong Kong". After Britain attacked the Walled City the same year, only to find it deserted, they failed to demonstrate control over the city, leaving it pretty much alone, their inaction adding to confusion over the city's rule.

China, likewise, never recognized Britain's claim to the Walled City, though for the years between the turn of the century and World War II the city was more of a tourist attraction than a residential settlement. Two events led to a resurgence of people back into KWC: Japan surrendering in WWII (previously having demolished most of the city to lay airport runways during their brief occupation), and the formation of the Republic of China in 1949. The refugee influx, due mostly to the latter, was steady, reaching about 10,000 residents in 1970. In this time the British government attempted to evacuate the squatters after an unsuccessful proposal to turn the jurisdiction of KWC into a "Garden of Remembrance of Anglo-Chinese trusteeship" (which the Chinese flatly rejected). The evacuations lead to riots as the expelled tried to return to the city, causing the British to drop the evictions to prevent further deterioration of Anglo-Chinese relations. From this moment on (ca. 1949) the British Government adopted a "hands-off" policy towards the Walled City.

What happened in the following years gave KWC its reputation as "a cesspool of iniquity, with heroin divans, brothels and everything unsavory." The blossoming of the city under no apparent rule continued with occasional, unsuccessful raids and evacuations over the years. A murder trial in 1959 illustrates the confusion over governing the city: a British court ruled that since the murder had been committed within the Walled City it was out of their jurisdiction, but looking at the Peking Convention they realized the city under Chinese jurisdiction was temporary. Fifty years later and still nobody is certain who's rule KWC falls under!

In the "bad" years of the 1950s and '60s much of the power lay in the hands of the Triads: a republican secret society against Imperial Manchu rule, when formed in the late 19th century, turning to more "dubious activities as a way of raising funds" (drugs, prostitution and gambling). Much of their control dissipated when police made over 3,000 raids and 2,500 arrests in the 1973 and '74, another turning point.

The 1970s saw improved Anglo-Chinese relations and a continuation of the "high-rise" boom of the previous decade. This decade, and the following, also saw KWC at its peak: the population increasing up to 350,000 in 1983, with less crime than the rest of Hong Kong. With the improved relations between Britain and China the announcement, in 1987, of the Walled City's demise is not surprising. Neither government saw it as an asset or as something they wanted to take responsibility for, but both agreed that it had to come down. The city existed outside the realm of the understandable or the comprehendible; a grotesque, dense mass that exhibited a certain beauty at the same time. It depended on the political tension of two countries to exist, yet, ironically, was an un-political entity. By cleaning the slate both governments wanted to start afresh, but hopefully material, like this web page and the resources mentioned in the bibliography, will keep the city alive.

[fangorangutang]

Wow, that's just amazing...it's mindboggling what a different level of urban living China is on.

[MolsonExport]

http://stratema.sigis.net/gorizia/sdvb9/i/kowloon.jpg
http://www.dragonridge.com/hongkong/kwc_01.jpg

Here it is. God, wish I could visit!
http://www.coupland.com/drool/images/kowloon03.jpg

HistoryThe Walled City (known as Kowloon then) was originally a single fort built in the mid-1800s on the site of an earlier 17th century watchpost on the Kowloon Peninsula The Kowloon Peninsula, commonly referred to as Kowloon, is a peninsula, in the south of the mainland part of the Hong Kong territory.

Kowloon Bay is located at the north east of the peninsula.

See also:

Kowloon
List of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong

..... Click the link for more information. of Hong Kong. After the ceding of Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island (香港島) is the island where the original settlement of the Hong Kong territory, Victoria, was located. It is the historical, political and economic center of Hong Kong.


AdministrationDistricts of Hong Kong located on the island:

Central and Western district
Eastern district
Southern District, Hong Kong
Wan Chai (including Causeway Bay)

..... Click the link for more information. to Britain in 1842
Years:
1839 1840 1841 - 1842 - 1843 1844 1845
Decades:
1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s
Centuries:
18th century - 19th century - 20th century
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1842 in art
1842 in literature
1842 in science
1842 in music
1842 in sports
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of state leaders in 1842
List of religious leaders in 1842
..... Click the link for more information. (Treaty of Nanjing
The Treaty of Nanking is the agreement which ended the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and China.

It was signed in 1842 onboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis in Nanjing. It is the first Unequal Treaties signed by China and a foreign power.


Treaty Ports The treaty had China agree to cede Hong Kong to the British Empire. The following ports of China were opened for foreign trade:

Canton (Guangzhou)
Amoy (Xiamen)
Foochow (Fuzhou)
Ningpo (Ningbo)
Shanghai
(The first of the romanizations are in Postal System Pinyin; the second Hanyu Pinyin.)
..... Click the link for more information. ), Chinese authorities felt it necessary for them to establish a military-cum-administrative post to rule the area and to check further British influence in the area.
The 1898
Years:
1895 1896 1897 - 1898 - 1899 1900 1901
Decades:
1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s
Centuries:
18th century - 19th century - 20th century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1898 in art
1898 in film
1898 in literature
1898 in music
1898 in science
1898 in sports
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of state leaders in 1898
List of religious leaders in 1898
..... Click the link for more information. Peking Convention The Beijing Convention (October 18, 1860) was the result of the Second Anglo-Chinese War (Second Opium War).
The main result of the Convention was to cede the southern part of Kowloon Peninsula, south of Boundary Street and opposite (north) Hong Kong Island, in perpetuity from China to the United Kingdom.

See also: History of Hong Kong
..... Click the link for more information. (which handed additional parts of Hong Kong to Britain for 99 years) excluded the Walled City, with a population of roughly 700, and stated that China could continue to keep troops there, so long as they did not interfere with Britain's temporary rule. Britain quickly went back on this unofficial part of the agreement, attacking Kowloon Walled City in 1899
Years:
1896 1897 1898 - 1899 - 1900 1901 1902
Decades:
1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s
Centuries:
18th century - 19th century - 20th century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1899 in art
1899 in film
1899 in literature
1899 in music
1899 in science
1899 in sports
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of state leaders in 1899
List of religious leaders in 1899
..... Click the link for more information. , only to find it deserted. They did nothing with or to the outpost, and thus sent the question of Kowloon Walled City's ownership squarely into the air. The outpost consisted of a yamen A yamen (衙門, yámén) is any local bureaucrat's, or mandarin's, residence of the Chinese Empire from the Qing Dynasty (and possibly earlier Chinese dynasties). Within the yamen, the bureaucrat and his staff conducted government business of the town or region, settling disputes, maybe jailing a lawbreaker or two, issuing decrees and policies, and living daily life.
The institution of the
..... Click the link for more information. , as well as other buildings (which eventually grew into a low-lying, densely packed neighborhood within the walls), in the era between the 1890s and the 1940s.

The Walled City remained a curiosity - and a tourist attraction where British colonials and tourists could have a "taste of the old China" - until 1940
Years:
1937 1938 1939 - 1940 - 1941 1942 1943
Decades:
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1940 in architecture
1940 in art
1940 in aviation
1940 in film
1940 in literature
1940 in music
1940 in radio
1940 in science
1940 in sports
1940 in television
1940 in Canada
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of state leaders in 1940
List of religious leaders in 1940
List of international organization leaders in 1940
..... Click the link for more information. , when during its WWII World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing approximately 55.5 million lives. The war was fought between two groups of powers - the alliance of the British Commonwealth, United States, Soviet Union, governments-in-exile of France and other European countries occupied by Germany and Italy, and China — collectively known as the Allies; and the alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan—collectively known as the Axis, and minor countries.
..... Click the link for more information. occupation of Hong Kong, Japan
Japan (Nippon/Nihon 日本 (the characters mean sun, and root/origin), literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated between the Pacific Ocean and east of the Korean peninsula. Its name, often translated as "The Land of the Rising Sun," comes from China and refers to Japan's eastward position relative to the Asian continent. Before Japan had relations with China, it was known as Yamato (大和). Wa (倭) was a name early China used to refer to Japan, around the time of the Three Kingdoms Period.
..... Click the link for more information. evicted people from the city, and then demolished much of the city - including the wall - to provide building materials for the nearby Kai Tak Aerodrome Hong Kong International Airport, popularly known as Kai Tak International Airport (Chinese 啟德國際機場 Pinyin: Qǐdé, WG: Ch'i-te) was the international airport of Hong Kong until July 6, 1998. Having the IATA airport code HKG as well as the ICAO airport code VHKT, the famous airport served as Cathay Pacific's hub.

The landing approach to the Kowloon location was spectacular. The aircraft was literally landing in the city, and people on the plane could see the flicker of televisions in apartment windows. The pilots used a checkerboard on a hillside to guide them to the ground.
..... Click the link for more information. .

After Japan's surrender, squatters (whether former residents or - more likely - newcomers) began to occupy the Walled City, resisting several attempts by Britain in 1948 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).

Years:
1945 1946 1947 - 1948 - 1949 1950 1951
Decades:
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1948 in art
1948 in aviation
1948 in film
1948 in literature
1948 in music
1948 in radio
1948 in science
1948 in sports
1948 in television
1948 state leaders
1948 in Canada
..... Click the link for more information. to drive them out. With no wall to protect it (initially), the Walled City became a haven for crooks and drug addicts, as the Hong Kong Police had no right to enter the City (and mainland China

Mainland China (中国大陆 or 中國大陸, pinyin: Zhōnggúo Dàlù, lit. "The Chinese Massive Landmass" or "Continental China"), is an informal geographical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the People's Republic of China (PRC) which excludes the area controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), namely Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, and Matsu islands. It also usually excludes the two Special Administrative Regions administered by the People's Republic of China: Hong Kong and Macau. In contrast to the term China proper, the term usually also includes Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia.
..... Click the link for more information. refused to take care of it). The 1949
Years:
1946 1947 1948 - 1949 - 1950 1951 1952
Decades:
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1949 in art
1949 in aviation
1949 in film
1949 in literature
1949 in music
1949 in radio
1949 in science
1949 in sports
1949 in television
1949 state leaders
1949 in Canada
..... Click the link for more information. foundation of the People's Republic of China The People's Republic of China (PRC) comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1,300,000,000, most of whom are classified as the Han Chinese ethnicity. It is the largest country in area in East Asia and the fourth largest in the world, after Russia, Canada, and the United States. The PRC borders 14 countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Vietnam.
..... Click the link for more information. added thousands of refugees to the population, many from Guangzhou Guangzhou (Traditional Chinese: 廣州, Simplified Chinese: 广州, pinyin: Guǎngzhōu, Wade-Giles: Kuang-chou) (23n06, 113e16 AWST) is the capital of the Guangdong Province in southern China. It was formerly known as Canton.
The Chinese abbreviation of Guangzhou is Sui (TC: 穗;; SC: 穗;; pinyin: suì). Population (1999): city: 6.85 million; urban population: 4.05 million. This city has a nickname Wuyangcheng (city of five rams), Yangcheng(city of rams), Huacheng(city of flowers) or Suicheng.
..... Click the link for more information. , and by this time, Britain had had enough, and simply adopted a 'hands-off' policy. A murder that occurred in Kowloon in 1959
Years:
1956 1957 1958 - 1959 - 1960 1961 1962
Decades:
1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1959 in art
1959 in aviation
1959 in film
1959 in literature
1959 in music
1959 in radio
1959 in science
1959 in sports
1959 in television
1959 in Canada
..... Click the link for more information. set off a small diplomatic crisis, as the two nations each tried to get the other to claim responsibility for a vast tract of land now virtually ruled by anti-Manchurian
The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ch'ing ch'ao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing the Empire of the Great Qing (Chinese: 大淸帝國, pinyin: dàqīng dìguó). The Qing was the last imperial dynasty of China, its emperors occupying their capital, Beijing, from 1644 until 1912, when, in the aftermath of the 1911 revolution, a new Republic of China was established and the the last emperor abdicated.
..... Click the link for more information. Triads

The Triad (三合會) is a collective term that describes many branches of the underground society based in Hong Kong.

It is engaged in all forms of organized crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal gambling, prostitution, car theft and other forms of racketeering. A major source of Triad income today is from counterfeiting products of intellectual property, such as computer software, music CDs and movie VCDs/DVDs.
..... Click the link for more information. (the Hong Kong organized crime syndicate).

The Triads' rule lasted up until the mid-1970s, when a 1973
Years:
1970 1971 1972 - 1973 - 1974 1975 1976
Decades:
1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1973 in art
1973 in aviation
1973 in film
1973 in literature
1973 in music
1973 in politics
1973 in sports
1973 in television
..... Click the link for more information. -1974 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar).
Years:
1971 1972 1973 - 1974 - 1975 1976 1977
Decades:
1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1974 in aviation
1974 in film
1974 in literature
1974 in music
1974 in politics
1974 in sports
1974 in television
..... Click the link for more information. series of over 3,000 police raids occurred in Kowloon. With the Triads' power diminished, a strange sort of synergy blossomed, and the Walled City began to grow almost organically, the square buildings folding up into one another as thousands of modifications were made, virtually none by architects, until hundreds of square metres were simply a kind of patchwork monolith. Labyrinthine See also labyrinth (inner ear). or Labyrinth (movie)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate maze constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half human and half bull, eventually killed by Theseus. The 'Minoan' dynasty of King Minos was called "the house of the double axe";
..... Click the link for more information. corridors ran through the monolith, some of those being former streets (at the ground level, and often clogged up with trash), and some of those running through upper floors, practically between buildings. The only rules of construction were twofold: electricity had to be provided to avoid fire, and the buildings could be no more than about fourteen stories high (because of the nearby airport). A mere eight municipal pipes somehow provided water to the entire structure (although more could have come from wells). By the early 1980s, Kowloon had an estimated population of 35,000 - with a crime rate far below the Hong Kong average, despite the notable lack of any real law enforcement.

Over time, both the British and Chinese governments found this massive, anarchic city to be a bit much - despite the low crime, if the 'Black Market The black market is the sector of economic activity in a jurisdiction involving illegal activities. Depending on the sense in which the term is used, this can primarily refer to illegally avoiding tax payments, to the profits of narcotic trafficking, or profits made from theft. It is so called because "black economy" or "black market" affairs are conducted outside the law, and so are necessarily conducted "in the dark", out of sight of the law.
..... Click the link for more information. ' ever had a physical location, this would have been it, and needless to say, the sanitary conditions were, well, a bit wanting.

After the Joint Declaration in 1984 The Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong (The Joint Declaration), was signed by the Prime Ministers of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United Kingdom (UK) governments on December 19, 1984 in Beijing.

The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on May 27, 1985 and was registered by the PRC and UK governments at the
..... Click the link for more information. , China allowed British authorities to demolish the City and resettle its inhabitants. The mutual decision to tear down the walled city was made in 1987.

At that time, it had 50,000 inhabitants on 0.026 km², and therefore a very high population density of 1,900,000 / km². It was allegedly the most densely populated spot on Earth.


DestructionThe 1993 movie Crime Story starring Jackie Chan was partly made in the deserted Walled City, and includes real scenes of building explosions. Kowloon Walled City was destroyed in the same year. Also, as the Walled City was beginning to be torn down, a group of Japanese explorers took about a week to tour the empty walled city, making a sort of map and a cross section of the city.


Kowloon Walled City ParkThe area is now located in today's Kowloon City district. It was built into Kowloon Walled City Park (九龍寨城公園), an elegant park preserving the heritage of the fabled Walled City, which is part of the Carpenter Road Park.

http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/118.jpg http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/119.jpg http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/120.jpg http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/123.jpg http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/121.jpg

Kowloon Walled City was not and never had been a city. It covered not much more than 25,000 square yards and, although it had been surrounded by a crenellated wall, the defences had been demolished by British prisoners-of-war under Japanese command and used as hardcore for an airport runway extension.

It had originally been established in the 18th century as a far-flung outpost of the Chinese empire. After the British gained control of Hong Kong and, later, Kowloon at the end of the Opium and Arrow wars in the early 1840s, the Chinese imperial government insisted on maintaining a local presence so the British turned a blind eye towards Kowloon Walled City. When the New Territories were ceded to the British, Kowloon Walled City became, in effect, cut off and ruled and possessed by neither - or both - countries.

Few Hong Kong policemen patrolled it and no government official collected taxes. The power supply was illegally tapped from the main grid and the water supply from the mains. Kowloon Walled City was in effect a minute city state all on its own, arguably the smallest ever to have existed.

It was to Hong Kong what the Casbah was to Algiers, with one exception: it was more or less closed to outsiders. Trippers avoided it. It was said that any European who entered it was never seen again unless floating out of it down the nullah [gulley] that served as a sewer.

When we arrived in our new home in Boundary Street my mother took me aside.

"Martin," she started, signifying her seriousness, "I know you like to roam and explore, and round here that's all right. But," she continued, unfolding a map of Kowloon, "you do not go even near here."

She pointed to the map. Kowloon Walled City was left as a blank uneven-sided square.

To utter such a dictum to a street-wise eight-year-old was tantamount to buying him an entrance ticket.

The following afternoon, homework hurriedly completed, I glanced at the map and headed east down Boundary Street. In 10 minutes, I was on the outskirts of Kowloon Walled City.

Nothing indicated to me why this place should be forbidden. Several six-storey buildings were being erected, with several already occupied or nearing completion; and a lot of shanties and older two-storey buildings were leaning precariously. It looked like a squatter area but with permanent structures in the middle in ill repair. A hutong [lane] lay before me, winding into the buildings and shacks. There being, I reasoned, no way my mother was ever going to find out, I set off down the alleyway, easing my way past a man pushing a bicycle, the pannier laden with cardboard boxes. He paid me not the slightest attention.

Through the open doors I spied scenes of industrial domesticity. To one side would be a kang or metal-framed bed, piled with neatly folded bedding; to the other several people seated at a table sewing, assembling torches, placing coloured pencils in boxes or painting lacquer boxes. Behind other doors were businesses, pure and simple. In one a baker was placing trays of buns in a wood-fired oven; in another, two men were making noodles, swinging sheets of thin dough in the air around a wooden rolling-pin, the interior of their shack ghost-white under a layer of flour dust.

Wherever I went, the air was redolent with the smells of wood smoke, joss-sticks, boiling rice and human excrement. Arriving at one of the older stone buildings, I was about to peer in through an open door when a Chinese man rushed out and slammed it shut. Stripped to the waist, he bore a coloured tattoo of a dragon on his back. He glowered at me.

"W'at you wan'?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said, fighting to stop myself sounding guilty, although of what I did not know. Then, hoping it might soften him a bit, I added, "Ngo giu jo Mah Tin." I held my hand out. "Nei giu mut ye meng?"

He was taken aback by my introducing myself - especially in Cantonese - and it was at least 30 seconds before he took my hand and firmly shook it. During that time, he eyed me up and down, much as a butcher might a bull being led to slaughter.

"Mah Tin," he said at last. "Ngo giu jo Ho. Why you come?"

"Just looking," I answered, shrugging and adding in pidgin English, "Come look-see."

"You no look-see," he answered sternly. "No good look-see for gweilo [foreign devil] boy."

I smiled, nodded my understanding, said, "Choi kin," (goodbye) and turned to go.

"You look-see," he declared, changing his mind. He opened the door, indicating I follow him.

What until now had seemed a harmless saunter through just another warren of passageways immediately took on a sinister aspect. No-one knew I was here. What, I considered, if this old stone building with its substantial door was the headquarters of the evil Fu Manchu? I had recently read Sax Rohmer. If I stepped over the high lintel, I could vanish. For ever. On the other hand, not to accept Ho's invitation would result in a massive loss of face. And so, I followed him into the building.

The entire ground floor consisted of one vast room, heavy beams holding up the ceiling and second floor. It was furnished with upright rosewood chairs, the wood even darker with age, low tables and several ornately framed mirrors. Halfway down the room stood a wooden screen, the top half pierced by intricate fretwork, the rest a painting depicting sheer-sided hills and lakes. To the rear was a staircase beneath which a door opened and an old hunched woman entered, walking with the aid of a stick. She took one look at me and grinned toothlessly, hobbled to my side and, stroked my hair. This put me at ease. First, Fu Manchu was hardly likely to employ crones and second, my golden hair was a passport to my security. No-one would risk harming such a harbinger of good fortune.

"You come." Ho beckoned me up the stairs.

I followed him into a room, along three sides of which were placed wooden kangs. Upon one lay a supine man asleep upon a woven bamboo mat, his head on a hard Chinese headrest, his legs drawn up, his hands twitching like a dog's paws in a dream of chasing rabbits.

"Nga pin," Ho announced and beckoned me further towards the fourth wall, the whole length of which was shuttered. I refrained from asking him what nga pin was for fear of seeming ignorant. He unlatched one of the shutters and we stepped out on to the balcony, which sloped forwards towards a crumbling balustrade.

From here, I was afforded a panoramic view of the walled city. The shacks were so tightly packed, it was impossible to see where the hutongs ran between them. Yet the real surprise was the few larger buildings tucked between them. One stood in a wide rectangular courtyard with a number of outbuildings close by; from another rose a faint cloud of bluish smoke which meant it had to be a temple. In the distance was Kowloon Bay, a cargo ship riding at a quarantine buoy. Over to my left was the bulk of Fei Ngo Shan, the most easterly of the Kowloon hills, the slopes sharp and clear in the late sun.

Ho took me back inside. We passed the sleeping man, who was beginning to wake, and descended the stairs which creaked loudly. Once outside, Ho bade me farewell and went back into the house, closing the door. I set off along the way I had come, considering to myself that I had taken a terrible risk. Reaching the edge of the squatter shacks, and stepping out on to a road with traffic going by, I resolved not to be so foolhardy again. Yet I knew I had to return to investigate the temple and the building in the courtyard.

When I returned to our flat, I went into the kitchen where our cook Wong was preparing supper and asked him what nga pin meant. He stopped stirring a pan for a moment, looked quizzically at me and replied, "Opium."

· This is an edited extract from Gweilo, Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood by Martin Booth, published by Doubleday at £16.99.

http://www.neon-jp.org/98/eng/world/img/large/19.jpg

[LoKKiTo]

Didn't they film Super Mario Bros here. Reminds me it.

"Trust the Fungus"

[ProudlyCanadian]

That is a real URBAN Jungle! :)

[MolsonExport]

Kowloon Walled City (Îú×£àòóó, originally known as Îú×£óóàò):

In 1987, the Walled City of Kowloon had 50,000 inhabitants on 0.026 km©÷, and therefore a very high population density of 1,900,000 / km©÷.

Compare this with the rest of Kowloon (itself, one of the highest population densities on the planet):


In modern day, Kowloon (Îú×£ lit. nine dragons) when unqualified refers to the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. Population (2000): 2,071,000. Population density: 44,000 people/km©÷. Together with Hong Kong Island, it contains 47% of Hong Kong's total population.

http://www.cpavirtual.org/images/HongKong1_small.gif http://www.cpavirtual.org/images/HongKong3_small.jpg http://www.cpavirtual.org/images/HongKong5.gif

[AJphx]

The most interesting part of this, I think, are the streets and alleys of the interior.

[SHiRO]

http://www.ritklara.com/emerging/coexisting.html

I have another image on my computer showing a map of Walled City showing it to be the size of a baseball stadium. Can't find it at the moment, but if I do, I will post it...

[MolsonExport]

images removed as they are no longer available.

[Hisma]

has anyone seen the movie "Bloodsport"?
I am almost certain that the movie was filmed there. Apparently inside the city is where they held the Kumite.

[SHiRO]

^
Could be...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092675/locations

[otto]

Interesting. Very very urban. A nice testcase for urban living, it`s a petty they didn`t keep a part as outdoor museum or so. I`m sure people in future will want to see how it was.

And wow, 1,9 million / sq. km? How much space do we need for the total Chinese 1,3 billion population? Only 684 sq km..... About the size of Singapore. Or more exactly it`s equal to Kiribati.

It reminds me a little bit of the Southern Japanese coal mining island. That has been abandonned and was for Japanese standards extremely dense. With all people except the manager living in 30 10-floor concrete towers. There was a topic about that island 1,5 month ago.

[marshall_mathers]

those wall s city pics of kowloon reminds allot of the gmae I play shenmue II, in that game I've been in Aberdeen HK to Kowloon, and it actually located on te hill in a peninsula and actually have buildings serve as shop, housing and lots of stuff, adn yes, there's a wall around the city.

try it, it shenmue II for xbox.

[CGII]

reminds me of a tall and real version of my avatar.

also reminds me of Gunkajima. very creepy.
some pix courtesy of google ( circa 1989)
http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/

[otto]

also reminds me of Gunkajima. very creepy.

THX! That`s the Japanese coal island I meant.

[urbanflyer]

astounding urban historical record.

[SD]

those wall s city pics of kowloon reminds allot of the gmae I play shenmue II, in that game I've been in Aberdeen HK to Kowloon, and it actually located on te hill in a peninsula and actually have buildings serve as shop, housing and lots of stuff, adn yes, there's a wall around the city.

try it, it shenmue II for xbox.

That's a great game. I don't know if you played the first one on the Dreamcast, but you may still find this article interesting. The town/district of Dobuita was recreated quite well in the game. Here are some pics of the actual location:

http://www.segalife.com/showcase/realshen/realshenmue.htm

[MolsonExport]

From http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon

http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/aerial1.jpg

http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/aerial2.jpg

http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/apt2.jpg

Check out the Swastika/Circle-of-life in the sign:
http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/apt5.jpg

Show me the way to go home...
http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/apt6.jpg

For Rent: 300 square inches, with a view:
http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/apt7.jpg

My favorite shortcut:
http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon/alley1.jpg

[MolsonExport]

http://www.yado.co.jp/hana/nagasaki/suisennosato/gunkanjima.jpg

http://akuaku.org/images/gunkajima.jpg

http://www.electricedge.com/greymatter/images2/gunkanjima.jpg

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/9-f.jpg

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/81-f.jpg

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/73-f.jpg

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/70-f.jpg

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/71-f.jpg

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/90-f.jpg

http://www.jp-hit.com/picture/image2/gunkanjima/0075.jpg

http://www.jp-hit.com/picture/image2/gunkanjima/0076.jpg

http://www.jp-hit.com/picture/image2/gunkanjima/0077.jpg

http://www.jp-hit.com/picture/image2/gunkanjima/0078.jpg


Bon Voyage:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/gunsu-jpg/96-f.jpg

www.jp-hit.com/.../ gunkanjima_reprise01.html

[marshall_mathers]

those wall s city pics of kowloon reminds allot of the gmae I play shenmue II, in that game I've been in Aberdeen HK to Kowloon, and it actually located on te hill in a peninsula and actually have buildings serve as shop, housing and lots of stuff, adn yes, there's a wall around the city.

try it, it shenmue II for xbox.

That's a great game. I don't know if you played the first one on the Dreamcast, but you may still find this article interesting. The town/district of Dobuita was recreated quite well in the game. Here are some pics of the actual location:

http://www.segalife.com/showcase/realshen/realshenmue.htm

I played both games on DC and xbox, and those pics are old, I saw them way back in 2001 on shenmuedojo, they got sakuraka, doubuita and

[MolsonExport]

Apt. for Rent:
http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/Asia/China/HongKong/images/KowloonApartments02.jpg

Look at this!! Dear God!!
http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03880005_25.JPG

Vancouver has got nothing on HK:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03920027_25.JPG

Skyline-wise, can it get much better than this?
http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03900014_25.JPG

Density a la Walled City, somewhere in Kowloon:
http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/Asia/China/HongKong/images/KowloonApartments01.jpg

Would you live here?
http://www.worldwander.com/hongkong/hkapart.jpg

!!!!!!
http://www.geocities.com/asiaphotos/hongkong/newsky.JPG

"Well, we're moving on up...."
http://goroono.hp.infoseek.co.jp/HongKong/Kuron/high-apartment2.jpg


:cool: :cool:

[SD]

those wall s city pics of kowloon reminds allot of the gmae I play shenmue II, in that game I've been in Aberdeen HK to Kowloon, and it actually located on te hill in a peninsula and actually have buildings serve as shop, housing and lots of stuff, adn yes, there's a wall around the city.

try it, it shenmue II for xbox.

That's a great game. I don't know if you played the first one on the Dreamcast, but you may still find this article interesting. The town/district of Dobuita was recreated quite well in the game. Here are some pics of the actual location:

http://www.segalife.com/showcase/realshen/realshenmue.htm

I played both games on DC and xbox, and those pics are old, I saw them way back in 2001 on shenmuedojo, they got sakuraka, doubuita and

I know...but didn't know whether or not you had seen them. :)

[Grumpy]

This is the most tasteless architecture I ever seen and they are easy to be found in HK . So disgusting ...

http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03880005_25.JPG

[hkskyline]

The Walled City has been torn down and replaced by a park :

http://www.geocities.com/kowloonparks/20030206/RIMG1269.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/kowloonparks/20030206/RIMG1283.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/kowloonparks/20030206/RIMG1303.jpg

More photos :
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/hk-walledcity.htm

[ailiton]

This is the most tasteless architecture I ever seen and they are easy to be found in HK . So disgusting ...

I think they are beautiful.

[CGII]

From http://meshula.net/photos/kowloon



Dude, I already posted those in a link, otherwise I woulda put up the pix if it didn't clearly say he wanted permission before anyone did anything with them ;)

[marshall_mathers]

Apt. for Rent:

Vancouver has got nothing on HK:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03920027_25.JPG



vancouver don't got unstyling hi rise liek that, or have as much, but most of the south america metropolis are jsut as close.

[Rachmaninov]

These are for high wealth residents...

[MolsonExport]

http://www.generativeart.com/papersga2003/a08_file/image006.jpg

Holy Density, Batman!

[MolsonExport]

http://www.nishimatsu.co.jp/eng/project/images/aldrich_hkha.jpg http://www.growseal.com/tongda/inf_cata/image/new/unigum02.jpg
http://jidanni.org/geo/images/19890327hk.jpg http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~hiew/html/Photography/HongKong/Picture36.jpg http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~hiew/html/Photography/HongKong/Picture34.jpg http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~hiew/html/Photography/HongKong/Picture37.jpg http://www.cba.uri.edu/Faculty/jarrett/ASIA/HongKong.jpg http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/Asia/China/HongKong/images/KowloonApartments02.jpg http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/Asia/China/HongKong/images/KowloonApartments01.jpg http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03880005_25.JPG http://www.chesleyhouse.com/Travel/Images/MaiPo%20spoonbills%20and%20apts.JPG http://www.worldwander.com/hongkong/hkapart.jpg http://www.worldwander.com/hongkong/hkapart1.jpg http://goroono.hp.infoseek.co.jp/HongKong/Kuron/high-apartment2.jpg http://www2.gol.com/users/kiiko/hk_3.gif http://students.bath.ac.uk/ab1csst/essays/Image1.gif

[MolsonExport]

Apt. for Rent:

Vancouver has got nothing on HK:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03920027_25.JPG



vancouver don't got unstyling hi rise liek that, or have as much, but most of the south america metropolis are jsut as close.

I think that they are rather cool!:cool:

[MolsonExport]

http://www.adventurocity.com/images/cn/cnhkg007-600.jpg

** image deleted by admin for hotlinking **

[Smiley Person]

So large, yet still at a human scale- I think that is what makes this so captivating compared to newer apartment blocks that may be larger and more populated.

[MolsonExport]

http://www.web.virginia.edu/asianarc/public/hongkong/hkg04.jpg

.1 Historical
About a decade ago, there were only huts or houses scattering in Kowloon City, both economically and politically dependent on the Walled City. During the 1910s, Hong Kong being colony of British, a grid plan was implemented on this area and thus forming the present grid pattern.

In the 1920s, parts of the Walled City fell into decay with the south wall beginning to crumble. By the 1930s, the domestic dwellings became so dilapidated and insanitary that the Hong Kong Government announced plans to demolish the houses, except those for public purposes and the demolishment was completed in the 1940s.

During the Japanese occupation, the wall was completely torn down to provide material to extend the Kai Tak Airport. After the war, the Walled City was once again occupied by squatters, who gradually replaced the huts with high-rise buildings.

In 1987, it was announced that the Kowloon Walled City, one of the prominent landmarks in Hong Kong, would be cleared. It was completely demolished in 1994 and replace by a park with style of Chinese garden.

Moreover, in 1998, the Kai Tak international airport, nearby Kowloon City, was removed to Chek Lap Kok. Before the removal, people from everywhere in Hong Kong came to take photos, look at the planes coming and going, enjoy the last memorial moment.

View from KWC rooftop:
http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/archlib/graduate/lamtakhim/lth28.jpg

"a fetid conglomeration of 359 tenement buildings...festering on a 7-acre plot."
- U.S. News & World Report

Kowloon Walled City (KWC for the rest of the writeup) was, at its peak, an incredibly dense, self-sufficient mish-mash of building units constructed on top of and around each other on the border between Hong Kong and neighbouring China. It housed one of the most densely-packed populations in the world and is likely the only large-scale example of a functioning anarchy ever to have existed. It was also filthy, unsanitary and dangerous.

It was demolished in 1993. The site is now a commemorative park.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KWC had an inauspicious beginning (if it could be imagined that it ever was anything else) as a Chinese Army fort, itself originally an outpost constructed in 1668. It appears it was maintained and expanded in construction and complement in the years following; when the Chinese signed the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, handing Hong Kong island to the British, they stipulated that ownership of the fort would remain in Chinese hands. It was just inside what would become British colonial territory but the Chinese wished to keep an eye on British influence and check it if necessary.

The 1898 Peking Convention which leased the Kowloon Peninsula to Britain for 99 years did not mention KWC, leaving its legal ownership something of an ambiguity. An unofficial agreement was reached whereby China would be allowed to keep troops there as long as they didn't interfere with the British administration, but a year after the Convention was signed Britain attacked it. It was empty (the Chinese had vacated during the previous 12 months) and was ultimately left derelict and ungoverned, reinforcing the collective uncertainty as to who owned it. KWC remained this way for some time, becoming something of an historical oddity and tourist attraction. In 1940, during the Japanese occupation of China, much of it was demolished to use for building Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon Bay.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, squatters began to occupy parts of the city. With the Chinese civil war that followed and the victory by communism and the 1949 formation of the PRC, hundreds of refugees from the mainland also squatted in KWC, tacking their own residences onto the existing structure. How this progressed is unclear, as only one source mentions the extent of the demolition and I could not find any documentation of the years in between. By 1947 the population is reported to have been 2000.

In 1948 several attempts were made by the British to remove the squatters, who presumably made up the majority of the population by then. This resulted in several riots and the eventual adoption, both by Britain and China, of a policy of ignorance with regard to the area, which had become a diplomatic and legislative black hole. Neither Chinese nor British security forces had any power there, and without any physical protection or borders the city quickly became a hotbed of criminal activity. Drug dens, gambling areas and brothels all proliferated in the growing city and the lack of control by both governments was highlighted when, after a murder there in 1959, both sides tried frantically to get the other to claim responsibility for the land and legal proceedings.

In the absence of a government the city became a haven for people to escape everyday constraints such as taxes and legislation. Essential facilities were provided by the inhabitants, hashing them together from what could be found. Electricity was stolen, tapping from nearby electrical mains and leeching connections were made to underground water pipes; over seventy wells were also sunk throughout to supplement the fresh water supply. The water was pumped up to rooftop tanks from where it descended through a network of pipes to all of the apartments. Eventually standpipes were installed throughout the city during the 1960s, but the original infrastructure served the residences for over twenty years. The electricity supply was eventually supplanted by a paid feed in 1970, when faulty wiring caused a serious fire in the city.

A repeat of British eviction attempts occurred in 1963, again resulting in rioting which was presumably amplified by the increased population. I would estimate it to have been around 5,000 by that point, growing to 10,000 by 1971. KWC was by then under almost complete control of the Hong Kong Triads, though this was lessened considerably by over 3,000 police raids from 1973 to 1974 that resulted in 2,500 arrests. With a lessened spectre of criminality and threat of raids by security forces the city's growth rate increased. As more people moved in, buildings were joined by more buildings and modifications were made to existing ones, creating a collage of accommodation over the small plot of land. It looked like tower blocks that had been chopped into cubes and stuck, randomly and rather haphazardly, back together.

Nevertheless, and despite universally negative media reporting of the conditions there, the city had grown into a fully functioning community. All of the facilities required were present, the city frequently benefiting from skilled inhabitants, many of whom were responsible for the provision of utility supplies and the building of extensions. There were several schools, medical and dental practices (who charged a fraction of their official counterparts, since they did not need expensive licences to operate), factories, shops and restaurants. There was even a temple in the heart of the city.

As the community aged and matured it garnered some acceptance from local government, which gradually provided some amenities such as the aforementioned water supply, internal street lighting and limited security (almost no natural light penetrated to the majority of the city). Although there was no police force as such and again, neither side had any real jurisdiction there, a patrol unit was established (perhaps with mutual input from both sides, though that detail is not clear) to try to maintain some semblance of order within the walls.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Evidently this unregulated, untaxed and unruly society eventually became too large a thorn in the sides of both British and Chinese authorities, or perhaps too visible a reminder of their past indecisions and political tensions. Despite it having a crime rate lower than the national average on both sides of the border it straddled, it was undoubtedly the centre of various seedy industries and the collective feeling was that it was time for authorities to put their foot down. Part of the 1984 Sino-British joint declaration on the future return of Hong Kong to China included an agreement allowing the British to demolish KWC and resettle the inhabitants, which by then numbered somewhere between 50,000 and 350,000 (sources differ widely, though the former is more likely).

Over the following years, compensation and re-housing agreements were eventually made by the British with all the inhabitants and a mutual decision was made to demolish the city, announced in 1987. Evacuations took place from 1991 to 1992. The 1993 film Crime Story includes footage from inside the deserted KWC, taken just prior to its demolition, some footage of which also appears.

The former site of the city now hosts a heritage park, containing exhibits and landscape features documenting the city's history.

[philip]

If I see more pictures like these, I think I'll start to dislike living in Hong Kong. Here is another one.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDrAlgXDI2LxNfOCbs5CnOzkz5HHhHWYCHnkZb12fYnAkkTu8MpuBb9F4xQsSc1DWPiakZoHViidMAcnMvXqXDZmus7iJ4hbi35gVoE0JZ8GePD6kVbFw/Ma%20On%20Shan.jpg?dc=4675509364080873460

[igzaklee]

vertical suburbia philip, that's all...

[InitialD18]

if u want to compare vancouver and hk apartments u should compare the westend ones with mid level ones ... they are both high end apartments ... it would be interesting to see the two districts apartments measure against each other ...

http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03880005_25.JPG
btw i believe i live in one of these and they are as good as or in some case better than the apartment i lived in canada ...
and suburban towns in NA are just as redudant as the lower cost suburbian towers in hk ... minus the convenience in hk ...
there are still much to desire for in terms of external styling... but they are honestly much better than what the picture portrays ... come yourself to take a look in some of these apartments ...
they do look better in real ...

[MolsonExport]

^I think that it would be very interesting. I am fascinated by the sheer density of HK building projects. One thing that all the most fascinating and vibrant urban areas have in common is density. I lament the passing of the Walled City of Kowloon, not because I think that it was fit for human habitation, but because of the utter density and strange jurisdictional status of the place.

[vvill]

If I see more pictures like these, I think I'll start to dislike living in Hong Kong. Here is another one.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDrAlgXDI2LxNfOCbs5CnOzkz5HHhHWYCHnkZb12fYnAkkTu8MpuBb9F4xQsSc1DWPiakZoHViidMAcnMvXqXDZmus7iJ4hbi35gVoE0JZ8GePD6kVbFw/Ma%20On%20Shan.jpg?dc=4675509364080873460

it may look a bit crazy and way too dense from a distance.. but they're all very nice if you look closer. the wide range of amenities and facilities offered are rare in most parts of the world.

[philip]

I would love to live in HarbourSide, High Cliff or Summit, but not in these crowded buildings. My kind of home must have a nice view, it cannot have a view of someone else's back door.

[try 2B funny]

If I see more pictures like these, I think I'll start to dislike living in Hong Kong. Here is another one.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgDrAlgXDI2LxNfOCbs5CnOzkz5HHhHWYCHnkZb12fYnAkkTu8MpuBb9F4xQsSc1DWPiakZoHViidMAcnMvXqXDZmus7iJ4hbi35gVoE0JZ8GePD6kVbFw/Ma%20On%20Shan.jpg?dc=4675509364080873460

Within certain clusters, the distance between buildings can be quite closed, but in general Ma On Shan is not that dense. Better than many neighborhood in HK
http://tinypic.com/1ovds7

http://tinypic.com/1ove3n

[MolsonExport]

^Awesome shots!! :D

[philip]

Oh, I see !

[MolsonExport]

http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/3284.jpg

^These apartment high-rises (and other buildings) are near the central zone in Shenzhen, China.

http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/3322.jpg
^Shenzen Skyline

http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/4390.jpg
^Kowloon Crosswalk

http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/3404.jpg
^Pudong Street

http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/4230.jpg
^Shenzen Apartments

http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/3344.jpg
^Jinhua (China) Workers? Apartments

** image deleted by admin for hotlinking **

http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/121.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1873200137.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://tsk.hkcampus.net/~tsk-tb/_7.2.jpg.jpg

http://www.coupland.com/drool/images/kowloon03.jpg



The Triads' rule lasted up until the mid-1970s, when a 1973-1974 series of over 3,000 police raids occurred in Kowloon Walled City. With the Triads' power diminished, a strange sort of synergy blossomed, and the Walled City began to grow almost organically, the square buildings folding up into one another as thousands of modifications were made, virtually none by architects, until hundreds of square metres were simply a kind of patchwork monolith. Labyrinthine corridors ran through the monolith, some of those being former streets (at the ground level, and often clogged up with trash), and some of those running through upper floors, practically between buildings. The only rules of construction were twofold: electricity had to be provided to avoid fire, and the buildings could be no more than about fourteen stories high (because of the nearby airport). A mere eight municipal pipes somehow provided water to the entire structure (although more could have come from wells). By the early 1980s, Kowloon Walled City had an estimated population of 35,000 - with a crime rate far below the Hong Kong average, despite the notable lack of any real law enforcement.

[redstone]

It continues to amaze me even til now...

[lakegz]

This is simply astounding to me!!!! i had never heard of this place before i opened this thread. its just amazing the conditions that humans can live in. i'da felt like a roach living in a place like that.

[lakegz]

1382 views on this topic but for something as fascinating as this, that ain't enough so ...........bump!

[MolsonExport]

http://www3.worldisround.com/photos/0/479/481.jpg http://image24.webshots.com/25/3/92/95/286639295FlcsHk_ph.jpg http://image36.webshots.com/36/3/94/24/286639424jLPTtM_ph.jpg http://image32.webshots.com/33/3/95/45/286639545DmxcVT_ph.jpg http://image34.webshots.com/34/3/95/9/286639509XShYqH_ph.jpg http://secure.giantrobot.com/graphics/2004/09/15/city_big.jpg

Here is the Walled City of Kowloon in 1910:
http://www.sokamonline.com/HongKong/HongKong97/photo/050-01s.jpg

In 1991:
http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/121.jpg

[MolsonExport]

http://club.nate.com/cindex6/427/askl/18831906/1/214%5B20050128161959%5D.jpg

[MolsonExport]

It had 50,000 inhabitants on 0.026 sq. km

http://www.web.virginia.edu/asianarc/public/hongkong/hkg04.jpg

http://www.web.virginia.edu/asianarc/public/hongkong/hkg04a.jpg

http://www.web.virginia.edu/asianarc/public/hongkong/hkg03.jpg

http://tenplusone.inax.co.jp/archive/hongkong/image/121.jpg

Ultra rare rooftop view of the Walled City of Kowloon:
http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/above.jpg

Inside the Walled City:
http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/bicycle.jpg

http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/bicycle_alley.jpg

http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/flour_1.jpg

http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/flour_2.jpg

http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/stairway_2.jpg

http://www.coupland.com/drool/images/kowloon02.jpg

[lakegz]

http://www.kungfucinema.com/images/stills/bloodsport.jpg

[MolsonExport]

Frankenstein construction.

[jonjacob]

http://www.kungfucinema.com/images/stills/bloodsport.jpg

OK USA!

Where those scenes where they were walking through the alleyways actually filmed inside the walled city?

[MolsonExport]

Just another day in the life of the Walled City of Kowloon:
http://blog.wfmu.org/photos/uncategorized/kaitak1_1_2.JPG

[MolsonExport]

http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/hongkong/hkg04.jpg

Part of the Walled city of Kowloon is on the right-hand side.

[staff]

Fascinating - that's what it is.

[CGII]

That retaining wall is insane.

[MolsonExport]

http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/Asia/China/HongKong/images/KowloonApartments01.jpg http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/Asia/China/HongKong/images/KowloonApartments02.jpg http://donotremove.co.uk/photos/hong-kong-04/full/apartment-block-front.jpg http://www.art-pacific.com/images/hongknge.gif http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/pics/4390.jpg http://www.iainmasterton.com/Jpgimages/perspectives2/perspectives2web/hktenement6.jpg http://hobday.net/photos/Hong%20Kong/Abstract%20Hong%20Kong/kowloon_apartments.jpg http://individual.utoronto.ca/paterson/03880005_25.JPG http://www.blissweb.com/sets/photos/travel/hk/hk_apartmentblock1_med.jpg http://www.cba.uri.edu/Faculty/jarrett/ASIA/HongKong.jpg http://ucnet.pe.kr/Asia-China/Hongkong/WFAasi%20Hong%20Kong-Highrise%20Apartment-01.jpg http://www.dkolb.org/sprawlingplaces/images/fullsize/hk.modapts.jpg http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/hongkong/hkg03.jpg http://www.snowmantravel.com/images/hong-kong.jpg http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/hong-kong/hongkong%20s/HKaptbldg2.JPG http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/hong-kong/hongkong%20s/HKapts.JPG http://www.worldwander.com/hongkong/hkapart.jpg http://alienated.net/wp-content/images/density-thumb.jpg http://www.meddows-taylor.com/View_HongKong.jpg.jpg http://mikilo.image.pbase.com/u40/bmcmorrow/small/32589912.DSC_0100.jpg

[MolsonExport]

http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/above.jpg

http://parole.aporee.org/files/ga12/kowloon_walled_city_8.gif

http://www.kiku.com/electric_samurai/virtual_china/image/hongkong_01.jpg

[MolsonExport]

Architecture of Density
January 6 - February 26, 2005
Reception for the Artist:
Thursday, February 3rd, 5:30 - 7:30 PM

ROBERT KOCH GALLERY is pleased to present Architecture of Density, an exhibition of large scale color photographs by Michael Wolf. Wolf has lived and worked in Hong Kong for ten years. Stimulated by the region's complex urban dynamics, he makes dizzying photographs of its architecture.

One of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world, Hong Kong has an overall density of nearly 6,700 people per square kilometer. The majority of its citizens live in flats in high-rise buildings. In Architecture of Density, Wolf investigates these vibrant city blocks, finding a mesmerizing abstraction in the buildings' facades.

Some of the structures in the series are photographed without reference to the context of sky or ground, and many buildings are seen in a state of repair or construction: their walls covered with a grid of scaffolding or the soft colored curtains that protect the streets below from falling debris. From a distance, such elements become a part of the photograph's intricate design.

Upon closer inspection of each photograph, the anonymous public face of the city is full of rewarding detail- suddenly public space is private space, and large swatches of color give way to smaller pieces of people's lives. The trappings of the people are still visible here: their days inform the detail of these buildings. Bits of laundry and hanging plants pepper the tiny rectangles of windows- the only irregularities in this orderly design.

In 2002, the San Francisco Chronicle called Wolf's work in Hong Kong "most improbable and humanly alert". In previous series, Wolf described the vernacular culture of the street. His early vision of the region dwelt on personal aesthetic gestures left in back doors and alleyways, such as makeshift seating in the streets. In these photographs, small tokens of human presence took precedence over monumental architecture. Wolf continues to explore the theme of the organic metropolis- that which develops according to the caprice of its citizens as much as the planning of its architects. In Architecture of Density, his vision has evolved to evaluate the high-rises that shape the spatial experience of Hong Kong's citizens. Wolf finds in each building a singular character, despite its functional purpose and massive form.

http://giganticmag.com/images/hong_kong_9.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/8.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/6.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/11.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/13.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/16.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/17.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/18.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/19.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/23.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/26.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/28.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/29.jpg http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/18.jpg

[Chicago103]

Coruscant alert! Its hard to believe that stuff as dense as that actually exists on earth.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Sorry, but I just developed a bad case of claustrophobia. That walled city is insane. Thanks for the pics Molsen.

[PrOfOuNd_ReTaRdAtIoN]

the city looks soo..."organic"..cool place thou

[excel]

Vancouver has got nothing on HK:


Probably one of the weirdest comments ive heard. Two cities shouldnt even be compared. First things first, just a little bit of a difference in population.(Vancouver has 580,000 in the city where hong kong has just about 8 million and probably way more uncounted.) who knows how many ppl live in and around hong kong aswell. then try the age of the city and the zoning of the city which seems to allows skyscrapers anywhere possible. Anyways, last time i checked vancouver wasnt trying to be like HK.

[excel]

Otherwise, these are some of the most amazing pictures ive ever seen. It blows me away to see the conditions some people live in. its just amazing.

[MolsonExport]

Vancouver has got nothing on HK:


Probably one of the weirdest comments ive heard. Two cities shouldnt even be compared. First things first, just a little bit of a difference in population.(Vancouver has 580,000 in the city where hong kong has just about 8 million and probably way more uncounted.) who knows how many ppl live in and around hong kong aswell. then try the age of the city and the zoning of the city which seems to allows skyscrapers anywhere possible. Anyways, last time i checked vancouver wasnt trying to be like HK.

Of course. No badmouthing of Vancouver was (or is) ever intended; I lived in Van for 5 years and loved the place.

Many of us Canadians freak out over the residential density of Downtown Vancouver...I was merely pointing out that when you see HK, it puts things into perspective!

[excel]

Of course. No badmouthing of Vancouver was (or is) ever intended; I lived in Van for 5 years and loved the place.

Many of us Canadians freak out over the residential density of Downtown Vancouver...I was merely pointing out that when you see HK, it puts things into perspective!

Oh alright Fair enough. Also didnt realize u were from vancouver, sorta thought u were pulling that straight outa ur ass for some reason. makes sense. sorry for goin all out there.

[edluva]

nevermind kwc. if the other stat is true, kowloon has an average pop density of 114kppsm. that's almost twice manhattan's, and larger too (2 million). and if that's true, then hong kong (city) might have, easily, the densest UA on earth.

[olivepixel]

Just realized I still have some photos from the various books on KWC hosted. Try abebooks.com if you want to buy them. So, for anyone interested (Click on the thumbnails for larger images):

City of Darkness - ISBN: 1873200137

This is by far the best book on the place, lots of amazing photos and some very interesting interviews with the residents.

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid1t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid1.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid2t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid2.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid3t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid3.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid4t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid4.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid5t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid5.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid6t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/cid6.jpg)




Kowloon Walled City - ISBN:4582277365

Japanese book of black and white photography. Also very good, and the text is in both English and Japanese. Includes shots of the demolition. Might be a little hard to find.

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc1t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc1.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc2t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc2.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc3t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc3.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc4t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc4.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc5t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/kwc5.jpg)


Crack in the Wall - ISBN:0340488077

This book is quite cheap, but more about Jackie Pullinger bringing Jesus to crack addicts living in and around the walled city than the place itself. Uninspired photos, and pretty uninteresting text.

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/citw1t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/citw1.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/citw2t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/citw2.jpg)

http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/citw3t.jpg (http://www.olivepixel.com/misc/kwc/citw3.jpg)

[MolsonExport]

I've wanted to buy "City of Darkness" for some time now. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

[CGII]

Anyone else reminded of the Financial Distric that the Crimson Permament Assurance attacked?
http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/23.jpg

[SSLL]

Amazing. It's as intriguing to me as the Ryungong Hotel. Was it served by the subway? And what is there now?

[MolsonExport]

^torn down by the British Colonial authorities in mid 1990s; now the site of KWC Park

[vvill]

Anyone else reminded of the Financial Distric that the Crimson Permament Assurance attacked?
http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/hongkongarchitecture/23.jpg

i find this picture particularly intriguing...

among these towers, one's completed a year ago while the rest are completed like 10 years? 15 years ago?

[MolsonExport]

http://img44.exs.cx/img44/113/e20080.jpg

[MolsonExport]

http://harvest-cafe.com/botak/hk/img02/kwc01.jpg
http://harvest-cafe.com/botak/hk/img02/kwc02.jpg
http://harvest-cafe.com/botak/hk/img02/kwc03.jpg
http://harvest-cafe.com/botak/hk/img02/kwc04.jpg
http://www.coupland.com/drool/images/kowloon01.jpg

[MolsonExport]

An opinion about the WCoK:

The Walled City was the "City of Joy" a la HongKong. An improverished,
crowded squalor where the poorest of the poor of HK huddled. A place
where people were allow to live in inhuman and deplorable conditions. A
place where all kinds of vices florished. A place that I once called
home.....

It was a relic of the "Peking Convention" signed in June 1897. It specified
that Kowloon and the New Territories were to be leased to Great Britain for
a hundred year. It reserved the old walled Kowloon City for the jurisdiction
of China and was off limit to the colonial law. Subsequent abandonment by the
Chinese officials left the place a favorite hideout for criminals because
of its status as a legal twilight zone. In order to avoid squirmishes with
China the colonial government turned a blind eye to drug dealing,
prostitution, gambling, loan-sharking etc. You could even find places that
served dog meat and cat meat :).


Ironically, the place was quite safe for outsider. The Triads who ruled the
place made their money from "tourism" - HKers who wanted a taste of the
forbidden :). So it was in their interest to keep the place safe. Except
for petty crimes and gang warfares, the place was relatively peaceful.


It occupied a site of about eight acres and was in close proximity to the HK
International Airport. We often joked about which of the four things that we
feared the most would deliver us from misery first - the airplanes, fire,
typhoon, and the colonial AO's (most of them were HKU alumni, BTW :). Like
a couple of netters had already pointed out, the place is no more ......


I think the prosperity of HK were built on the back of people like those who
lived in the Walled City. They suffered and toiled in silence and asked for
very little in return. It's time to give them political parity so that they
can demand their fair share of the bounty and a voice in the government who
had abandoned them!
http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.travel/browse_thread/thread/4e22bc5633a24155/54f1ce90efefc25a?lnk=st&q=Walled+City+of+Kowloon&rnum=2&hl=en#54f1ce90efefc25a

[MolsonExport]

http://www.globalphotos.org/hongkong/20051006/DSCN1120.jpg

The old and the new in Hong Kong^

[CGII]

Incredible^

[MolsonExport]

http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure2_large.jpg


Don't hate me because I am beautiful:
http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure12_large.jpg

[MolsonExport]

http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure1_large.jpg

http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure5_large.jpg

http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure10_large.jpg

http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure11_large.jpg

[CanadianTurbo]

Just mind boggling......

[MolsonExport]

Does anyone else lament the destruction of this unbelievably ugly yet incredibly fascinating struture? An urban anthropologist could have an entire career studying the society in such a place.

[wrendog]

Don't hate me because I am beautiful:
http://www.klnwcity.org/intro/large/klnwcity/80/80klnwcity_figure12_large.jpg


ok.. that might be the most incredible pic i have seen..

[LSyd]

It continues to amaze me even til now...

i'll say. how about we retroactively name it "Ghettropolis?"

-

[BnaBreaker]

Damn, it looks like the scene of a Batman movie or something! I love it!

[Ronin]

Man, that looks like a lot of compacted cars or something.

[pip]

I am blown away by some of these pictures. Wow.

I notice there is much vacant space surrounding the Walled City of Kowloon. Why is that? What is in the center area of the Walled City of Kowloon? It almost looks like a hole because of the building's densities. Is there a district called Kowloon that the Walled City of Kowloon was part of? Was building collapses a threat? Some of the pictures I have googled of the Walled City of Kowloon look like a few of the buildings were leaning quite a bit.

I would have loved to have visited.

[Jularc]

Man, that looks like a lot of compacted cars or something.

I mean yeah... Talking about cars... There seems to be no streets for cars inside that mess. It is almost like a maze once you walk in there.

[MolsonExport]

Here is an interesting link that provides insane density facts about the Walled City of Kowloon:

http://www.ritklara.com/emerging/coexisting.html

Other goodies:
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/

Demolition of the Walled City of Kowloon (1993)
http://www.twenty4.co.uk/on-line/issue001/project02/KWC/history5.jpg

[navyweaxguy]

It's incredible.... i need one of those for my latest Simcity cities...

[Chicago103]

Does anyone else lament the destruction of this unbelievably ugly yet incredibly fascinating struture? An urban anthropologist could have an entire career studying the society in such a place.

Yeah I do lament its destruction, it is a fascinating place where people can learn about the effect extreme density has on people.

[LSyd]

It's incredible.... i need one of those for my latest Simcity cities...

just build a lot of stuff really densely. it looks kinda like it.

-

[SuperstarMark]

JUST amazing. I shudder to think what it'd be like to live here.

[MolsonExport]

I am blown away by some of these pictures. Wow.

I notice there is much vacant space surrounding the Walled City of Kowloon. Why is that? What is in the center area of the Walled City of Kowloon? It almost looks like a hole because of the building's densities. Is there a district called Kowloon that the Walled City of Kowloon was part of? Was building collapses a threat? Some of the pictures I have googled of the Walled City of Kowloon look like a few of the buildings were leaning quite a bit.

I would have loved to have visited.


I am pretty sure that the 'hole' is the original fort building that stood on the site.

[SD]

Does anyone else lament the destruction of this unbelievably ugly yet incredibly fascinating struture? An urban anthropologist could have an entire career studying the society in such a place.

Oh yes...definitely. I've always wanted to visit, now it looks like I may not get the chance.

[MolsonExport]

http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/images/baraka/fullsize/baraka0516.jpg
http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/images/baraka/fullsize/baraka0520.jpg

CHECK THIS OUT!
an actual clip of the Kowloon Walled City, from the film Bloodsport:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KEo6ogAnoZ8&search=kowloon

[MolsonExport]

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN

text by David Robinson / published in tofu#2
photography by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot
from their book City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Wall City

In the context of the Twentieth century, the Kowloon Walled City was totally unique. Situated within Hong Kong’s sprawling suburbs, the city within a city was to a great extent, economically, legally and physically exempt from the outside world. Until its The origins of the Kowloon Walled City go back as demolition, which was completed in 1993 it represented a rare entity -— a truly self-regulating, self-sufficient, self-determining modern settlement.
far as 1841, when Britain occupied Hong Kong Island. This presented the Chinese with a serious problem — how could they defend Kowloon from a possible British invasion? Their solution was to set up a small garrison in Kowloon City, which was quickly followed by barracks and training facilities. The Viceroy of Canton, who oversaw the construction of the fort was still concerned at Kowloon's vulnerability and felt a visible and psychological symbol of control was needed to discourage the barbarians in Hong Kong As a result the Viceroy ordered the building of a wall around the fort. It is out of these confrontational foundations that the Kowloon Walled City began to grow. By 1947 it had become a defended settlement of six and a half acres, numbering 150 men.
In 1860, the Kowloon peninsula and Stonecutters Island came under British sovereignty — the colonists were clearly eager to gain control of the mainland facing the Island as a military buffer zone. The garrison just to the north became an increasingly important as an outpost for observing the British, and the forts population grew as a result. The border between Kowloon and China was not closed; and the Kowloon Walled City, as it was now named developed into a popular stop off point for locals, foreigners and British soldiers. Some sought antiquaries; most sought opium or whores — which along with gambling would become the walled city’s most prominent sources of business.

The walled city garrison continued to grow. By the 1890s it had around 500 soldiers, their dependants and a growing civilian population maintaining the various businesses and amenities that surrounded them. As the civilian population within the city’s walls grew, the relevance of the military administration decreased. The colonial administration turned a blind eye to the odd soldier and trader nipping in for a bit of this or that. The Chinese ignored whatever entrepreneurial activities the residents had developed. Above the board enterprises could be taxed. Undertakings of a circumspect nature were always liable
to back-handers.

At the Convention of Peking on the 9th June 1898 Britain obtained the New Territories under a ninety-nine-year lease. There was one exception, Chinese officials could remain in the Walled City, as long as it was not inconsistent with the military requirements of the defence of Hong Kong This was of no consequence to the British — until the following year when local peasants rebelled, and attacked colonial traders in the new region. The then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Henry Blake, asked the Viceroy of Canton for protection and requested the Chinese customs post in the Kowloon Walled City be closed down. The viceroy sent in 600 troops, half of which, unbeknown to Blake, moved into the Walled City. Deadlines for their removal were not met. Their presence was deemed inconsistent to the military requirements of the defence of Hong Kong and British troops were sent in to remove them.

This military intervention would set the stage for eighty years of political argument, and claims and counterclaims over actual jurisdiction. In the meantime the population of the Walled City continued to grow, all but ungoverned and outlawed becoming, in effect, the tiniest city-state in the world. Theoretically controlled by the British, technically owned by China, and actually governed by whoever wielded power within such an anarchistic enclave — invariably gangsters.

Throughout the rest of the City’s history various confrontations have taken place. The Japanese, who occupied Hong Kong from 1942-45, must have feared whatever lay within the Walled City’s murky interior, and attempted to dismantle it. They achieved little, except pulling down the old exterior garrison wall. In 1947 the British tried to demolish the now wall-less walled City and build a park. The Chinese rejected this, claiming it remained the official residence for their representative. In 1948 the British did evict 2,000 squatters from the surrounding area and demolished their huts — the rioting that followed ensured they didn’t try any more colonial re-development in the area.

1966 saw the Cultural Revolution in China and the communist flag was briefly raised in the city. Official attempts to remove it were met with more rioting. British policy came to regard Walled City as something of a hornets nest — best not to be kicked unless absolutely necessary. In the meantime the Kowloon Walled City continued to develop and regenerate within itself. Buildings twelve stories high, sprouted up, without any adherence to planning law. Businesses blossomed — without the slightest concessions to legislation or taxation. Every nook and cranny within its tiny acreage was expanded out, and crammed into, until its intricate labyrinth of thoroughfares and pathways received not a ray of sunlight, even at high noon. The health authorities kept away. So the City just developed its own legion of ad-hock clinics and dental surgeons. In the absence of telephone and utilities companies the City’s inhabitants just by-wired their own electricity and connections. The same nick-it-yourself approach applied to plumbing and water. As a result a tangled network of pipes and wiring dripped and hissed above the city’s dark, dank walkways. Cheap amenities for the residents, and, considering the extremely limited access, either in or out of the compound — a potentially catastrophic fire-hazard.

For years the Kowloon Walled City became a no go area. In the control of Triads and drug dealers, with an estimated population in excess of 30,000. Many residents were illegal immigrants; exempt from extradition, encased within its walls. A lone European venturing into its midst would most probably never be seen again, no Chinese went in without appropriate reason. Only after Margaret Thatcher had signed away Hong Kong’s sovereignty did its future landlords, the communist Chinese have the ability to finally evacuate the Walled City’s stubborn population between 1988-92 and then destroy its derelict, decrepit, rat infested shell. It was only in these final years of gradual abandonment that a few journalists, photographers and investigators were able to wander unchallenged, around the Walled City’s uncharted labyrinths and give embellished accounts. Two of them were photographers: Greg Girard and Ian Lambot, who spent four years exploring the City. The vast collection of photographs they amassed during this time can be seen in their book City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City, which has recently been reprinted.

Here is a map of the park that replaced the WCK:
http://lambcutlet.org/albums/Day_7/Kowloon_Walled_City_Park_site_map.sized.jpg

[jcchii]

red X
so now it's a park?

[Kilgore Trout]

I notice there is much vacant space surrounding the Walled City of Kowloon. Why is that? What is in the center area of the Walled City of Kowloon? Is there a district called Kowloon that the Walled City of Kowloon was part of?

the 'hole' was where the originaly garrison was located.

i imagine the vacant space had been cleared for redevelopment.

kowloon is a large district of hong kong home to two million people. it's one of the three main parts of hong kong, the others being hong kong island and the new territories.