Inhabiting a block the size of the Tokyo Dome, Kowloon Walled City resembed a living, breathing creature, born from its inhabitants over its long lifespan. But the walled city was more than a physical conglomeration of buildings and people, it was an inadvertent symbol of the long struggle between China and Hong Kong, ruled by neither. It was an "in-between zone" whose remarkable existence today can best be comprehended through images, statistics and interviews.
The history of the Walled City (known as Kowloon then) can be traced back to the Song Dynasty (960–1279), where it served as a watchpost defending the area against pirates and managing the production of salt. It was rebuilt as a fort in the mid-1800s on the same site on the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong. After the ceding of Hong Kong Island to Britain in 1842 in accordance to the Treaty of Nanjing, the Qing (Chinese) authorities felt it necessary for them to establish a military/administrative post to rule the area and to check further British influence in the area.
The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory of 1898 which handed additional parts of Hong Kong (the New Territories) 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, only to find it deserted. They did nothing with it nor to the outpost, and thus sent the question of Kowloon Walled City's ownership squarely into the air. The outpost consisted of a yamen, 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 enclave remained part of Chinese territory despite the turbulent events of the early 20th century that saw the fall of the Qing government, establishment of a Republic of China in 1911 and later, the People's Republic of China in 1949.
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, when during its WWII occupation of Hong Kong, Japan evicted people from the city, and then demolished much of the city - including the wall - to provide building materials for the nearby Kai Tak Airport.
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 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. Mainland China - whether warlord, Communist, or Kuomintang - refused to take care of it. The foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 added thousands of refugees, many from Guangdong, to the population.
By this time, Britain had had enough, and simply adopted a 'hands-off' policy. When a murder occurred in the Walled City in 1959, it set off a small diplomatic crisis as the two nations each tried to get the other to accept responsibility for this tract of land now virtually ruled by anti-Manchurian Triads (a Hong Kong organized crime syndicate).
The Triad's rule lasted until 1973–1974, when a series of over 3,000 police raids targeted them in their Kowloon Walled City stronghold.
Although the walled city was described as a hotbed of criminal activities, the daily lives of its dwellers were largely organized by the residents themselves, rather than by the Triad. Most residents were not involved in any crime and lived peacefully within its walls. Many charities and religious groups helped to improve the lives of residents. Schools and other welfare were being introduced to the district. Numerous small factories and businesses thrived inside the Walled City. The Government of Hong Kong also provided some services such as water and mail delivery in the city.
With the Triads weakened, a sort of synergy blossomed, and the Walled City began to grow almost organically. Square buildings folded up into one another as thousands of modifications were made, virtually none by architects or engineers, 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 refuse), and some of those running through upper floors, practically between buildings. The streets were illuminated by fluorescent lights, as sunlight was rare except for the rooftops. 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. Being a lawless land, the city was notorious for its excess of brothels, casinos, opium dens, cocaine parlours, food courts serving dog meat, and secret factories. The Kowloon Walled City was also infamous for its high number of unsanitary dentist clinics, since this was where unlicensed dentists could operate without prosecution.
Over time, both the British and the Chinese governments found the massive, anarchic city to be increasingly intolerable - despite the low reported crime rate. The quality of life in the city, sanitary conditions in particular, was far behind the rest of Hong Kong.
After the Joint Declaration in 1984, the PRC agreed with 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 1,923,077/km², making it one of the most densely populated urban areas on Earth.
The government spent some HK$ 2.7 billion in compensation to the (est 33,000) residents and businesses in a plan devised by a special committee of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. Some residents were not satisfied with the compensation, and some even obstructed the demolition in every possible way. Evacuations started in 1991 and were completed in 1992.
The 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.
After the demolition, a park was built in its place with construction starting in May 1994.
U.S. News & World Report made a brief notice of the demolition of KWC a few months previous to the actual event. Their description of the city is indicative of outsider's perceptions about a place, a place not fitting into their ideas of normal, urban living. Although their physical portrayal of the city is accurate - "alleys choked with rubbish, rat-infested alleys and dark stairwells" - the article makes judgments based on these characteristics and ignores that a thriving community survived for over half a century. In fact much of the physical problems that gave the walled city its notoriety were, and are, problems in the rest of Hong Kong (and other world cities); the walled city merely exaggerated these conditions. As KWC, in the piece, is called, "a fetid conglomeration of 359 tenement buildings...[festering] on a 7-acre plot" and, "the cancer of Kowloon" the reader has little choice but to believe the city was an unlivable slum, not a self-organized community (the former implying a second-party perpetuating bad conditions for selfish gain). For people who lived in KWC their views are different...
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