A Glimpse Into Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City

Following the immense success of Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (九龍城寨之圍城 ), Hong Kong’s second most grossing movie of all time, the intersection of history, culture and architecture of the Kowloon Walled City has piqued much public interest. So, let’s take a deep dive into what became the most densely populated city in the world.

The history of the Walled City

Built as an military outpost fort in Kowloon during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the evolution of one of the most populated enclaves on the globe is nothing but extraordinary. After the Second Opium War, Britain gained control over New Territories in 1898, including the Kowloon area; however, the stipulation in the lease of Hong Kong was that the Kowloon Walled City would remain a separate legal entity belonging to China. 

After WWII and the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941, the Japanese demolished the wall surrounding the Walled City in order to work on building the Kai Tak airport. But Chinese refugees and squatters continued to flock to the site after the Chinese Civil War, where rents were low and there were no concerns surrounding taxes, visas or licenses. By 1947, there were 2000 squatter camps on site. Permanent construction of buildings followed and by 1971, over 10,000 people occupied 2,185 dwellings. 

To many’s demise, the British colonial government and Chinese government announced plans to demolish the Walled City in January of 1987, due to concerns over the sanitary conditions and standards of living within the city falling far behind the rest of Hong Kong. In compensation, the government offered a total of $2.7B to the 33,000 residents and businesses evicted from the Walled City. Demolition began in March of 1993 and was completed a year later. 

The Kowloon Walled City Park was built in 1995 and preserved some of the historical monuments and structures within the park, including the yamen building and remnants of the Southern gate.

Kowloon Walled City Park

The culture of the Walled City

The Kowloon Walled City was nicknamed “黑暗之城” by the locals, which directly translates to ‘The City of Darkness’. In a city with no laws, regulation, healthcare systems and police presence, this term accurately depicted the environment of the Walled City. 

The city became a haven for squatters and refugees fleeing political unrest, but also became a place where dentists, physicians and businesses could set up shop. As doctors and dentists were unable to get their practicing license elsewhere in the city, Kowloon Walled City became known as a place where Hong Kong’s working class went to get checked up for a cheap price. 

Criminal activity and triad gangs surged during the 1950s, and the Five Triad gangs gained the most presence: the King Yee, Sun Yee On, 14K, Wo Shing Wo and Tai Ho Choi. These triads gained a stranglehold over businesses that were otherwise illegal, including opium and narcotics factories, brothels, gambling and the dog meat industry. However, triad crimes and drug use began to lower from the late 70s, after numerous police raids and anti-corruption campaigns gained public support. 

The architecture of Kowloon Walled City

The architecture of the city was almost non-existent - the enclave was just a massive network of columns and modular structures built upwards and on top of older ones. Since the construction within the Walled City was unregulated, the 350 buildings had poor foundations and almost no utilities - the only restriction was the height of the city was not to exceed 14 stories due to the flight path of planes headed to Kai Tak Airport. 

These homes were connected via an informal web of staircases and passageways, and space was maximised by adding caged balconies and rooftop extensions. These rooftops were full of TV antennas, clothes lines, water tanks and rubbish, which the roof itself could be crossed using a series of ladders. 

As construction slowed in the late 1970s, the buildings within the Walled City were not much of a collection of individual buildings, but solid blocks filled with thousands of housing units which held over 10,000 families, providing not only living, but social, leisure and trade opportunities and areas within it.

The environment within the Walled City

By the 1980s, the Walled City was estimated to have housed around 35,000 residents, within its territory of only 26,000 m2  (6.4 acres). This is equivalent to 4 full-sized football fields. 

The living conditions - the lack of running water, garbage disposal and safe electricity wiring - posed health risks to the population residing within the Walled City, as the lack of infrastructure and basic amenities hindered people’s ability to live healthily and sanitarily. The entire city famously only had one postman and two elevators. 

The alleyways were often only 1-2m wide, and had poor lighting, draining and ventilation systems, causing the Walled City to have its own “micro-climate”, which coined the literal term “the City of Darkness”. Residents would use umbrellas or hats to protect their heads from the leaky and corroded water pipes running from the floor to the ceilings. 

Due to the humid, putrid smell within the Walled City, many residents opted to rest on the rooftops of buildings, which acted as a communal space during the afternoons and evenings - it was also an escape from their tiny living spaces stacked one on top of each other due to the vertical construction the city possessed. Click HERE for the image in its original size.

Due to the structures of the Kowloon Walled City, residents were increasingly sealed off from the outside world, shrouded in its little city of darkness, essentially becoming its own self-sufficient society before its demolition. 

Interested more about Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City? Watch THIS video to learn more!

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