City of Imagination: Kowloon Walled City 20 Years Later. I grew up in the cyberpunk-esque dystopia called Kowloon Walled City which inspired the setting in Ghost in the Shell. AMA. : IAmA. 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. 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 walled city garrison continued to grow. Kowloon Walled City - a gallery on Flickr. The Walled City Of Kowloon. Here it is. God, wish I could visit! 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 ..... AdministrationDistricts of Hong Kong located on the island: Central and Western district Eastern district Southern District, Hong Kong Wan Chai (including Causeway Bay) ..... It was signed in 1842 onboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis in Nanjing. Treaty Ports The treaty had China agree to cede Hong Kong to the British Empire. Canton (Guangzhou) Amoy (Xiamen) Foochow (Fuzhou) Ningpo (Ningbo) Shanghai (The first of the romanizations are in Postal System Pinyin; the second Hanyu Pinyin.) ..... "W'at you wan'? " Cross-section of Kowloon Walled City buildings. This is a real gem! I came across it after a reader posted a link to a forum of various Kowloon Walled City photos and stories. This cross-section illustration shows just how crowded, cramped, and complicated the old Kowloon Walled City was.
Unfortunately, this scan from a [Japanese?] Magazine isn’t any larger. Believe me, if it was, I would so post this cross-section in full resolution. If anybody has ANY information from where this scan came from, please let me know in the comments! My father lived in Kowloon Walled City. Click to see full size So I’m hanging out with my dad today (my parents are here in Melbourne visiting) and somehow I got to talking with him about his life in Hong Kong before he moved to the United States. Out of curiosity, I ask my dad if he knows what Kowloon Walled City is, and amazingly, he tells me that HE LIVED THERE FOR 14 YEARS WHEN HE LIVED IN HONG KONG! My fascination with this demolished city suddenly felt very personal. I began firing question after question at my dad about what life was like living in the “City of Darkness”.
And his personal accounts were just incredible. He says that there was prostitution, rampant gang activity, illegal businesses, and heaps of amateur dentists lining the side of the city that he lived on. To get to school, my dad had to walk from his house and through the center of this incredible makeshift city to get to the other side before taking a bus to attend classes. My interest in this place in Hong Kong’s history has been reignited.
Model of Kowloon Walled City. Kowloon Walled City: City of Darkness. City of Darkness is a book about the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. Kowloon Walled City was the most densely populated place on Earth before it was destroyed in 1993 and turned into a park. At its peak, the “city” had 50,000 inhabitants on 0.026 km² area of land (that, according to Wikipedia, is equal to about 1,900,000 people per square kilometer). By contrast, Manhattan (NYC) has a population density of 25,849/km². Yeah, so if you think Manhattan is crowded, then think of it with roughly twice the amount of people in the same area and that’s close to what Kowloon Walled City was like (although I bet it was a lot worse). Here’s another comparison chart of how densely populated KWC was.
Kowloon Walled City in 1973 – Population around 10,000 As bad as it was in terms of living conditions, looking at photos of Kowloon Walled City makes me wish it was still around so that I can go and visit it this coming summer [I'll be in Hong Kong in June 2008]. Kowloon Walled City. Effacement. Il est parfois des absences, dans une ville, qui méritent d’être interrogées comme des plaies non pansées dans le récit urbain. On a pu le voir notamment à Berlin, avec l’architecture de la réunification et son ambivalente transparence, alors que le non dit et quelques destructions plus tard, on mettait sous le boisseau tout un pan de l’histoire urbaine. Mais il est de ces disparitions qui ne sollicitent aucun questionnement analytique, alors même que ce dont elles font l’objet sont des marqueurs de l’identité urbaine.
C’est le cas avec l’héritage laissé par la ville «emmurée» de la péninsule de Kowloon, à Hong Kong. Walled City prend naissance dans une ancienne place fortifiée chinoise du XIXe siècle, entourée du village de Kowloon. Lorsque les britanniques prennent possession des «Nouveaux territoires», en face de Hong Kong, cette enclave demeure sous souveraineté chinoise. Les produits de la cité fermée se vendent partout dans la péninsule de Kowloon. Plus. Kowloon Walled City - Photos from Inside. Below are shots from ‘ City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City ‘ – a photobook by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot . The Canadian photographers spent 5 years shooting in the Kowloon Walled City before it was demolished in the early nineties… “33,000 people living in over 300 interconnected high-rise buildings, built without the contributions of a single architect, ungoverned by Hong Kong’s safety and health regulations, covering one square city block in a densely populated neighborhood near the end of the runway at Kai Tak airport.
In collaboration with Ian Lambot, I spent five years photographing and becoming familiar with the Walled City, its residents, and how it was organized. So seemingly compromised and anarchic on its surface, it actually worked -and to a large extent, worked well. The Walled City was torn down in 1992 but the photographs, oral histories, maps and essays in our book provide the most thorough record of daily life in a place that was a true Hong Kong original.” Kowloon-Cross-section-low.jpg (JPEG Image, 4716 × 1754 pixels) - Scaled (21%) A rare insight into Kowloon Walled City.
By Pamela Owen Published: 12:21 GMT, 5 May 2012 | Updated: 14:45 GMT, 5 May 2012 Once thought to be the most densely populated place on Earth, with 50,000 people crammed into only a few blocks, these fascinating pictures give a rare insight into the lives of those who lived Kowloon Walled City. Taken by Canadian photographer Greg Girard in collaboration with Ian Lamboth the pair spent five years familiarising themselves with the notorious Chinese city before it was demolished in 1992.
The city was a phenomenon with 33,000 families and businesses living in more than 300 interconnected high-rise buildings, all constructed without contributions from a single architect. Kowloon Walled City was notorious for drugs and crime but many of its 50,000 residents lived their lives peacefully until it was demolished in the early 90s Canadian photographer Greg Girard and Ian Lambot spent five years getting to know the residents and taking pictures of the densely populated buildings.
The Kowloon Walled City: A Forgotten Memory. Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 1/4) + english subtitles. Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 4/4) + english subtitles. Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 3/4) + english subtitles. Kowloon Walled City documentary (Part 2/4) + english subtitles. Kowloon Walled City: Life in the City of Darkness. It was called a lawless twilight zone by some and the world's most overcrowded squat by others. But to many, the Kowloon Walled City was simply home.
This month marks 20 years since work started to wipe away one of the most striking features of the Hong Kong landscape for good. A 2.7-hectare enclave of opium parlours, whorehouses and gambling dens run by triads, it was a place where police, health inspectors and even tax collectors feared to tread. Pictures: What was it really like living in Kowloon Walled City? In Cantonese, it was known as the City of Darkness. But though it may have been a fetid slum, crawling with rats and dripping with sewage, it was stoutly defended to the last by those who lived there, as well as an unlikely ensemble of Chinese shopkeepers, faith healers and self-taught dentists.
But in March 1993, the last batch of residents finally accepted the government's rehousing terms and compensation terms. The city became isolated. Real power lay with the triads. Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong.