25 years on, Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City still evokes awe and revulsion
Former residents recall stories of crime in dirty alleys and dark mazes, but also a sense of community and nostalgia living among cramped quarters of the historical landmark
Twenty-five years ago this Friday, bulldozers moved in to tear down the Kowloon Walled City, a condemned slum area that now evokes fascination and revulsion in Hong Kong’s collective memory.
Urban myths have persisted over the reluctance of the pre-handover Royal Hong Kong Police to impose order in the lawless enclave, considered a remnant of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), having been a military fort.
Today a park sits at the core of what was a 2.7-hectare (6.7 acres) mass of 350 slum buildings interconnected by ramshackle footbridges.
Dark legacy of Kowloon Walled City lives on in modern-day Hong Kong
Lau Chun-fat, 83, a former resident of the notorious settlement, was on a regular noon stroll in the area when the Post approached him in what is now the Kowloon Walled City Park. The retired toy factory worker said he felt “even safer” when he was living in the community.
“Those hooligans didn’t dare come in because it was not their neighbourhood,” he said.
Yet, for US-based doctor Vivian Chan, the Walled City is but a distant unwelcomed memory. The family physician, who is in her 40s, spent more than 10 years there during her childhood and adolescence.
