Kwun Tong neighbourhood guide - creative haven that's gentrifying
Kwun Tong's story is not unique. Most cities have an old industrial area where factories and warehouses emerge from obsolescence to become havens for artists, musicians, designers, entrepreneurs and anyone else looking for cheap rent. Kwun Tong is all Hong Kong: a peculiar blend of art and commerce in a landscape of grimy buildings that seem frozen in time.
Although it was a centre of salt production dating back to the late 1200s, Kwun Tong's modern history didn't kick off until the 1950s, when it was developed as Hong Kong's first new town. It soon became the roiling heart of working-class Hong Kong, a bastion of left-wing politics and a centre of manufacturing for everything from textiles to plastics to electrical appliances. In 1979, when the first MTR line opened, it led not to Central but to Kwun Tong.
When industrial production was relocated to China in the 1990s, Kwun Tong's empty, highly affordable industrial spaces were colonised by creative types; musicians were especially fond of the area.
In recent years, the government has rebranded the area as an upscale business district; developers such as Swire Properties have already opened swanky new office towers. But Kwun Tong's creative community are not going to give up without a fight: efforts to promote the area's gentrification have been met with protests.
