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Letters | Why celebrate Kowloon Walled City at Hong Kong airport?
Readers discuss an exhibition depicting a part of the city’s history, and the Lunar New Year parade
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I am appalled to learn that a replica of the infamous Kowloon Walled City as depicted in the film Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In was on display at the arrival hall of Hong Kong International Airport before being moved to a shopping centre in Kowloon City.
Visitors to the city were greeted with memories of what was once seen as a shame. Kowloon Walled City was a lawless area controlled by local triad gangs from the 1950s to the 1980s. Prostitution, gambling and drug use were widespread there.
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According to the sunny-side-up official press release, this exhibition is a “truly immersive popular journey encouraging viewers to follow the footsteps from the movie for a unique adventure in town”. In town? How many tourists from overseas have seen the film?
Surely the airport is meant to offer a warm and happy welcome to the city and not a reminder of a part of the city’s history that many of us long-time Hong Kong residents are ashamed to have known about and lived through.
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Hans Ebert, Wan Chai
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