A City Within a City Within a City

The Kowloon Walled City Park is in Kowloon City District

When we moved to Hong Kong last year, I had only visited once, and Jeff had never been here before. Our mental images of the city had been shaped in part by famous photos of airplanes flying precariously low as they made a last-minute ninety degree turn over tall apartment buildings on the final approach into Hong Kong's old Kai Tak Airport, located on the Kowloon Peninsula. Although we knew that Kai Tak had been retired and replaced with a new airport on safer ground on Chek Lap Kok Island in 1998, we did not know the colorful and rich history of one of the neighborhoods under the old flight path: the Kowloon Walled City.

The Mountain View Pavilion in the Kowloon Walled City Park

Now a city park, the Walled City sits in what is now the Kowloon City District of Hong Kong, making it a kind of city within a city, within yet another city.  The irony of  describing it that way is that for a period of many years, neither the British nor the Chinese asserted any real jurisdiction over the Walled City.  Established as an imperial fort under the Song Dynasty (10th to 13th century), its original purpose is believed to have been to monitor salt trade.  When Hong Kong Island came under British control in 1842, the Walled City gained new significance when the Qing Dynasty expanded it, adding a defensive wall to strengthen its position against the British.  After the British and Chinese entered into a 99-year lease over Kowloon and the New Territories in 1898, the location of the Walled City fell within British territory, but the lease contained a clause permitting the Chinese to maintain a military presence.  That arrangement lasted only one year, until the British invaded the Walled City and expelled the Chinese resident officer for inciting rebellion against them.  From that point forward, the Walled City fell into a kind of sovereign no man's land.  The British revoked the clause in the lease, asserting their right to control the city, while the Chinese continued to maintain that the Walled City was Chinese territory.  In reality, neither government asserted much influence there for the next forty-five years.  

Jeff inspects the foundation of the South Gate, one
of only a few preserved relics of the Walled City

During World War II, the occupying Japanese forces destroyed the city's wall, using the stone remnants as fill for expanding Kai Tak Airport.  Following the Japanese surrender, the Chinese re-asserted their right to control the Walled City, and its population swelled as refugees poured in, seeking the protection offered by the Chinese government.  With the Walled City rapidly becoming a slum, the British attempted to clear it in 1948, but failed when residents objected on the basis that it was Chinese territory.  The neighborhood then fell under the spell of organized crime  (known as Triads) and became notorious for its dens of iniquity. Remarkably, it also became known for its close-knit sense of community among families and neighbors who maintained tight bonds and helped one another out in the cramped quarters.  Basic services like water and sanitation were limited.  Many families hauled water in buckets from one of only a few fresh water standpipes in the neighborhood. There were reports of children suffering from rickets due to a lack of sunlight. Although the city provided mail service, the couriers assigned to that route had to post makeshift house numbers on the dwellings just to make deliveries. 

A Moon Gate makes a peaceful passageway
inside the Kowloon Walled City Park

By the late 1980s, with 33,000 people living in 500 buildings across its 6.9 acres, the Walled City was considered the most densely populated place on Earth. Building heights were capped at fourteen stories due to its location under the Kai Tak Airport approach, and a concerted effort by the Hong Kong Government had reduced crime and the influence of the Triads.  In 1987, shortly after Britain and China signed the Joint Declaration which outlined the terms for the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, the two governments finally agreed that the Walled City fell under British control, and the decision was made to demolish it.  A total of US$350 million was distributed to the residents and businesses as compensation; demolition began in March 1993, finishing a little more than one year later.  Construction of the existing Kowloon Walled City Park began right away, and the park was dedicated by the final British Governor of Hong Kong in December 1995.  Produced to mark the 20th anniversary of the demolition, this Wall Street Journal retrospective provides fascinating perspective on the population density and life in the Walled City.

Many of us could not imagine living in the kind of conditions that existed in the Kowloon Walled City. For us, a measure of privacy, running water and basic sanitation are a way of life. But it is fascinating to learn how a strong sense of community developed and thrived among the people who lived there, even making many of them reluctant to leave when the days of the Walled City came to an end. 

A Bronze replica and cross section of the buildings etched
in glass provide insight on life inside the Walled City