A chance missed to preserve a real Cultural Icon

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All that remains of Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong

A chance missed to preserve a real Cultural Icon

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Kowloon Walled City | A Lost Cultural Icon

A model of Kowloon Walled City at the entrance of Kowloon Walled City Park in Hong Kong

This is the text of my 2021 Blog Post on my J3 Private Tours Website and another post in 2024, I have had time to reflect on what I wrote and have made some adjustments to the text with updates and such.

All that remains of the iconic Kowloon Walled City

What could have been Hong Kong’s greatest Cultural Conservation Project............. and this was a view shared by just about everyone living in Hong Kong.

Kowloon Walled City was an aberration, a little piece of China in British Hong Kong and home to anywhere between 33,000 to 50,000 poor people in 1990 on a plot of land of roughly 7 acres, illegal high rises were built and builders flouted all construction laws - put it another way, in this day and age in Hong Kong all of those buildings would have been issued with demolition notices instantly and fires happened all the time, I will not describe the appalling sanitary conditions but you can imagine them.

The entire Walled City was controlled by criminal elements who operated on the basis that they would never be prosecuted and this led to an influx of unlicensed Doctors and Dentists and thousands of wanted criminals and hardcore drug users.. make no mistake it was a slum.

I used to go to Kowloon Walled City when I was a kid in Hong Kong in the early 1970's, I was always fascinated at how so many people could live in really dodgy buildings, full of criminals, prostitutes and such and yet they seemed pretty happy and just tried to make a living. I was one of the lucky ones who witnessed this amazing place and yes, although I was a young white kid I was perfectly safe and it was a real education for me and something I will never forget.

To cut a very long story short, the Chinese Government and British Government agreed in 1984 that Kowloon Walled City could be demolished and a park (Kowloon Walled City Park) was touted as the replacement, all well and good so far.

Learn more | Detailed Article on the History of Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong

The Original Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong

Click on the image to enlarge to full screen

Learn more | Twilight of the Warriors : Walled In - 2024 movie about Kowloon Walled CITY

Had some real effort been put in by the Hong Kong Government, they could have easily preserved a couple of the buildings (or one whole corner) and alleyways and turned them into a Museum (which they have done successfully with other buildings here) but I guess this was too much trouble (and cost) and when demolition started in 1993 it was a near total demolition and in essence all that remains are the exposed foundations of a single building and one very low rise building which is as interesting as watching grass grow and then they built a very nice but very bland park... what a total conservation disaster.

I understand that preserving old illegal buildings is problematical but look at what the Government did with the hugely successful conservation project, the Tai Kwun Centre on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong and they had to preserve buildings from the mid 1800's (and yes, one of them did fall down during renovations!) | quite simply it could of and should have been done.

What a shame to deprive residents and visitors alike the chance to see a major cultural icon, a few grainy photographs and a scale model do not and will never do Kowloon Walled City justice and the very bland park is like many other bland parks in Hong Kong with a thousand signs attached to gates and fences threatening heavy fines and jail time for littering and not following the footpaths!

I very rarely visit Kowloon Walled City Park to be honest with guests as it is in a very awkward location and hard to get to and frankly what is on display is just not that interesting and it is hard to imagine what Kowloon Walled City was really like, it is very frustrating to say the least.

If you can and if you are really interested in Kowloon Walled City, then look up the movie Twilight of the Warriors : Walled In a 2024 movie which has gained an international and cult following (see link above)