Text: Matvey Vologzhanin
Photo: Greg Girard

When Britain and China agreed to lease Hong Kong in 1898, there was one seemingly insignificant clause in the multi-page agreement. The old Kowloon Fort on the peninsula of the same name was to remain Chinese. This small fortress, one hundred by two hundred meters, surrounded by a low wall, was supposed to become a kind of embassy from which China could keep an eye on how the British were ruling in Hong Kong.

The British pledged to provide the fortress with everything necessary for life: water, provisions, fuel, etc., as well as sacredly honor the inviolability of its borders. True, they soon brought a group of military men there, found out that there was nothing interesting inside the fortress except for several hundred alarmed officials, apologized to China and since then tried to more or less gentlemanly comply with the terms of the agreement.

During World War II, the Japanese invaded Hong Kong, tore down the wall and dispersed the remaining officials. Nevertheless, after the war, the Kowloon fortress, even though it had lost its wall and Chinese observers, was still formally considered Chinese territory, because no one was going to change the entire agreement because of such trifles.

That is, in fact, in the middle of overpopulated and busy Hong Kong, a piece of free territory has formed. Of course, such a beauty couldn’t lie idle for long.

Nine dragons invite guests

The first to arrive there were the Chinese - refugees from revolutionary China. Not being Hongkongers protected by the British protectorate, they lived in Hong Kong on bird rights, and it seemed quite logical to them to settle in “China”. Moreover, not a single policeman or civil servant had the right to access this land.

The characters for "Kowloon" can be read as "Nine Dragons". And the dragons turned out to be extremely kind to the guests. No one stopped those coming from building houses there, which monstrously violated any building codes. True, these houses were sometimes built on the sly by quite official and respectable construction organizations in Hong Kong, which led to several high-profile cases of bribery of officials and inspectors who turned a blind eye to this business. But only those who lived outside had trouble, while inside Kowloon everything was quiet and peaceful.

The local population threw garbage at border violators with impunity

No one tried to demolish these illegal buildings. No one stopped residents from adding additional floors, terraces and building superstructures as God pleased. No one demanded trading licenses from the fishermen who laid out their catch on newspapers along the spontaneously formed streets. And any pickpocket who ran away from a law enforcement officer had only to have time to cross the line of the Kowloon “no man’s land”, and the policeman pursuing him was forced to stop the chase. But this is theoretical. In practice, of course, law enforcement officers sometimes tried to penetrate into Kowloon, but they took a great risk that their uniforms would not be accepted by any dry cleaners after this feat, because the local population, having hidden the fugitive, usually began throwing garbage at the border violators with impunity.

And the government could not do anything about it, because China stubbornly demanded to honor the inviolability of Kowloon according to the treaty. Everyone understood that China was doing this out of spite, because the Celestial Empire was unable to influence the course of events in Kowloon and simply took the opportunity to spit a little in the soup of its business partners.

Meanwhile, the soup turned out to be quite flavorful.

Life inside

By the nineties, the population of Kowloon exceeded 50 thousand inhabitants. It was the most densely populated area on the planet. The architecture of self-made high-rise buildings, welded together into one untidy masterpiece of a post-apocalyptic appearance, was, unfortunately, limited in height. The only thing that the authorities managed to get from the Kowloon residents was a promise not to build at an elevation above forty-five meters, since planes arriving at the nearby airport were already forced to make an extremely dangerous turn so as not to hit this Tower of Babel.

But no one stopped the Kowloon residents from packing inwards. The corridor-streets between the buildings here were rarely wider than seventy centimeters, housing of ten square meters was considered royal apartments, and most local apartments did not have a single window: on all sides they were buried in a pile of the same superstructures and extensions.

Public life usually took place on the roofs, which were a relatively unified space. There were paths and stairs to move from level to level, children played here, young people met, fought and courted here, old people basked in the sun, and adult working people came out here to breathe real air and discuss pressing problems.

The British administration fulfilled the terms of the agreement as best it could. Kowloon received free electricity, the sewage system worked, although not without incident, eight water pumps were installed around the fortress, and the garbage that local residents sometimes deigned to throw outside was regularly removed (the Kowloon residents were not particularly keen to part with garbage as a source of all sorts of useful things , and the fortress was always filled with all kinds of rubbish). Mail was even delivered here. True, the postmen who worked on the Kowloon route first underwent long training from more experienced comrades in order to understand the accumulations of thousands of mailboxes, which the Kowloon residents hung with pleasant ease on the first free piece of wall they came across.

Population of Kowloon

Homeless people, beggars, drug addicts and criminals - these are the main categories of inhabitants of Kowloon. Renting an apartment the size of several suitcases here cost about forty Hong Kong dollars a month, that is, at least ten times less than in a decent area. There were no police here, and everyone had complete freedom to do everything that was prohibited in Hong Kong.

Even the triads - the all-powerful Chinese criminal groups - kept Kowloon as a neutral zone: showdowns were prohibited here, they did business here, rested and hid.

Homeless people, drug addicts and criminals are the main categories of Kowloon inhabitants

The 1996 Hong Kong film Kowloon Walled City describes Kowloon's business life: “On the ground floors there is nothing but hair salons, shops and small handicraft shops. A stranger will not see anything interesting here. But already at the level of the second and third floors, all the forbidden gates of the world are opened for admitted visitors. Workshops for the production of counterfeit products. Clandestine restaurants that serve dogs and cats banned in Hong Kong, prepared according to traditional recipes. Illegal bookmakers and casinos. A great many brothels. And, of course, drug laboratories, opium dens and dens. Undercover work in Kowloon was almost impossible: here all the residents knew not only each other, but everything about each other and demonstrated amazing unity, protecting the secrets of their illegal existence. Even the children of Kowloon were silent and suspicious of strangers.”

Despite all this, extremely few murders and other violent crimes were committed in Kowloon. Everyone understood that the independence of this territory was a rather ephemeral thing and in the event of some very dramatic events, the authorities would do everything possible to put an end to it. Therefore, everyone kept order - both triads and ordinary residents.

Gina Chan, who grew up in Kowloon, told China Central Television: “No matter what people from the outside felt when they came to Kowloon, it was actually a good, kind and safe place. We lived in the same room with my mother, brother, grandparents, we always had very little money, but I remember my childhood as a happy and free time. During the day, we sometimes went to a children's group, which was jointly organized by our neighbors, where we were taught to read, write, draw and recite poetry. But most of the time we rushed with friends along the stairs, corridors and rooftops, playing hundreds of different, but always exciting games. If you were hungry, you were given a few pies at any stall, your neighbors could feed you, or just any passerby could give you a few coins for a hot dog. Nobody hurt children in Kowloon; it was a protected and friendly world. The relations between the neighbors were so friendly that you could turn to anyone with your problem. And they would help you. Yes, it was dirty and cramped, but it was good there!”

The end of Kowloon

No matter how good it was inside Kowloon, outside it was pure trouble. This is where drugs and contraband spread, where stolen goods flowed, and where wanted criminals hid. Another major problem was children hiding from school education and poor sanitation and hygiene situation. It was suspected that the Hong Kong flu pandemic, which claimed tens of thousands of lives around the world, originated and gained strength in the fortress of freedom.

Britain and China debated the Kowloon problem for twenty years, and the debate gradually changed in a most curious way. The closer it was to 1997 - the year the lease agreement for Hong Kong ended, the more strikingly the requirements of the parties changed. Now China began to demand that the British solve the problems of Kowloon, while the cunning Anglo-Saxons insisted that this territory was under the jurisdiction of China.

We would be happy to do something about this hotbed of evil and infection, but we do not have the right!
- You have it, you have it! We give it to you!
- But let me! This will desecrate the spirit and letter of the agreement!
- Well, it’s okay, we’ll endure it somehow...

The resettlement of the fifty thousand homeless people threatened to turn into such a costly adventure that the British refused for a long time and surrendered only in 1987 - in exchange for some preferences from China.

For six years the Kowloon people were lured, whistled and scraped out of their fortress. Social housing was built for them. They were promised pensions and scholarships. They were scared by the army and the police. They were given new passports and an amnesty was announced for offenders.

And, probably, all these efforts would have gone in vain, but the day of the transfer of Hong Kong to China was getting closer, and even the most stubborn Kowloon residents realized that in such a situation it was better to quickly turn into a law-abiding citizen with a British passport than to end up at the disposal of red China, which has respect human rights was not one of its strengths.

Therefore, on the site of Kowloon Fortress, a large, beautiful park was laid out - with paved paths, traditional wooden bridges and fat golden carp lazily splashing in immaculate ponds.

This is how the story of the freest city in the world ended neatly and uninterestingly.

Many considered it to be some kind of kingdom of darkness and the coming Apocalypse on the planet. It is simply incredible that at one time more than thirty thousand people lived on an area of ​​2.6 hectares, which can be compared in size to two large football fields. The Kowloon Walled City can be considered the record holder for the number of people living per square meter and the most densely populated place on earth.

How did it all start?

In the mid-nineteenth century, a dispute broke out between the Chinese Empire and Great Britain, which resulted in Hong Kong becoming British territory. Subsequently (in 1898) some changes took place, and this part of China was leased to Britain for 99 years, but with only one small condition: Kowloon Fortress would remain Chinese. This was done so that the government of the future PRC could observe how the British authorities and residents behave in Hong Kong. Thus, a real enclave appeared.

During World War II and the Japanese occupation of the island, the fortified city of Kowloon lost its surrounding walls, and the officials who lived there were dispersed. Nevertheless, the quarter continued to exist and grew not in width, but in height.

Fortress transformations

In the post-war period, the city of Kowloon continued to remain Chinese territory, surrounded by the fact that no laws or authorities were in force in this place, this quarter became a real refuge for Chinese refugees. They hurried to its territory from the laws of revolutionary China and began there new life.

At that time, massive, spontaneous construction began on the site of the former building, which the British authorities initially tried to prevent, but encountered violent protest from the government of the Republic of China.

In the 60s, the fortified city of Kowloon, with its tiny area, became home to 20 thousand inhabitants. Every millimeter of its territory was occupied by high-rise buildings. There remained only a small unoccupied place in the center of the area, which once served as the residence of a Chinese official, and is still there today as a reminder of the history of this fortress.

Features of city life

The Kowloon Walled City was an area inhabited by a society that did not recognize any laws. Complete anarchy reigned there; any pickpocket or thief who committed a crime became an inviolable person for law enforcement officers, crossing the line of a given block.

The population of this city continued to grow, and in the nineties already exceeded 30 thousand people. Perhaps there would have been more residents, but the height of the houses was limited and could not be more than 14 floors. Such forced measures was accepted due to the fact that Kai Tak Airport is nearby, and the pilots were forced to make a dangerous turn, for fear of hitting houses.

But no one stopped us from expanding the fortified city of Kowloon inside. Photos taken there at that time show that the corridors and gaps between high-rise buildings and buildings here were only about seventy centimeters, or even less. The townspeople living in apartments of ten square meters could consider that they were simply in the royal apartments of this place.

Every year, new buildings here continued to grow, and complete anarchy reigned. The old buildings fell into disrepair and were destroyed, but there was no question of any major repairs. This is how this densely populated area was remembered and entered into the history of Hong Kong.

The end of the rubber city

1987 was a decisive date for this quarter. The governments of the Republic of China and Britain have finally come to a common agreement and decided to wipe out these dangerous mega-slums from the face of the earth. All residents of the city received monetary compensation and could purchase housing in Hong Kong houses.

Demolition was scheduled for 1992, but was met with violent protests by the natives of these places, who did not want to be deprived of the previous foundation of their lives. Nevertheless, the area was liquidated quite quickly, and during its devastation it served as a film set for a film starring Jackie Chan. The process of destroying houses even made it possible to shoot some successful and spectacular shots.

The territory of the fortress today

And so, to the great relief of many, the fortified city of Kowloon ceased to exist. Kowloon Walled City - a park of the same name - appeared in its place, which, in principle, is nothing special, but to many tourists it resembles a certain castle with its own history.

The design is made in the style of the Qing Dynasty. It was opened to the public in 1995. The park is located on an area of ​​31,000 square meters and is divided into eight picturesque zones of different styles, but generalized by a single architecture. The Hong Kong government spent more than $76 million on this local landmark. The Ministry of Leisure and Culture is responsible for the safety of the park.

Of course, little has been preserved from the former city, but still some objects remained. For example, there are some artifacts dating back to the times of the imperial dynasty of China. The remains of the South Gate have been officially declared a historical property of Hong Kong.

Route

A tourist who comes to Hong Kong will undoubtedly begin his visit to the former fortress called Kowloon. All residents of the city know how to get there, but it’s better to inquire in advance.

There are several ways to build your route. The first of them will tell you how to get from Kowloon to the airport and back. You can use the Airport Express metro line, which makes only three stops along the way. To get to the park, you need to get off at Kowloon Station.

You can also take a bus. From Chek Lap Kok International Airport to the Kowloon Peninsula, route No. A21 runs, with stops only upon request. Therefore, it is better to look in advance at the electronic display with a running line and the names of stops.

There have long been terrible rumors about the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. A place shrouded in secrets and mysteries still attracts travelers. Interest is fueled by shocking details and facts about this point of the state, which slip into the media from time to time. To personally verify the veracity of what you heard - The best way satisfy curiosity.

Kowloon gained fame as a scary place not so long ago - at the end of the last century. But the history of the bandit policy began several centuries ago.

Location Features

Kowloon's location in Hong Kong is justified. The fort was built to guard the salt mines. In addition, the construction provided access to trade routes. This circumstance subsequently attracted the British.

The settlement is based in a picturesque area, on the coast of the South China Sea, which is part of Pacific Ocean. The name of the area is Chim Sa Chey.

History of the fortified city

The history of the Hong Kong area dates back to the 11th century. It was decided to found a fortress to protect the salt mines. The fort was inhabited by about 50 people. This was enough to protect the workers' artels from pirates.

The settlement flourished until the 18th century. At this time, a convenient site attracted the British, who decided to seize the territory. Soldiers searched English ships to prevent opium from entering China. The British did not like this policy. There were constant clashes.

A century later, when the British established power over the island, the fortress was considered unnecessary and left the construction to China.

There is no sewer system in Kowloon. Children's playgrounds and bridges were also installed on the “second floor”.

Activities and life of residents

In addition to criminals who opened gambling houses, brothels, and created laboratories for the development of chemical drugs, illegal immigrants lived here. They were used as cheap labor. They made fabric, sewed clothes, and produced food. The products were of low quality and cheap. However, island residents purchased the products due to their low cost.

Hospitals and factories operated in the criminal policy. Kowloon fully provided for its needs. There was no power station, but there was light in all the houses: electricity was stolen from Hong Kong power lines.

Crime level

Kowloon or the "City of Darkness" had a bad reputation. The crime level was such that authorities and police were afraid to venture into the crime-ridden area. In the 50s of the last century, the Chinese mafia, the triad, settled here. It wasn't until the end of the 20th century that crime rates dropped.

Last days of the city

Open every day, seven days a week, no tickets needed, admission is free. The pavilions do not accept visitors on Wednesdays.

How to get to Kowloon Park

The budget way is the metro. Continue until Lok Fu and then walk. To the attraction - 20 minutes.

Kowloon is an area of ​​Hong Kong that clearly shows to what monstrous extent densification can reach. Hundreds of high-rise buildings pressed closely together, narrow passages between them, lack of sunlight, children playing on the roofs of buildings, opium dens and brothel houses. In 1987, about 33 thousand people lived here on a small area of ​​2.6 hectares.

The story began in 1841, when Great Britain became eager to sell more and more opium. British troops landed on Hong Kong Island and the neighboring Kowloon Peninsula. On the peninsula, the British found only a small city of the same name, Kowloon (translated as “Nine Dragons”) and a fortified fort that served as the residence of a local mandarin.

As a result of hostilities in 1842, the island of Hong Kong was ceded to the British, and in 1898 a new convention was concluded, under the terms of which Hong Kong and Kowloon were leased by Great Britain for the next 99 years, under one small circumstance that had big consequences.

This circumstance is marked on the map above in the right corner as Chinese Town (“Chinese Town”). According to the new convention, this fortified fort was excluded from the lease agreement. It continued to remain Chinese territory, forming a kind of enclave in the British colony.

Then, of course, no one could have imagined that a few decades later this formation would grow into a quarter unparalleled in population density.

This enclave was somewhat nominal. In fact, the British were in control of the fort. During World War II, the Japanese occupied the peninsula, dismantling the walls of the fortress and using stones from them to expand the military airfield, which later became Kai Tak, Hong Kong's main airport, for many years.

After the end of World War II, the Kowloon Walled City continued to remain Chinese territory, surrounded on all sides by the British colony. The laws and administration of Hong Kong did not apply here, its residents did not pay taxes to anyone. Kowloon became a haven for refugees from the mainland fleeing civil war in China.

Tens of thousands of squatters began to flock en masse to the territory of the former fort, taking advantage of Kowloon’s status. The main goal was to start a new life, formally still in China, but essentially in the same Hong Kong, taking advantage of all its benefits.

Any attempts by the British administration to prevent spontaneous construction on a small spot were met with resistance from local inhabitants and the Chinese government, which threatened a diplomatic conflict in the event of any actions by the Hong Kong authorities on the territory that they considered theirs.

According to some estimates, by the end of the 1960s, up to 20 thousand people lived on an area of ​​2.6 hectares. Of course, these figures are inaccurate, because it was impossible to maintain a centralized record of the residents of the fortified city.

The squatters demonstrated miracles of survival and adaptation in an essentially anarchic society. In the absence of a central water supply, 70 wells were dug, water from which was delivered by electric pumps to the roofs of buildings, and from there through a labyrinth of countless pipes it was sent to consumers’ apartments. The lack of electricity was solved by illegally connecting to the Hong Kong power grid.

The residents of Kowloon also built it themselves. As the population of the area increased, one-, two- and three-story houses acquired new floors. The building density also increased. This is how Kowloon has changed over the decades.

Only a small spot remained relatively free in the center of the quarter, where the yamen remained - the residence of the mandarin, which is still reminiscent of the former history of Kowloon.

Around it, by 1980, about 350 multi-storey buildings were built, located so densely that from panoramic photographs Kowloon rather resembled one huge and monstrously ugly building.

There were essentially no streets inside the block. There were passages that formed a network so confusing for the uninitiated that a stranger who entered here quickly lost orientation in space.

The buildings were so dense that high-rise buildings often overhung the passages, preventing sunlight from entering there.

The block was a kilometers-long labyrinth of narrow alleys, and there were no cars at all.

The passages were illuminated only by rare lanterns and neon signs of countless shops, shops, hairdressers, and doctors' offices that occupied all the first floors of the buildings.

There were about a hundred dentists alone working here, and they never had a shortage of clients.

The absence of the need to obtain a medical license and pay taxes to anyone made it possible to keep prices for services at a level inaccessible to their colleagues from Hong Kong working on a nearby, but already “civilized” street.

Kowloon had its own industry: food, haberdashery, light goods. In fact, it was a city within a city, largely capable of existing autonomously.

The quarter even had several of its own kindergartens and schools, although mostly, of course, older family members looked after small children, and older children somehow managed to get accepted into Hong Kong schools. In fact, the roofs became the space for socialization and recreation of the inhabitants of the area, where at least some free space could be found.

And huge planes were flying over the roofs, just a stone's throw away. The specifics of the approach to Kai Tak Airport, the same one for which the Kowloon fortress walls were used, required the pilots to make both a dangerous and spectacular turn immediately before landing.

It began at an altitude of 200 meters, and ended already at 40, and somewhere in the middle of this most difficult maneuver for pilots was Kowloon, bristling with high-rise buildings, as if with rotten teeth.

It was because of this proximity that the height of the buildings in the quarter was limited to 14 floors - almost the only requirement of the Hong Kong administration that the residents of the fortified city fulfilled. In return, they received an amazing and completely free spectacle right above their heads.

In the first decades of the transformation of the old Chinese fortress into a residential area with its own special flavor, the only real force here was the triads - secret criminal organizations common in pre-war China.

They turned the area, which had just begun to grow, into a nest of various vices. Gambling establishments, brothels, and opium dens literally flourished in Kowloon.

In the book “City of Darkness,” Kowloon of those years was described as follows: “Here on one side of the street there are prostitutes, and on the other the priest distributes powdered milk to the poor, while social workers give out instructions, drug addicts sit with a dose under the stairs in the entrances, and children playgrounds at night they turn into a dance floor for strippers.”

Only in the mid-1970s, the Hong Kong authorities, having secured the approval of the PRC government, carried out a grandiose series of police raids, which ended in the actual expulsion of all organized crime groups from Kowloon.

Despite his brutal appearance, the area was a fairly calm place in terms of the crime situation.

Towards the end of the 1970s, centralized water and electricity supplies and sewerage finally appeared here, and mail began to be delivered to Kowloon.

But, unfortunately, these changes for the better did not affect the appearance of Kowloon in any way. Squat construction was growing, and there was no question of major renovations of buildings or even cosmetic renovation of facades.

This is how the quarter went down in history.

Most residents huddled in small apartments with an average area of ​​23 square meters. m.

Extensions to the external and internal facades of buildings were very common; houses grew together. Even a parallel ground-based system of transitions was formed, located at a certain height from the ground.

Kowloon was turning into a single integral organism, a huge “communal apartment”, a building-city, as if it had come to the present from a post-apocalyptic future.

In 1987, the governments of Great Britain and the People's Republic of China entered into an agreement regulating the status of Kowloon, because within 10 years Hong Kong was to return to the jurisdiction of China.

The administration of the British colony was finally given the right to demolish the block that disfigured its face.

Demolition began in 1992-1993.

All residents received either monetary compensation for moving or apartments in modern new buildings in Hong Kong.

But nevertheless, the destruction of this anarchic relic, born almost a century ago, was prevented by violent protests of the aborigines, who did not want to be deprived of their usual freedom and way of life. But Kowloon was doomed.

The area was demolished quickly, but Kowloon managed to “shine up” in the 1993 film Crime Story, in which Jackie Chan’s hero fights the kidnappers of a Hong Kong businessman.

One of the key scenes of the film was filmed in Kowloon.

The upcoming liquidation gave the creators of the action film unlimited freedom of action.

Several spectacular scenes were even filmed with real explosions of residential buildings in the fortified city.

In 1987, when the Hong Kong administration and the Chinese government entered into an agreement dooming the area to destruction, a study was conducted that made it possible to more or less accurately determine the number of its inhabitants. It turned out that about 33 thousand people lived here on 2.6 hectares. This was an absolute record for population density on Earth.

For comparison: if Kowloon had an area of ​​1 sq. km, 1.27 million people were supposed to live here.

And if Moscow became Kowloon with its area of ​​approximately 2500 square meters. km, then almost 3.2 billion people would live in the Russian capital, that is, the entire population of China, India, the USA and Indonesia combined.

After demolition, a picturesque park of the same name appeared on the site of Kowloon, repeating its outline.

Now this is a favorite vacation spot for local residents, and only a memorial with a model of the quarter, which has become another landmark of Hong Kong, reminds of its phantasmagoric past.

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Kowloon Walled City is known as the most densely populated place on our planet throughout the 20th century. In fact, being part of Hong Kong, this territory, whose area was 2.6 hectares, was not subject to the laws of any country. The streets of this fortress city, which consisted of hundreds of high-rise buildings, were so narrow that even sunlight did not penetrate into them. The children who lived there had no other opportunity to play except on the roofs of the houses. This city was a kingdom of secret triads, opium dens and brothels. In 1987, 33 thousand people lived in its small territory.

Fortunately, two decades ago this site, which had become a disgraceful stain on the reputation of a British colony and a negative example of the situation when compaction reaches a monstrous degree, was finally liberated. And today we can only learn its history. It is very interesting and introduces us to many amazing facts.

The beginning of the story

Kowloon Fortress originated approximately a thousand years ago. Its history began with the construction of a small fortified village intended to manage salt sales. However, by the middle of the 19th century. conflict broke out in this area. Britain went to war against the Qing Empire. The reason was the desire of the British to sell more and more opium to the local people, which was boldly opposed by Chinese officials who banned the import of the Bengali drug into the Middle Kingdom.

Conquest of territory

As a result of the Opium War carried out by Britain, Hong Kong Island became considered a colony in 1842. In 1898, a new convection was concluded, which made it possible to expand the jurisdiction of China. Under the terms of this treaty, Kowloon and Hong Kong were leased by Britain for the next 99 years. However, this document contained one condition that had great consequences for the history of the Kowloon Walled City. The fortified fort, in which officials of the Celestial Empire lived, was excluded from the lease agreement. Thus, it continued to be considered territory belonging to the Qing Empire, and in English colony a kind of enclave was formed. In those distant times, no one could even imagine that the fortified city of Kowloon, just a few decades later, would become a quarter in Hong Kong whose population density would exceed all imaginable and unimaginable indicators.

Destruction of the fort

For a long time, despite the signed treaty, the fortified city of Kowloon was actually controlled by the British. During World War II, the territory of the peninsula was occupied by the Japanese. They dismantled the thick walls of the fort and used their stones to expand the nearby military airfield.

Post-war events

And after the end of hostilities, the fortified city of Kowloon continued to be considered Chinese territory, surrounded by a British colony. There were no laws in force on this small piece of land. The population of the Kowloon Walled City, as well as its administration, did not pay taxes to anyone. It is not surprising that this former fort became a real paradise for refugees fleeing the outbreak of civil war in China.

Streams of hundreds, then thousands, and even tens of thousands of squatters began to flock to Kowloon. They took advantage of the status of the former fort and began their new life, seemingly still in China, but at the same time enjoying the benefits of Hong Kong, while being in absolute independence.

The fortified city of Kowloon (Hong Kong), located on a small area 210 m long and 120 m wide, began to be actively upset. The British administration made every effort to prevent the spontaneous construction of buildings. However, they were all in vain. It is interesting that not only the local inhabitants resisted the establishment of order in this territory, but also the government of the People's Republic of China, which began to threaten the British with a diplomatic conflict if they took any actions on foreign soil.

Living conditions

At the end of the 60s of the 20th century, the fortified city of Kowloon had, according to some estimates, up to 20 thousand inhabitants. Of course, no one could give an exact figure for the number of people who managed to fit into the 2.6-hectare area. After all, no one kept records of residents, and it was simply impossible to do so.

At the same time, tens of thousands of people demonstrated miracles of adaptation and survival in these terrifying conditions. First of all, there was no central water supply here. The residents of the fortified city resolved the issue of water supply by digging 70 wells. From them, water was supplied by electric pumps to the roofs of houses, and then down through a labyrinth of pipes installed in the buildings into the apartments. We couldn’t sit here without light either. Despite the fact that the Hong Kong authorities did not supply electricity to this area, this issue did not pose a particular obstacle to the existence of people. The houses were illegally connected to Hong Kong power grids by Hong Kong Electric employees who lived in the fort's high-rise buildings.

Construction of houses

How was the Kowloon fortress city built? Interesting Facts The history of this settlement also concerns the buildings erected on its territory. The residents of Kowloon built the houses themselves. Initially, small houses of one, two and three floors appeared on its territory, which was completely cleared of the remains of buildings after Allied bombing. However, the population of the fort began to grow at such a pace that there was a catastrophic lack of housing for everyone. That is why the number of floors of buildings increased at an accelerated pace. At the same time, the buildings became denser and denser. This is how the neighborhood changed over the course of several decades.

What was the former fort like?

If we describe the fortified city of Kowloon, then we can say that everyone, even the smallest plot that was free in this territory, had its own high-rise building. Only a small spot located in the center of the quarter, where the residence of the mandarin (yamen) was preserved, was more or less spacious. This is one of the rarest relics, which is included in the list of attractions in Hong Kong and still reminds of the history of Kowloon Fort.

Already by the 80s of the last century, 350 multi-storey buildings were built around this unusual quarter. They surrounded the territory of the fortified city so tightly that, looking at panoramic photographs, one could compare Kowloon with one huge and monstrous building. There were no streets as such inside the block. The houses were separated by narrow passages that formed such an intricate network that an uninitiated person could not normally navigate this space. Very dense buildings confirmed the enormous value of every centimeter of space. In addition, high-rise buildings often literally hung over the existing passages, preventing sunlight from penetrating into the block. And of course, there was not a single car in the fortified city. Only kilometers of narrow lanes, folding into a confusing labyrinth.

Infrastructure

The passages were illuminated with rare lanterns and neon signs of numerous shops, shops, doctors' offices and hairdressers, which were located on the ground floors of all buildings. Interestingly, there were almost a hundred dentists working in the fortified city, and they had no interruptions in clients. Such services were attractive due to their low prices, which resulted from the absence of the need to obtain a medical license and pay taxes.

In addition, many small handicraft industries were opened in the fortified city. It had its own light, food and haberdashery industries. The former fort could be called a kind of city within a city, capable of largely existing independently.

There were even several schools and kindergartens in the quarter. Although in most families, grandparents looked after the children, and older children were somehow accepted into Hong Kong educational institutions.

It is worth noting that the list of infrastructure of the quarter did not include cinemas, clubs and sports grounds. The roofs became the real space serving for recreation and socialization of the population of the former fort. Only here could anyone find at least some free space. Children played on the roofs, their parents communicated and met, and representatives of the older generation sat at a game of manjong.

Number of storeys limitation

Huge planes flew over the houses of the Kowloon Walled City. They were so close to those who were on the roofs of the building that it seemed they could be reached with your hand. All this was explained by the specifics of the landing approach, which the airliners made at the very airport where the Japanese once took all the stone from the fort’s fortress walls.

The pilots were forced to make a dangerous maneuver that began at an altitude of 200 m and ended at 40 m. In the middle of this turn were the high-rise buildings of Kowloon. It was precisely because of the proximity to the airfield that buildings in the block were not built higher than 14 floors. This was practically the only requirement of the Hong Kong administration, which the residents of the fortified city fulfilled unquestioningly.

Rise of crime

Already at the very beginning of its transformation, when the old Chinese fortress was turning into a residential area, the triads became the only and real force on its territory. These are criminal secret organizations that were widespread in pre-war China.

The triads, taking advantage of the fact that neither the Hong Kong administration nor law enforcement agencies do not show any interest in the quarter, they immediately turned it into a nest of various vices. Brothels, gambling establishments and opium dens flourished in Kowloon.

Changes for the better

In the mid-70s of the last century, the Hong Kong authorities decided to establish legal order in the quarter. They gained the approval of the Chinese government and began carrying out huge police raids. The result of this work was the complete expulsion of all organized crime groups that existed in Kowloon.

Improving living conditions

At the same time, not only centralized electricity and water supply, but also sewerage finally appeared in the fortified city. They even started delivering mail in Kowloon. All these changes led to the fact that the former fort became a place more convenient for life. However, the appearance of the buildings remained the same as before. In addition, the construction of unauthorized buildings continued here, and there was no talk of major or cosmetic repairs of housing. This is how the quarter went down in history.

Most people lived in small apartments, the average area of ​​which was 23 square meters. To expand their space, they built various extensions to the internal and external sides of the facade. At the same time, the buildings finally grew together, and a second system of passages arose in the area, located at a certain height from the ground. Kowloon gradually turned into one huge communal apartment, into a building-city, and even into a kind of single organism.

Demolition

In 1987, an agreement was concluded between the governments of the PRC and Great Britain that regulated the status of Kowloon in connection with the upcoming return of Hong Kong to Chinese jurisdiction after 10 years. This document gave the British administration the right to demolish the fortified city of Kowloon.

Work began in 1992-1993. All residents of the block were given either monetary compensation or apartments in modern new buildings in Hong Kong that were growing by leaps and bounds. However, despite these attractive conditions, the population of the anarchic relic that arose almost a century ago expressed violent protests. People did not want to change their usual, free-living life. But Kowloon was still demolished.

Today there is a park on this site. It replicates the Kowloon Walled City with its outlines. In that picturesque place The locals love to walk. In addition, the list of Hong Kong attractions also includes a memorial, which is a model of this fantastic quarter.

But not only those who come to Hong Kong can take a closer look at this amazing settlement. The fortified city of Kowloon appears in computer games. In some it serves as a plot location, while in others the main events unfold in its alleys and high-rise buildings.