Kowloon Walled City
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2020
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A unique way of life came to an end in Hong Kong in 1993 when Kowloon Walled City was demolished. When the rest of Hong Kong was a British colony, the seven acres of the Walled City were still nominally under the control of mainland China – but it became a lawless world of its own, a haven for gang crime and illegal dentistry. At one point it was one of the most of the most densely populated places the world has ever seen.
Lucy Burns speaks to Albert Ng, who grew up in Kowloon Walled City, and urban designer Suenn Ho, who studied it before its demolition.
PICTURE: Kowloon Walled City in January 1987 (Photo by South China Morning Post staff photographer via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:29.2 | Hi and thanks for downloading witness history from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:37.5 | I'm Lucy Burns and today I'm taking you to Hong Kong |
| 0:40.6 | and the last days of a city within the city with a unique way of life. |
| 0:45.0 | Kowloonwald City was just a few acres of land which a quirk of colonial administration left as a kind of island inside British controlled Hong Kong. |
| 0:54.0 | Out of the reach of both Chinese and British governments, |
| 0:57.0 | it evolved into a lawless world of its own, |
| 1:00.0 | a haven for gang crime and illegal dentistry, |
| 1:02.0 | and one of the most densely populated places the world has ever seen. |
| 1:09.3 | The only reason why we moved into the Kalun Wall City was that that was the only place that we can afford. |
| 1:16.0 | This is Albert Mm. He grew up in Calhoun Walled City after his family moved to Hong Kong from mainland China in the 1970s. |
| 1:24.0 | You know the Kalun War city was famous for a few things, prostitution, gambling, and drugs. |
| 1:32.0 | When I walked to school through those dark alleys, |
| 1:35.3 | I would see people giving one another something, |
| 1:39.0 | and I got to know that they were doing drugs. |
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