中文 Blog #4

一。你帮我这人，好吗？
二。今天晚上我吃大晚饭，十点睡觉，你睡得很晚吗？
三。三点开会，他一点就来了。
四。大家下午，现在我们开始开会。帅男的课你们都预习了吗？
五。有个法国朋友真好，他写字写得很好。

My father sent me a link one day to a gallery of architectural wonders around the globe. While browsing through, I encountered a paragraph of information and a couple of pictures depicting the former Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. It's origins can be traced back to the Song Dynasty when it served as a watchpost for pirates with thirty guards in 1668. The political debates over the owenership of the city began in 1843, when Britain sent soldiers to occupy Hong Kong Island. Chinese authorities used the watchpost to keep British influence over the city in check. For the next 50 years, Hong Kong and Britain continued to struggle for hold over the fort until it was at last ceded to Britain in 1898. The British proceded to invade the city in 1899 only to find it deserted.

In 1900, Kowloon Walled City was turned into a tourist destination for civilians to experience "a little bit of old China." In the mid-20th century, whenever the Chinese government tried to evacuate the residents, rioting ensued. Many portions of the city were successfully demolished (such as in 1940, when everything but the Yamen military sector was destroyed) but every time, more people would come in and build cramped structures over the ruins. In 1971, the population had grown to 10,000 people attempting to live in 2,185 dwellings. The stark history of Kowloon Walled City ended in 1987 when the Hong Kong and Chinese governments announced plans for its complete demolition. Over the next couple of years, the city was entirely evacuated and then wiped out in 1993.

However, before the demolition crews were brought in, reporters came into investigate the mysterious living conditions of the city, previously inaccessible to outsiders because of the dangers of drugs and crime. What they found was a maze of rat-infested alleyways with piles of trash lining the corners. In the end, the city consisted of 259 tenement buildings packed together in a 7-acre plot. Yet despite the appearance of an unsanitary slum in the middle of Hong Kong, the city was actually a self-organized and sufficient community (albeit one based on illegal substances and acts). The "three vices" (prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse) were the main trade, especially after WWII.

When former residences were interviewed, they claimed that, despite their surroundings, they could "cultivate a positive outlook on life...to transcend suffering and grow in conditions of hardship...seeking spiritual rather than materialistic fulfillment in life". Factory workers and dentists found success in the city and there was even a single postman for all 35,000 inhabitants at the time, whose knowledge and ingenuity made him one of the few "authority figures."

The structure of Kowloon Walled City is undeniably fascinating. It was made of a conglomerate of 14-story high buildings that towered over the surrounding urban city. Along the exterior north side, various businesses were fortunate to set up for the main thoroughfare of Hong Kong. Illegal balconies dotted the walls, attempts made by the residences to extend what little space they had. Inside, the streets were six-feet wide with little to no connection with the outside world. The rootops were so densely packed that natural light couldn't reach the bottom; eventually flourescent lights were set up to allow the inhabits to see. Moisture from overhead piping made umbrellas a near requirement. The rooftop became an escape from interior living as a place where horizontal movement across the city and a fresh-aired playground area for children.

Call it morbid curiosity, but I love learning about places like this. There's a surreal quality to hearing about the environment found in places like this. I wouldn't have wanted to live there, myself, but as a fiction writer, I can easily see basing a story on something like Kowloon Walled City. I'm amazed that it was able to endure for its 100 years and become a self-sufficient community. I still have to do some research and find out where they got their food. In doesn't sound like there were any imports from outside and I don't think any space was farmable land. I still want to learn more about the City, but I hope I've been able to outline some main points of information in this entry.

My sources (that have galleries of the city before destruction):
http://www.archidose.org/KWC/Main.html
http://www.tofu-magazine.net/newVersion/pages/KWC.html