Me, Jamie | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 48 years living in Hong Kong - I know the culture
… and yes, I am a proud Yorkshireman
The Ultimate Hong Kong Tour Blog
Kowloon Walled City now Kowloon Walled City Park
© Acknowledged. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
April 2nd 2020 | This is what the Kowloon Walled City looked like… truly amazing
Visit Hong Kong | Kowloon Walled City Park, est. 1995 Kowloon, Hong Kong which replaced Kowloon Walled City
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
April 2nd 2020 | What could have been Hong Kong’s greatest conservation project … ever…
Visit Hong Kong | Kowloon Walled City Park, est. 1995 Kowloon, Hong Kong
Listed in Atlas Obscura the definitive map of the world’s extraordinary sights
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 on illegal high rises and builders flouted all construction laws. 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 unlicenced 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 with limited sanitary facilities 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., naturally I preferred going on dry days as it was pretty awful in heavy rain which flooded the alleys and you were always mindful of what was floating past you.
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.
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
The 2 scale models above are an interesting way of trying to show the scale of the original Kowloon Walled City.
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
… but scale models will never do justice to 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 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.
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
So, we have scale models, we have huge scaled up images and we have foundation ruins what a shame, really, I simply cannot believe that such a historic and cultural icon was allowed to be destroyed.
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 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.
Our Government, to this day has very little interest in preserving old buildings and cultural icons, money it seems trumps everything.
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
At least this is something, a culturally interesting front entrance ( kind of)
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
A pretty bland park and honestly I have never seen more than a handful of people in there, it is very much geared to the local population.
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
What a shame to deprive residents and visitors alike the chance to see a major cultural icon, to repeat again and again a few grainy photographs and a scale model with some dodgy foundations 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.
Yeah, the signs on the gate are very typical
If you do make it to Kowloon Walled City Park, enjoy the blandness.
Welcome to Hong Kong.
This is NOT how I do tours! There are NO flags, whistles, stickers or large groups!
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