Posted on 09/07/2014 5:29:34 AM PDT by beaversmom
Once thought to be the most densely populated place on Earth, with 50,000 people crammed into only a few blocks, these fascinating pictures give a rare insight into the lives of those who lived Kowloon Walled City.
Taken by Canadian photographer Greg Girard in collaboration with Ian Lamboth the pair spent five years familiarising themselves with the notorious Chinese city before it was demolished in 1992.
The city was a phenomenon with 33,000 families and businesses living in more than 300 interconnected high-rise buildings, all constructed without contributions from a single architect.
Ungoverned by Health and Safety regulations, alleyways dripped and the maze of dark corridors covered one square block near the end of the runway at Kai Tak Airprot.
'I spent five years photographing and becoming familiar with the Walled City, its residents, and how it was organised. So seemingly compromised and anarchic on its surface, it actually worked and to a large extent, worked well,' said Mr Girard on his website.
Dating back to the Song Dynasty it served as a watch post for the military to defend the area against pirates and to manage the production of Salt before eventually coming under British rule.
However, during the Japanese occupation on Hong Kong in the Second World War parts of it were demolished to provide building materials for the nearby airport.
Once Japan surrendered from the city, the population dramatically increased with numerous squatters moving in. Eventually it became a haven for criminals and drug users and was run by the Chinese Triads until 1974.
By the early 1980s it was notorious for brothels, casinos, cocaine parlours and opium dens. It was also famous for food courts which would serve up dog meat and had a number of unscrupulous dentists who could escape prosecution if anything went wrong...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Cool. But why did it take them 22 years to develop a couple of rolls of film?
Me, too, bb.
Hey, just sayin'.
Agenda 21.
Yeah, sounds like it hasn’t changed a bit.
:D
Sounds a lot like the Luna City of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
I had a chance to visit the place before they tore it down, or more accurately before and during. You couldn’t really tell the difference. To be honest it was some of the best Chinese food I’ve had, but I don’t want to think about what I was actually eating. They had great prices on software, too. Every bit of it bootlegged. No charge for the viruses.
There we go!
The opposite, actually. This is a neighborhood of density. Detroit is full of empty spaces and decided lack of density.
I think you ate some of the cats that the store owner had....
Well played.
Wow.
What a craphole this was.
This is where the invasion from our South is taking us.
Mandarin on HKI
And the Penn on Kowloon
As good as my international travels ever got lodging wise in the 80s
Not cheap though admittedly.....
I never saw the walled city......but could find my way to Portland street and Mong Kok..... lol
Did business with a firm on Icehouse road....about 6 blocks uphill from the Mandarin
Well, Barry did promise to fundamentally transform Amerika...
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