Despite the lack of space and formal links to utilities, the neighborhood was remarkably productive. KWC is best known as an enclave of criminal activity and illicit businesses such as brothels and gambling dens, but that only tells one side of the story.
This symbiosis has few parallels in modern history, and it makes KWC a fascinating situation to look back on. There was a tendency to view KWC is an isolated bubble of vice within the city, but the sheer volume of business activity within the informal settlement shows that outside customers were more than happy to benefit from lower priced goods and services. By 1950, the population had grown to 17,000, and by 1990 over 50,000 people lived within a property the size of two rugby fields.įrom Squatter Camps to Functioning Neighborhood Because China never dropped its claim on the site and the British took a hands-off approach, the site became a sort of lawless enclave.Īfter WWII, squatters began to fill the site and more permanent structures followed. In 1898, the 99-year lease of Kowloon and the New Territories was established with one exception: the 2.7 hectare walled fortress. In the latter half of the 19th century, the small fort was expanded into a full garrison town as the threat of a British invasion hung over China. The story of the KWC site begins in the Song Dynasty (960-1297) when a small fort was constructed to house soldiers who helped safeguard the salt trade. Often described as one of the most remarkable social anomalies in recent history, this bizarre enclave was more dense than any other urban area on the face of the planet. Today’s infographic is a fantastic editorial illustration from South China Morning Post from 2013 that takes a detailed look at the inner workings of Kowloon Walled City (KWC).
One example from recent history sheds light on just how such a situation could work: Kowloon Walled City. Government control is an established reality for most of the world, but what would happen if a neighborhood in your city suddenly became a lawless free-for-all? What type of industries would emerge, and how would people cooperate within that environment to ensure basic services continued to operate? There are very few places on Earth that remain ungoverned, and even the tiniest islands and city-states tend to have rules in place for things like taxation and citizenship.
This Fascinating City Within Hong Kong was Lawless For Decades
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