Kowloon Walled City, The Hong Kong Ghetto | City of Darkness Revisited Book

The Kowloon Walled City stood 17 stories high, was made up of over 300 buildings and housed over 33,000 people.  In the 1980’s and 1990’s it was the most densely populated place in the world.

       

There was a very basic electric supply and only a few places to get water.  Even though it was known for its prostitutes, opium dens, and surprisingly cheap dentists(who had come from mainland China and did not have the necessary licenses to legally practice in Hong Kong), the Kowloon Walled City was a tight knit community of everyday people helping one another manage the difficult living conditions.

It was also the site of one of the big fights in Jean Claude Van Damme’s “Bloodsport”

*Shout out to Donald Gibb in this clip(Co Owner of Trader Todd’s Karaoke Bar in Chicago)
**Also shout out to Van Damme’s pants, the waist doesn’t get any higher than that.

The walled city was torn down in 1993 and The Kowloon Walled City Park now stands in it’s place.

For more info on The Kowloon Walled City take a look at visit http://www.kowloonwalledcity.org

 

THE BOOK (CITY OF DARKNESS REVISITED)

Ian Lambot and Greg Girard put together a book call “City of Darkness” which is currently out of print.  They recently launched a KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN, ending in 4 days, to republish the book in an extended version.

Their site, http://cityofdarkness.co.uk/ has such great photos, talks about the people living there, urban ledgens and has a “where are they now” section called “Lost and Found”.  It is really interesting stuff.