Kowloon Walled City: City of Darkness Revisited

http://cityofdarkness.co.uk/category/the_city/

by nkurz • 11 years ago

141 19 11 years ago

cityofdarkness.co.uk

kweks• 11 years ago

Interesting article - certainly as it has a lot of photos that I'd not previously seen before.

Further links for interested people: "Gweilo" - book about a british son of expats growing up in Hong Kong, and includes his visits the KWC http://www.amazon.com/Gweilo-Memories-Hong-Kong-Childhood-eb...

The amazing maps made by a japanese team that went into the KWC just before it was destroyed. http://www.deconcrete.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Kowloon...

theklub• 11 years ago

Austrian documentary about it Worth watching > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lby9P3ms11w

phodo• 11 years ago

Also, this from wsj ... similar footage but more modern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_8ucS3lMY

ekianjo2• 11 years ago

For the gamers out there, Shenmue 2 spends a good chunk of its story in the walled city.

platz• 11 years ago

this is how I learned about the place too.

pkaye• 11 years ago

The Jean Claude Van Dam movie Blood Sport has some shots taken in the walled city.

amatriain• 11 years ago

So does the recently released Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

ekianjo2• 11 years ago

Nice, I have it but did not try it yet - thanks for the reference.

tedks• 11 years ago

I always liked the SCP take on Kowloon: http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-184

jevinskie• 11 years ago

Wow, that is really great! I was stunned by the numbers. 40,000 people in 200 m x 100 m?

astrodust• 11 years ago

It's amazing to consider that's barely enough room in suburban America for a Wal-Mart and its associated parking lot.

SkyMarshal• 11 years ago

Several posts about this on HN:

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=kowloon%20walled%20city

medell• 11 years ago

I particularly liked the WSJ multimedia feature / interactive story with video interviews of past residents at the top of your link: http://projects.wsj.com/kwc/

sea6ear• 11 years ago

There's a book "Chasing the Dragon" by a English missionary (I think) that lived in the walled city. Nothing in the way of pictures, but pretty interesting details of daily life from her experiences there.

zukunftsalick• 11 years ago

In Japan they have a game arcade inspired by the KWC:

http://randomwire.com/kowloon-walled-city-rebuilt-in-japan/

visarga• 11 years ago

A Chinese favela. There are still places that are like Kowloon, in many ways. (http://www.pulsamerica.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fave...)

vonnik• 11 years ago

Fwiw, William Gibson would visit the City of Darkness in search of inspiration for his dystopic cityscapes. Here's a description from Idoru (1997):

There was a place near an airport, Kowloon, when Hong Kong wasn't China, but there had been a mistake, a long time ago, and that place, very small, many people, it still belonged to China. So there was no law there. An outlaw place. And more and more people crowded in; they built it up, higher. No rules, just building, just people living. Police wouldn't go there. Drugs and whores and gambling. But people living, too. Factories, restaurants. A city. No laws.

More here:

http://gizmodo.com/5995070/kowloon-walled-city-remembering-t...

jwarren• 11 years ago

I bought this book from the Kickstarter project. It's beautiful and fascinating, totally worthwhile if you're interested.

0xbadcafebee• 11 years ago

I just visited Hong Kong, and most of the residents I asked had no idea what the hell the Walled City was.

Kowloon Walled City: City of Darkness Revisited

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