• quick_snail@feddit.nlEnglish
    2·
    15 hours ago

    From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by local triad gangs

    That doesn’t sound like anarchy.

  • LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    25·
    1 day ago

    Kowloon walled city was so incredible. I wish I could’ve seen it in person. Ive seen so many pictures and read so much about it. It was even used as a movie set after the tenants were relocated. It was so unique. Not that the concept is unique, slums exist all over the place. It was the confined area, the total lack of any administrative authority, and its incredible density that made it unique. Years ago there were a couple reddit posters who had either lived there or had gone there for school. Contrary to wider media narratives many of the people who were displaced from there actually regarded the city with a degree of fondness. The close proximity promoted a tight knit community.

    Ultimately living there would have been likely pretty miserable, especially during the brutal Hong Kong summers. But something about the pictures of the dark alleyways with the distant sunlight barely peeking through the pipes and wires makes for such an interesting environs. It was famously served by only a single postman, and had few if any street addresses and a total lack of organizational structure. So he just sorta knew where everyone was, and how to get around its labyrinthine structure.

      • LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        41·
        14 hours ago

        It largely wasn’t. For all that I have special interest in the city, it was objectively quite bad for many reasons. Not the least of which was the abysmal state of the plumbing and electrical. The place had major sanitation issues. It was also at bad risk of fire and collapse. It had to be torn down.

        I believe they offered most of the tenants money to relocate. Kowloon walled city had been built specifically because the space it occupied was in a Grey area with regards to jurisdiction and administration. It was nominally belonging to China, but existed surrounded on all sides by British Hong Kong. The British refused to do anything there besides basic water/electrical/mail. And China couldn’t administrate there because they couldn’t physically reach it. Once Hong Kong was returned to China, there would no longer have been a purpose to Kowloon Walled City. So it was going to be torn down eventually. I know some tenants refused to leave as long as possible, but once water and stuff was turned off they capitulated.

  • Godric@lemmy.worldEnglish
    80·
    2 days ago

    How are you posting on TIL without at least giving us a Wikipedia article? For shame OP! Today only you, and nobody else learns!

    Jokes aside, on the topic of this amazing walled city, apart from it being an admittedly filthy anarchic crime-ridden shithole, it genuinely is an intensely interesting place straight out of a cyberpunk setting, it genuinely was a wonder of the world

  • wakest@piefed.socialEnglish
    26·
    2 days ago

    Would love to see a 3d recreation of as much as possible. Would be cool to go thru all the videos and documentation of it and build a real 3d world from that

  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    2 days ago

    I was talking to a guy in Hong Kong about the housing there. It is obviously very expensive but they have public housing. The public housing has income limits and a very long waiting list. He said by the time you hit the end of the waiting list your income has usually crept up past the cutoff limit.

  • kescusay@lemmy.worldEnglish
    271·
    2 days ago

    There’s a weird, cool anime that takes place in a bizarre version of it called Kowloon Generic Romance.

    • Jesus_666@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      2 days ago

      Note that, as far as I can tell, the “Second Kowloon” depicted in the show is a much nicer place than the original Kowloon Walled City was.

    • ☂️-@lemmy.mlEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      i like the surrealist one about the kid who changes universes but somehow always ends up the same loser

    • hansolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      Also the name of a floating raft clusterfuck in the middle of the Pacific in the novel Snowcrash

      • Eldritch@piefed.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        Yep, samo played a good villain. And with the combination of triads and martial arts fantasy etc it was engrossing start to finish. Even with the hard earned, ultimately bittersweet end.

    • tetris11@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      A few documents indicated that SCP-184 could be brought into a home and allowed to affect the dwelling for 50 pounds sterling per half hour. These documents were unconfirmed by residents.

      Not a bad deal

  • Scott@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    14·
    2 days ago

    I really wish I had to opportunity to check that place out, never going to happen though 😞