The Most Densely Populated Area to Have Ever Existed on Earth

Kowloon Walled City was a former Chinese fort at the tip of the Kowloon Peninsula. It was built in 1843 and contained barracks to house 150 soldiers and an office for the Mandarin, a Chinese imperial bureaucrat.

The fort was surrounded by a wall 700 feet long and 400 feet wide and was intended as a visible Chinese military presence near the new British Colony. A portion of the territory had been signed over to Great Britain during the First Opium War of 1839.

In 1860, a new treaty was signed that granted the entire Kowloon Peninsula to Britain, with the exception of the Walled City. Britain finally gained control of the city in 1899 and began moving in, even though China never renounced its claim on the area. Missionaries and farmers swarmed to the city, building schools, churches, and farming on the land within. Since no one technically governed the city, it quickly deteriorated into a city of boorish morals and behaviors.

The city of Hong Kong wanted to clear the city and turn it into a park, however, the Chinese government always stepped in and prevented them from following through. When World War II began, Japanese forces that occupied the Kowloon Peninsula tore down the city’s walls to build a new runway for the nearby Kai Tak Airport.

After the war, refugees flocked to the peninsula and gravitated to the once walled city. All that was left was the dilapidated frame of the Mandarin’s former house. It has been suggested that the feng shui is what led so many there. After all, the city was constructed according to the ancient Chinese principles of philosophy; it overlooked water to the south and the hills and mountains flanked the north side.

The Numbers Rise

As the immigrants continued to make their home in the Walled City, the number grew to over 2,000 residents by 1947. Hong Kong authorities attempted to remove the squatters and demolish their shabby shelters only to be met with riots.

The news spread across China, and the residents’ circumstances became a renowned cause around the country. Protests, demonstrations, and violence erupted in favor of the Walled City’s residents. This caused a shift, resulting in the Hong Kong government halting the eviction of the residents and a new, more permanent beginning for Kowloon.

It was determined that while the government would not interfere in the housing of its residents, this extended to all aspects of their lives. Kowloon was described as “a cesspool of iniquity, with heroin divans, brothels and everything unsavory” by the Governor of Hong Kong at the time, Sir Alexander Grantham. The city became an ungoverned city. They did not pay taxes, there was no regulation of businesses, no health systems, no planning councils, and no police presence.

This is really when those who sought to live an unlawful and/or immoral life were drawn to Kowloon. Five of China’s Triad Gangs — the King Yee, Sun Yee On, 14K, Wo Shing Wo, and Tai Ho Choi — moved into their new homes. There, they could manufacture, sell, and use all the drugs they wanted, without fear of consequences. Kowloon became the foundation of China’s drug trade.

Surprisingly, the Walled City wasn’t made up of just criminals and the like. Factory workers flooded Kowloon and established hundreds of factories, often with entire families taking part in the production of goods. They specialized in plastics, textiles, and foods, such as dumplings and fish balls.

As more people traveled to Kowloon in search of a place to call home, space became an issue. However, the residents had an amazing ability to adapt and update the city as necessary. Limited space prevented them from expanding out, but there was always up.

They built columns on top of columns, which often leaned due to the thin layers of concrete between them. The ones that leaned against each other were affectionately known as “lovers’ buildings”.

Kowloon sat upon an area roughly a hundredth of a square mile, however, at its peak, within that area were 350 buildings, all of which were between 10 and 14 stories high. These buildings housed 10,700 households and over 33,000 residents. Yet, the city only had ONE postman. One postman to deliver mail to 33,000 people with the use of only TWO elevators throughout the entire city.

As the towers grew and blocks began to merge into others, the city began to take on the appearance of a single structure rather than individual buildings. The city was basically closing in on itself, using every inch of space afforded to them. Kowloon took on a new name as the “City of Darkness” as the sunlight was mostly no longer able to shine through the narrow paths that connected the buildings.

In 1963, authorities in Hong Kong announced their plans to demolish one corner of the city and would relocate the residents to a new development nearby. Hearing the news, the city that had never been governed, created their own authority in the form of the “Kowloon City Anti-Demolition Committee”.

This anti-demolition committee seemed to work until 1987. On January 14, 1987, 400 Hong Kong Housing Department officials entered the city and began their mission of contacting every single resident of Kowloon. It had been decided that the city was to be demolished and made into a public park. Hong Kong compensated residents for their relocation, totaling 2.76 BILLION dollars. After negotiations were made and most residents cleared their apartments, riot police went into the city to forcibly remove the last few remaining residents and the entire city was fenced off.

A wrecker ball crashed into the side of an eight-story Kowloon tower on March 23, 1993. It took almost a year to completely demolish the entire city. Some of the ruins from the original city were located during the project and were utilized during the conversion process into a public park, which was modeled after the famous 17th-century Jiangnan Gardens built by the Qing Dynasty.

The Kowloon Walled City Park was officially opened on December 22, 1995. The new gardens incorporated the history of the old city by naming the new garden paths after its former streets and buildings. The original signs declaring the South Gate” and ‘Kowloon Walled City” in their Chinese characters were unearthed during the demolition process and are still on display at the gardens today, reminding visitors of the amazing history surrounding where they stand.

***Story originally published on Medium.com by the author***