A closer look at Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, the most densely populated place that ever existed

thank you so for sharing this : ) so much nostalgia....

disclaimer, I've never been inside the walled city, but I grew up in that area circa 80s-90's and my dad's old dentist / doctors were in the city, before mom made him stop going. The X is where my old elementary school (still) is. Both that and the mall in Lok Fu are 10 minutes walking distance to the site. But even then I've never been, not even when it was emptied and about to be demolished - it's just not a family friendly kind of place, I guess.

Comments on some of the pictures shown in the video

snack store

• I'm not kidding this one looks pretty clean, look at that fridge/counter! Would buy bottled cola from there.

busy street signs -

• A: "People's Republic of China - National ... Hospital" |
• B: "[Name] Dentistry"
• C: looks like there's some English on the top. Dr Something? The last character 師 denotes some kind of professional, like Medical Doctor or Accountant or Architect etc.
• D: the woven bamboo basket is very commonly used as a rubbish bin. The massive amount of paper cardboard will usually be folded and bundled and carried off to recycling depots within the day (and new ones appear and disappear magically) by ladies who are sort of free agent self employed recyclers instead of municipal.
• other: this density of signs along a street isn't out of the ordinary even in non-walled-city parts of HK circa 90s.

roof top -

• The Video mentioned the inner units don't get sunlight and fresh air. But consider the root top: they're opened public spaces with good unrestricted views of the entire colony and kids usually run around and play there. Housewives would gather there to gossip and hang laundry; old men would sit and tell stories or play chess, maybe take a nap. It's a Third Space. Roof top patios these days belong to the penthouse units or some other paid patrons, usually, or restricted because utilities are up there.

close up of the sign from C, above!

• It says that Dr Cheng is a medical doctor, and tagline, that she's the medical subject matter expert consultant for the Hong Kong Commercial Daily and healthcare practitioner.

this shot is most definitely not part of walled city :) there's too much electricity demand to support the neon signs. A few shops here sell home electronics, which imply imported goods and you don't sell this volume of imported goods at the Walled City. The yellow sign on the left sign points to an upstairs hourly "hotel" - its yellow, which is like seeing an American place called "Roxy's Red Light 'Hotel'". I think the video included this shot because the narrator was talking about where wall city dimsum might end up by the end of the day.

some of the youtube comments are worth reading for this one, especially @Toliman's.

I think (one day) the park itself is definitely worth visiting, if just to see the scale model they show you a little bit at the end. One of the things HKers loved about the city is precisely its "neither this nor that, we are just ourselves" identity. It's HK in miniature: there's no law but the law wasn't always good anyway, and despite the mess, we take care of ourselves.

It's not wall city, but if you wanted to get a glimpse of the good, bad and ugly of living in that kind of density, and the special kinship humans can form in difficult circumstances, I recommend the more-real-than-a-documentary Cageman (1992). Full film seems to be available here on youtube with English subs. The plot is that this super dense community is slated for demolition: how will the residents cope and where will they go? Rated R for "true to the neighbourhood" colourful language.

bonus Royal HK Police Force vs HK Popo - geared up against triads in dark alleys vs against a 12 year old school girl shopping in broad daylight. Times have changed.