Kowloon. City of Darkness Bashny.Net

Hundreds huddled close to each other high-rise buildings, narrow passages between them, not knowing the sunlight, kids, for lack of an alternative to playing on the roofs of buildings, the secret kingdom of triads, opium dens and brothels. In 1987 here on a small plot of 2, 6 hectares were about 33 thousand. People. This area has become Hong Kong's history, but it was a model and whether and to what extent can reach monstrous seal.





1841. Britain leads the successful war against the Chinese Qing empire. At the heart of the conflict - the desire of the British Crown to sell more opium for local people on the one hand and individual daring decision to ban the import of Chinese officials to China Bengali drugs - on the other.



One of the episodes of the long history, which ended, of course, in favor of his carrying a burden of fire and sword of the white man, was the landing of the British assault on Hong Kong Island and neighboring Kowloon Peninsula. On the peninsula the British found a small town of the same name Kowloon (translated as "Nine Dragons") and fortified fort served as the residence of the local mandarin. According to the results of the First Opium War in 1842 the British departed Hong Kong Island, and in 1898 was made the new convention, to expand the jurisdiction of the empire on which the sun never sets, and even to the peninsula (the so-called "New Territories"). Under the agreement, which, as the practice was strictly observed, Hong Kong and Kowloon leased to Britain following 99 years at one small circumstances that have big consequences.



This fact on the map above flagged Chinese Town («Chinese city" in the top right corner). According to the convention of 1898, the most fortified fort, inhabited by Chinese officials of the lease contract are excluded. He continued to remain a territory Qing empire, founded in the British colony of peculiar enclave. In those years, of course, no one could imagine that this fact a few decades will lead to the formation of the quarter in Hong Kong, which has no equal in the third planet from the Sun in population density.





Extraterritoriality Kowloon Walled City Park was only nominal. Actual control of the fort, surrounded by strong walls, carried out by the British. During World War II, the Japanese occupied the peninsula, to understand the fortress and use stone from them to expand the military airport, later for many years turned into Kai Tak, the main airport in Hong Kong, one of the most dangerous in the world.





It all started after the Second World War. De jure walled city of Kowloon, let the already fortified walls, continued to remain a territory of China, surrounded on all sides by a British colony. In fact, there have not acted laws and the administration of Hong Kong, its residents do not pay taxes to anyone. Kowloon has become a real black hole, the promised land for refugees with "great land", fleeing the civil war in China, where the second half of the 1940s, the Communist People's Liberation Army vengeance drove Kuomintang puppets away from the future site of the People's Republic.



On the territory of the former fort began to flock en masse at first hundreds, then thousands, eventually turned into tens of thousands of squatters who have used the status of Kowloon, to start a new life formally still in China, and in fact, in the same Hong Kong, taking advantage of all its benefits, but existing with almost completely independently. Any attempt by the British administration to inhibit the spontaneous construction of a small speck of 210 and a width of 120 meters encountered resistance not only local residents, but also the government of the PRC, threatening diplomatic conflicts in the case of any of the authorities in the territory of Hong Kong, which they regarded as his.



By the end of 1960 in an area of ​​2, 6 hectares lived, according to some estimates, up to 20 thousand. People. Exact figures, of course, no one can not be called: a record of residents of the city-fortress was impossible to conduct.



These tens of thousands of people demonstrating miracles of survival and adaptation to the environment, in fact, an anarchist society. No central water supply? Do not worry. Were dug 70 wells, the water of which was delivered electric pumps on the roof, and from there through the maze of countless pipes Dispatched apartments consumers. There is no electricity? Among the inhabitants of the quarter there were many employees Hong Kong Electric, perfectly capable of making Hong Kong illegally connect to the power grid and help their neighbors in this.



They built themselves as residents of Kowloon. First, in the territory of the city-fortress, successfully cleared from the pre-war building bombing Allied forces appeared one-, two- and three-storey houses. Then, with increasing population of the area began to rapidly increase the number of storeys. Grew and building density. So me Kowloon for decades.



1949



1956



1974



1992



Virtually any free land within the boundaries approved by the convention of 1898, received his high-rise building. Relatively free left only a small spot in the middle of the block, where it survived Yamen - Mandarin Residences, one of the rare relics, still reminiscent of the old Kowloon history.





Around the same it By 1980, it was built about 350 high-rise buildings located so tightly that with panoramic shots of Kowloon resembled, rather, one huge and monstrously ugly building.









Streets within the district, in fact, was not. There were passages that form so confusing to the uninitiated network that stranger gets here, rapidly lose their orientation in space. Building was so dense, and the space Klondike anarchism so valuable that flats are often hung over the aisles, not missing there sunlight.





On the other hand, in the quarter was not cars, only hundreds of meters, kilometers labyrinth of narrow alleys.



The walkways were covered only rare lanterns glowing neon signs yes countless shops, boutiques, hairdressers, doctors' offices, occupy all the ground floor.



Only some dentists there were about a hundred, and a rebound in the clients they had. No need to get a medical license and pay taxes to anyone allowed to keep the prices of services at the level of the reach of their colleagues from Hong Kong working on a nearby, but "civilized" street.





Here are a variety of small and artisanal production. Kowloon had its industry: food, haberdashery, easy. Actually it was a city within a city, largely capable of existing independently.





In the quarter was even more of its kindergartens and schools, though primarily, of course, for the small children looked older members of families and older children somehow turned arrange in Hong Kong schools. There were no playgrounds, clubs, cinemas. Actually space for socialization and recreation slum district became the roof where it was possible to find at least some free space.



It played and grown children, met and talked their parents sat at the party mahjong older generation



And above the roofs flew huge planes, which was filed before hand. The specificity of the approach to Kai Tak Airport, the one who went to the construction of fortifications Kowloon required of pilots to perform both dangerous and spectacular turn just before landing.



It began at a height of 200 meters, and ends already at 40, and somewhere in the middle of this complicated maneuver for pilots was bristling, like rotten teeth, high-rise buildings in Kowloon. It is because of this proximity of tall buildings block was limited 14th floor - almost the only requirement Authority Hong Kong, which the inhabitants of the city-fortress was performed. Instead, they got an awesome and totally free spectacle right over their heads.





In the first decades of the transformation of the old Chinese fortress in the sleeping area with its own special flavor only real force here were the triad - the secret criminal organization, common even in pre-war China.



Taking advantage of the lack of interest in the block from the Hong Kong administration and its law enforcement agencies, they made only began to grow in the area of ​​the nest various vices. In Kowloon literally blossomed casinos, brothels, opium dens.



One of the Chinese writers described the Kowloon those years in his book "City of Darkness": "Here, on one side of the street are prostitutes, and the other poor priest distributes milk powder, while social workers handing out instructions addicts sit with dose under staircases, and playgrounds nights turn into a dance floor for strippers ».







Only in the mid-1970s, the Hong Kong authorities, who decided finally that it is enough to endure, and to seek the approval of the Chinese Government, carried out an ambitious series of police raids ended the de facto expulsion from Kowloon all OCG.



Despite his brutal appearance, area in terms of the criminal situation was quite peaceful place.



During these years, there finally appeared centralized water, electricity and sewerage, in Kowloon began to deliver mail.







But these important changes for the better, turns fortress city in a more or less comfortable place to live, the external appearance of Kowloon not reflected. Anarchy here continued samostroi grew about any major repairs of buildings or even cosmetic renovation of the facade could not walk and talk. In the history of the quarter came in that way.









Most of the inhabitants lived in a small apartment average area of ​​23 square meters. m. The widely diverse extension to the external and internal facades. Those permanently fused in the area formed even second, parallel ground system transitions already at a certain height from the ground. Kowloon was converted into a single-piece body, a huge "communal apartment" building city-like now come from a post-apocalyptic future.







In 1987, the UK Government and China signed an agreement to settle the status of Kowloon in the light of 10 years of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule. Administration of the British colony finally won the right to demolish her face mutilated quarter.





Demolition began in 1992-1993. All residents received or monetary compensation for relocation, or an apartment in, grown by leaps and bounds of modern buildings in Hong Kong. Still, the process of destruction of the relic of the anarchist, born nearly a century ago, was accompanied by violent protests Aborigines did not want to lose the familiar freemen and lifestyle.







Nevertheless Kowloon was doomed. Demolished it quickly, but the empty area, and so regularly entering the lens filmmakers managed to "light up" in the film Crime Story («Crime Story") of 1993, in which the hero Jackie Chan's struggles with the kidnappers of the Hong Kong businessman.



One of the key episodes of the picture was shot in Kowloon, and the task before its liquidation allowed creators militants shoot several spectacular scenes with explosions of houses walled city.







After the demolition at the site of the same name appeared Kowloon picturesque park, repeating its outlines. Now it is a favorite place of local residents, and its phantasmagoric past resembles a memorial with the layout of the quarter, which became a regular attraction in Hong Kong.





In 1987, when the administration of Hong Kong and the Chinese government have signed an agreement, doomed to destruction of the area, a study was conducted that allowed more or less accurately determine the number of its inhabitants. It was found that at 2, 6 hectares lived here for about 33 thousand. People. It was an absolute record of population density in the world.





For comparison, if the Kowloon area was in Q1. km, there was live 1, 27 million people. And if Kowloon became Moscow with its area of ​​approximately 2,500 square meters. km, that would live in the Russian capital almost 3, 2 billion people, that is the entire population of China, India, Indonesia and the United States combined.





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