Those who have watched the movie "Kung Fu" must have a very good impression of the dense, poor and chaotic houses in the movie, and the many tenants on the floor, as if Ant-Man lived in a small house. And the movie happens to restore the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, which was demolished in 1993.
The last piece of territory of the Qing Dynasty was so chaotic that even the police did not dare to go in and arrest people, so why was it demolished?
(Kowloon Walled City)
1. The Kowloon Walled City belongs to China
In the Kowloon Walled City, which has been demolished, the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong is now divided into five districts. All of them are high-priced locations in Hong Kong. It is completely different from the evil and chaotic Kowloon Walled City we see in the movie, so what is it like in history?
As early as the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a record of the Kowloon Walled City, and at first it was a salt pan because it was near the sea. At that time, the government sold salt and iron, so the Kowloon Walled City, which sat firmly in the middle of Hong Kong, was also part of China's territory. During the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court set up an inspection department here to strengthen the local military management and prevention and control.
(Ancient Yantian has nothing to do with pictures and texts)
During the Kangxi period, it is said that Kangxi once inspected this place and set up a beacon tower here, named "Nine Dragon Pier Platform". In the Jiaqing period, Lin Guoliang, the chief soldier of Humen, died in the suppression of bandits, which shocked the Qing government, and then the imperial court decided to rectify the local armed forces in Kowloon, and since then the former beacon tower has become the famous Kowloon Fort.
It became a military site, which was directly under the management of the Admiral of the Cantonese Navy, and the Kowloon Fort had a special geographical location, and he was in charge of the eastern part of Hong Kong. Therefore, in the later wars, there were also many troops who tried to occupy the Kowloon Fort. For example, in the Opium War, when the Kowloon Fort fired the first shot against the British army, it also provoked the British to target.
(Turret)
During the Daoguang period, the governor of Guangdong, Qi Ying, thought that it was necessary to build a city in Kowloon to defend against foreign enemies. In 1846, the construction of the Kowloon Walled City officially began, and Qing troops were stationed here, one for drills, and the other for deterring the enemy.
After the Treaty of Nanking, Hong Kong was ceded to the British, including the Kowloon Peninsula. However, the Kowloon Walled City was still under the jurisdiction of the Qing government, and after the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, the Qing government was forced to sign a treaty with the British, and the British forcibly ceded a large area of the Kowloon Peninsula in the name of Lend-Lease, of which the Kowloon Walled City was also among them.
(Hong Kong Island is occupied)
Li Hongzhang argued on the basis of reason, only to maintain the sovereignty of the Kowloon Walled City, and he deliberately emphasized that the Chinese officials in the Kowloon Walled City are still performing their duties in the city. This ensured that the Kowloon Walled City still belonged to the sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty, but it could not interfere with Hong Kong's own military affairs, so it was actually the sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty that existed in name only.
The people in the Kowloon Walled City clashed with the British army many times. In 1899, the Hong Kong government found an excuse to expel all Chinese officials from the Kowloon Walled City, and then forcibly claimed that the Kowloon Walled City was a Hong Kong district. Li Hongzhang went south again to negotiate, which made the British army reluctantly evacuate, but the Qing government at this time was precarious.
It was not until 1901 that the sovereignty of the Kowloon Walled City was not in the hands of the Qing government. However, legally, the Kowloon Walled City was not really occupied by British Hong Kong, so it was still the territory of the Qing Dynasty. It's a pity that the Qing government has died, and the Kowloon Walled City has long been different.
(British occupation of Hong Kong)
2. Demolished in 1993, how chaotic was the Kowloon Walled City?
Before it was demolished, the Kowloon Walled City was a "three-regardless" zone, a zone that the Hong Kong government did not dare to interfere in, why is this?
During the period when British Hong Kong intervened, the government was unable to break through and destroy the interior of the Kowloon Walled City. In 1941, the Japanese arrived, and Hong Kong was occupied by the Japanese for three years. After the Japanese surrender, the Kowloon Walled City was again attempted to be demolished by British Hong Kong, which was strongly resisted by patriots in the mainland.
(Japanese occupation of Hong Kong)
In 1948, they also burned down the British consulate, so the Kowloon Walled City completely became a "three regardless" that could not be managed, did not want to manage, and did not dare to manage. "Because of the ban on brothels and smoke houses in Hong Kong, many illegal organizations have quietly migrated to the Kowloon Walled City, which has begun to turn into a chaotic gold cave.
There are many people who go out of their way to wander outside Kowloon City, pulling all the people out into the Kowloon Walled City, either to watch striptease or to see other illegal activities. Small and medium-sized advertisements are rampant in the walled city, and everyone who comes from outside only needs to pay the entrance fee to see the performance.
There are also some people who choose to work outside, and there are still many honest people who make an honest living. It also quickly expanded to tens of thousands of people, and the chaos in the Kowloon Walled City became more and more excessive. Some people gamble for money, some people gamble for their lives, and drugs are spreading rapidly. It was recalled that in the forties and fifties, drug trafficking was everywhere in the city.
(The cramped Kowloon Walled City)
Some of the larger brothels will open strip parlors, and the latter movie theaters will also be converted into strip parlors to attract more and more people to consume. Gangs also followed, and most of the gangs in the Kowloon Walled City were the protectors of these brothels and drug establishments. Originally from Kowloon, Chan joined the gang at the age of 16.
People die for money, birds die for food, gangsters kill people and intercept goods, Chen Shenzhi recalled life at that time and deeply felt that drugs could not be touched. In 1955, there were 120 drug-taking establishments, 20 brothels and 16 strip parlors in the Kowloon Walled City. Gangs operate in the middle, collect protection money, and fights and killings in the city are common.
(Gangster brawl)
Although the police in Hong Kong knew what was going on, they would not arrest anyone, because the Kowloon Walled City was still nominally part of Chinese territory. In 1973, more than 3,000 police officers were sent into the Kowloon Walled City in an attempt to eliminate the gangs, but nothing could be done. In addition, they didn't want to involve China later, so these policemen simply didn't dare to care about the affairs inside.
The Kowloon Walled City has a high crime rate and is a hotbed for gambling, prostitution, and drug abuse, but at the same time, it has attracted a large number of outsiders, and gradually it has become not only more crowded, but also dangerous. In order to solve the Kowloon Walled City, and also in order to recover Hong Kong, China decided to jointly demolish the Kowloon Walled City in 1987 in the process of Sino-British negotiations.
(Obscure and dimly lit Kowloon Walled City)
3. The Kowloon Walled City has become a thing of the past
After announcing the demolition and reconstruction, the Hong Kong government also announced that it would guarantee the housing of urban residents and carry out compensation resettlement. In response, the Chinese side said that in terms of the prosperity of Hong Kong as a whole, the Chinese side can understand the Hong Kong government's decision to demolish and build the park.
In 1993, the Kowloon Walled City was completely cleared and demolished. When Jackie Chan filmed "Serious Crime Unit", he deliberately entered the city to shoot after obtaining permission, and also recorded and left us the Kowloon Walled City of that year. Today, it is the Kowloon Walled City Park, and the demolition also retains the gate of the walled city, as well as some remnants of the wall foundation.
In today's Kowloon Walled City Park, there is also an exhibition hall, from the stone monument in the exhibition hall, there are some photos, we can still vaguely see the scenery of the year