Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong. 1990
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- Опубликовано: 18 дек 2024
- Until it was demolished in 1993 Kowloon Walled City (九龍城寨) in Hong Kong was the most densely populated place on Earth, ever. Cantonese called it the City of Darkness. Due to it being a Chinese enclave surrounded by a British Colony it was not governed by either China or Britain. Instead it was mostly run by triad gangs. It was a hive of opium dealing, prostitution and a bolt hole for criminals in Hong Kong as police would not follow them or find them if they dared.
It was a dark, damp, dystopian place but most of the people who lived there were good, honest hard-working people.
THIS IS A VIDEO I TOOK IN 1990 WHEN I LIVED IN HONK KONG.
Unfortunately, I have lost the original tape. This is the only copy I could find on an old VHS tape where I had added Jan Hammer music when I got home to show my mates.
JAN HAMMER ( janhammer.com )
Music on this video is by the brilliant Czech-American musician JAN HAMMER. Anyone as old as me will remember him for the 'Miami Vice' theme and background music. These are two more of his less known tracks from his cd. The First one called TRANCE the second ONE WAY OUT.
When I uploaded this video to the web it had captions. Unfortunately, this service is no longer available on RUclips but if you want a list of bullet points about Kowloon Walled City see below:
====================================================
Closed captions (now no longer available on RUclips) in this video:
The Walled City was a Chinese enclave surrounded by the British territory of Hong Kong. It was virtually ungoverned.
The 6.5 acres of 10-14 storey buildings was home to 33,000 people. 1 person per square metre.
Construction in the City was unregulated and 14 storey tower blocks were built just feet apart.
It was run by Triad gangs such as the 14K and Sun Yee On
It was one of the world's largest opium producing centres.
It was well known for its cheap, unlicensed doctors and dentists.
Criminals in Hong Kong would make a run for the Walled City as they knew the police wouldn't follow them in.
KWC was known for its prostitution.
Although the Walled City was renowned for its criminal activity, most residents were not involved in any crime and lived normal lives.
There was constant running water everywhere I went from leaking pipes and aircons. This was filmed on a hot, sunny day.
Numerous small factories and businesses thrived inside the Walled City. The famous, top quality Hong Kong copies were manufactured here.
In Hong Kong it was illegal to eat cats and dogs but in KWC there were restaurants that specialised.
The city didn't get running water until the 1960's. Even then it was diverted to triad run businesses so most people never got it.
A few of the streets were illuminated by fluorescent lights but most were too dark for me to film.
On upper levels there was a network of staircases and passageways which was so extensive that residents could travel north to south across the city without ever touching the ground.
In 1993 the Walled City was demolished and replaced by a commemorative park.
=====================================
Hi Mr Frost, we're hoping to produce a video for the anniversary of the demolition of the Walled City, and we'd love to use some of your footage if you'd allow it. We would credit you and send you a link when it's done. Thank you!
Hi SCMP Yes no problem. I look forward to seeing it. Rob
Rob Frost you just giving away your footage? May I use it too? Thanks
Hi NTomlin, No I'm not giving it away to anyone but if you can convince me you have a good reason to use it I might let you. The point of this video is not to make money. I have not made a penny out of it. What I want is to share with the world a brief view of an amazing place which no longer exists. I grew to love SCMP when I was in HK and still read it online. I am quite proud that they are sharing it with the people of South East Asia.
BRO, THAT IS ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTABLE COMMENTS I HAVE EVER READ. YOU ARE THE TYPE OF HUMAN BEING WE NEED MORE OF. BEST TO YOU SIR.
Many thanks Mc Cc
When I first dug out the VHS tape and watched it again after 20+ years it took me straight back. The clammy, hot, damp feel; the deafening cacophany of noise; the constantly dripping walls; the smells; and the fear I felt filming it.
I think the legal residents got fair compensation and would have had to move to one of the many tower blocks in the area. I'm not sure what happened to those who had no right to be in Honk Kong and were there illegally on the run from China. Worth looking into.
Wow
Thank you mr rob for sharing your experience
@@supermananimationsstudios8519 Thanks Supermab
@@spastonyy6458 My pleasure.
Many thanks for posting this content. I have a strong fascination with Kowloon Walled City and am sad I was not able to visit prior to demolition. Finding raw footage like this is a gem as it helps me get a feel for what walking thru it would feel like. Thanks again for sharing with the world.
On the one hand, I totally understand why it was destroyed, it was unsafe. On the other, I feel like I missed out on a chance to go to somewhere...strange.
Same, this place fascinates me in much the same way as scary 70s/80s NYC. In the end, I realize people's wellbeing/safety trump my morbid curiosity.
wrr, not missx or stranx or unstranx
Adam Hovey I just wish I could go back in time & experience some of these historical places. Like hashima.
I know the feeling. Kinda like '70's and '80's New York, before Giuliani, the broken windows theory and all that. Life, unfiltered.
It is a lawless place run by gangs. You may be killed in there and no police dare to step in to help you.
This footage is now worth gold
Thank you JICM25. Unfortunately only metaphorically. I don't get any money for this from youTube because it has copyrighted music on it.
Rob Frost RUclips are asshole
@ZionHillCalling I refer you to my reply to someone who said I was mad giving this away for free:
Rob Frost
11 months ago
Hi NTomlin, No I'm not giving it away to anyone but if you can convince me you have a good reason to use it I might let you. The point of this video is not to make money. I have not made a penny out of it. What I want is to share with the world a brief view of an amazing place which no longer exists. I grew to love SCMP when I was in HK and still read it online. I am quite proud that they are sharing it with the people of South East Asia.
ZionHillCalling ok fuck you and your worthless like this comment was useless
@@ozcaks8888 Unfortunately I don't have the original.
A lady I know here in HK was born and grew up in the Walled City. She was 8 years old when her family got out in the early 70s due to the dangerous living conditions. She recalls walking past the slumped and sometimes dead bodies of the junkies, the brothels and gambling dens as she made her way through the mazes of alleyways and corridors. We visited the park yesterday, I was really moved by her personal accounts of the place and the retellings of her parents stories of life inside there. It really is such a small size of land compared to the populations that lived there! Great video man, I’ll be sure to forward it on to her.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share that. It really paints a vivid picture of what life was like in there. I hope to return to HK one day and visit the park.
Hong Kong was poor under brutal colonial British. It was oppressed.
@@drewh3224so not true, it was the British system which built HK into a global financial hub
wrr
The aesthetic is strong. been coming back to this video for 5 years to hear that Jan Hammer track mixed with the sights and sounds of Kowloon, honestly top 10 videos on youtube personally. Thanks again
Many thanks nightchemist. Your comment really cheered me up on this dull Monday morning. I also watched it again and had a trip down memory lane. Back to work ...
I know what you mean!
What a horrible but incredibly fascinating city. I do however understand why this place needed to be demolished.
Meta Carpus There are many risks to living so cramped, one being disease spreading quickly, another being the high crime.
It was starting to collapse too
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, it was getting so huge
Big fire hazard too fires could easily jump from building to building
Yea, it's not an acceptable place for people to live even if it is deeply fascinating
I am a 56-year-old Chinese Singaporean man.
I have seen the Kowloon Walled City from the outside a few times and I have only managed to walk along its perimeter once in around 1989 to 1991 (which I cannot remember exactly when). I must admit that I did not dare to go inside to explore the place even though I was dead curious.
I have grown up in the Chinatown in Singapore, and I have lived in those very old flats where the locals called it the “aeroplane flats” or “飛機樓” in Chinese, where many peoples considered it as slum housing. Thus, I know the meaning of poverty. However, the Kowloon Walled City was a stand-alone world by itself!
Although I would wish to see the dwelling units in it, I must say many thanks to Mr Rob Frost, because I have now managed to glimpse the inside of this long-gone place, albeit from a secondary source video.
Thank you, sir!
Hi ML L, Thank you so much for your comment. It is stories like yours that I was hoping for when I uploaded this video.
Thank you, sir!
Rob Frost
Sir, I am happy to read your reply; thank you very much.
The world needs many passionate people like you, to share valuable and reliable information about our long-gone past, so that we can learn from it, and then go on appreciate all that we are enjoying now!
🙏🙏🙏
@@mll5530 Thanks again
Great comment.
@@TravisBourgeois
🙏
It has been at least 4 years; now I become a 60-year old Chinese Singaporean man……
I am fascinated by kowloon... it's like something I've seen in dreams, I wanted it to exist, I knew there was such a strange place like this out there somewhere.. and it was. It's out there in the past. Seeing the dark streets and alleyways. And the fronts of the city. And the aerial view. And knowing of its inner workings. The houses, the shops, the people. Gangs, opium, prostitution, darkness, children, families who knew of no other life.. incredible.
Thanks Victor. Well described.
Very well described. You stole the words right from my... well, mind. These are the exact same thoughts I had, but put into words. For some reason, my soul resonates with this city and longs to know the stories from the amazing people who lived there.
Well, give it a few years and some similar city will pop up someday. Perhaps in our populated future a Kowloon-style environment will be all that the children know.
@@ctrl_x1770 not if we can help it. Lol.. Let's build in the forest. Let's build in nature. Let's sungaze. Let's know how the heavens move. Let's love life. Kowloon is a warning of a prison city. Let's not let anyone prison our minds.
@@lowercase18 Haha, well, I just wrote that comment as a "what if" scenario - I'm actually very optimistic about the future of humanity. But even if our future is that of a megacity with walls so high we can't see the sun, I'm sure there will always exist individuals that eventually break down those walls.
I bet the people who grew up there built up an amazing immune system!
Yes I bet they did.
Or they just died unhealthy people.
No the died of corona virus
Goldie 24k at least learn to spell before being racist
joscelyne maree I’m not racist, I have nothing against Asians. If the comment had been about North Korea I wouldn’t have said that. Xenophobic at the least but not really.
I've always heard stories of this place from my father. He used to tell me he would enter this place to go to the dentist and they were unlicensed and thus incredibly cheap. Being poor this was all they could afford. Stories of it being run by rampant triads and of them quickly going in to dentist then leaving as soon as possible without exchanging eye contact with anyone. Thanks for the footage
benson827 Very interesting benson. I heard similar stories from locals when I was in HK.
Thank you so much for never taking this video down. It is so interesting.
Thanks dynamite! It will still be here long after I'm gone.
i'm digging these groovy beats
wrgg
Looks like something strait out of a video game.
Yes in these comments many gamers have mentioned game scenes that have been inspired by KWC like 'Shadowrun Hong Kong'. The same with films like 'Blade Runner'. A couple of scenes from 'Bloodsport' were actually filmed inside.
+Rob Frost Huh, very interesting!
In Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 there is a mission which takes place in KWC.
Shenmue 2!
wrong; videogames took inspiration from this
I am a teenager from Hong Kong
Thank you for photographing the Kowloon Walled City and recording the history of Hong Kong
My pleasure ProSamuelGaming! Thank you.
Great footage. My father once visited friends who lived in the walled city, and lived there for a period of time. The place was rife with crime, prostitution, drug use and trade and many other vices. Seeing the place itself instead of hearing about it, puts it in a new perspective. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Gardiroth. Your father must have some interesting stories.
Rob Frost Well, my father spoke of eating in a dimly lit eatery, unsanitary conditions like sewage running along corridors, numerous roaches and dead rats, makeshift ceilings that leak water when it's raining, factories that made noodles and food products with the presence of pests sifting through the materials and ingredients, to name a few. There were many more unfathomable things that will never be seen nowadays, with the emphasis on having a clean environment to live in nowadays. That was in the late 70s. My father's home was no larger than the combined size of a queen size bed and a single bed, water was shared among many ppl and electricity supply often cut off. There were also many cases of fire and there were many flammable stuff just laying around. These are just some parts of the long story my father told me of his younger days. If you have read till here, thanks for reading, I may have typed too much haha.
Fascinating! You describe what I saw so well. Your father must have been a good story teller. I'm guessing there was no air-conditioning in the 70's. When I visited in the early 90's there was constant dripping everywhere from poorly maintained air conditioners. It was a hot dry day when I visited but it felt like it was raining inside. I suppose that helped with the fires though.
I saw the rats, the noodle factories and the lady sitting on the step in the video was a prostitute and the room behind her was as you describe.
Thanks for passing on your father's memories.
Rob Frost No problem haha, I'm glad to have shared my father's experience and memories. If you had eaten some noodles at a well known shop back then in the 90s, most likely the noodles were supplied by vendors in the walled city, because it's cheap.
To think that many people who grew up here are still alive today... I am amazed enough that we were fortunate enough to have an Anglophone document it on video while it was still around! Looks and feels otherworldly.
Thanks +yy. I am very pleased I ignored everyone that advised me against it. People will still be watching this 5 minutes of video long after I am gone.
Rob Frost It's crazy to think that this footage is almost 40 years old
RanchoFundo it’s not? 1990 was 30 years ago
if this still would exist, i would wonder if amazon prime would also deliver to those people directly
haha I doubt it.
It would take them for ever to find their room in that never ending cubic maze, so probably not. And considering they are not legal addresses it would be impossible anyway.
They would deliver to the post office nearby
Amazon prime costs three times their rent, I really hope you're just trying to be funny.
Rio de Janeiro have slums that only a few select people know how to deliver things there. They created a map that even Google wanted to buy. But guess what, neither Google nor Amazon know how to navigate there. It's a brazilian Kowloon.
its sad to know that this is possibly one of the only insights we have today on how it looked/felt like walking through the city. Yes we have books, images and videos showing 3d models and former residents talking about it, but actual footage is so cool to see. That's why this video is practically a RUclips relic from the past
Thanks voidazu
Great music choice, it fits the footage very well!
Imagine the smell
+druha10304 Yes it was bad. Especially near the huge piles of rubbish.
+druha10304 smell like teen spirit
+Rob Frost - Oh there was a stench near piles of rubbish, who would of guessed, better make a documentary called "Stench of Rubbish Piles", make it seem educational and then post it on your RUclips channel.
+Lu Ruan Humour?
Rob Frost I was just imploring you to make a documentary after years of research on a topic that has been mystifying scientists and other learnt men for countries. You know, how rubbish smells. Serious topic for captain obvious.
The use of music overlayed with shots that combine to really show "the heart" of a place is something I've always strived to do artistically. This is an absolute success in that regard. I was completely transfixed while watching this. Absolutely excellent, Mr. Frost.
Thank you Jon
TOTALLY-AWESOME FOOTAGE!!! and filmed at the best time, a few years before it was demolished, so the population must have already been much smaller at that time.
How I wish I was alive back then, so that I could have had the chance to explore this magnificent maze of concrete and metal....!
truly I cant complement you enough for archiving this incredible place (and time) in history!! and sharing the footage with the all of us through internet. You sir Rob, are a hero.
Thanks Ladnavar. You are correct they had already started relocating people when I filmed this.
Great video, thanks for posting it. Kowloon Walled City is so intriguing. Although it was full of problems (Triad gangs, drugs, violence, etc., sanitation, etc.) it was basically a self-sustaining city of its own up to the time it was demolished. Not a very nice city, but a city nonetheless.
+TheSpogNYC Thanks TheSpogNYC. My pleasure.
From what I've read and hear from interviews with the writer of "a city of darkness" the place was not as bad as some of the urban myths act like.there was actually police officers that walked the whole place daily..(I have not ever been there,I'm just going off of interviews of people who have and of a cop that worked there) go to the books website,you'll find many more pictures,interviews,and a chance to but the book if interested. I'm ordering the book soon..looks great..
How is it self sustaining do they have crops on the roofs🤨
@@123sLb123 "self-sustaining" to the extent of most other cities, not in absolute terms.
I never really knew about the city till pretty recently. It has been interesting me ever since i knew about it. I wish i could have seen it with my own eyes but as i was born in 93, I am to young anyway haha. This is why i think this footage is amazing. It is one thing to just take pictures from the outside but this is so much better. It shows in a amazing way how these people used to live, how what amazes us is just normal regular and for most people peaceful life. I have to be honest tho! some of these dark alleyways look really scary tho! Thanks for the amazing footage!
This is so creepy! Great video! I wouldn't even have lived in there if I was homeless!
Very precious video you got here!! I lived across from the Walled City less than 100 feet when I was a kid. Saw that happen when they knocked it down...... too bad I was too young to realize how special the structure was....
what a gem to have found this video!! as a historian, the whole concert of kowloon fascinates me. thanks for sharing!!
Thanks Vityani
Damn what an interesting place. A city built upon pure necessity and anarchy. A place I definitely wouldn't want to live in, but would have loved to visit. This is a gem of a video that will continue to be watched well into the future. Thanks for documenting this beautiful piece of history.
Thank you Danny. You have put your finger on my greatest feelings about this video. It will be watched by people long after I'm gone. It's a wonderful thing to be able to do.
Fascinating. An English woman , Jackie Pullinger worked here helping drug addicts with some degree of sucess. No mean feat in a place where heroin and opium are so pure.
wrr
This is so beautiful. There's something so horrible, yet so naturally beautiful to it all. The way it sprang to life without restriction. It seems less of a city and more a living, organic megastructure.
Well put APL! I am glad you see it.
First of all I would like to congratulate you for being so brave to take these incredible footage, no humans should live in such harsh squalor.. It had to be demolished for sure? And for the children whom grew up within these walls a feeling of melancholy?
Fantastic footage you have here! Thank you so much for giving the world a little more insight to a society now long gone.
My pleasure. Thank you.
Horrible, yet beautiful place. It was like the heydays of the low life that permeated the late 80's and early 90's.
Inspiration to many artists and writers, Kowloon Walled City will be remembered like a bittersweet memory.
However, it was for its best to be demolished and replaced with a beautiful park in the middle of vibrant Hong Kong, either with its lights (the old Walled City) and its darks (The Triad-ruled unhealthy and dangerous maze of perdition).
Nice work!
Thanks CW. Agreed.
Incredible video. Very fascinating. Thank you for uploading this.
Thanks Finland!
Hi Rob, You've done a good job recording the last moment of the KWC! I will move in the estates just adjacent to the old site of the KWC in March. As a Hongkonger, I regreted that I had never gone inside the CITY. I was 20 when you took this video, which were "old" enough to go inside. But I 've never done it! What a regret!
I do have a handful of friends who lived nearby back then, with one who even lived there! That "fortunate" man told me he lived on the top floor and had to walk upstairs!
OH my god. Thank you so much for filming this. I always curious how it looked like inside this "city". Thank you so much for taking your time to transfer it into digital and share it with the world. Appreiated.
It has been a pleasure. Thank you for your kind words.
I can't even describe how envious I am of you. I wish I was able to go into the mysterious walls of the city. Its a shame that it was taken down. Even though many looked at KWC as a shame to Hong Kong, I think it is incredibly interesting and intriguing. Reminds me of one of those dystopian novels. Props for the video!
Amazing footage. This is one dark and atmospheric city, good job on filming this historical place back in 1990.
Thanks Travis. Dark and atmospheric indeed!
What a super interesting place and video.. I wish I could have explored it myself. Thanks!
Thanks CanariasCanariass
is disgusting but in the same time amazing...its a kind of cyberpunk future.
Thanks GuilleArgies. Blade Runner?
yes something like that!
GuilleArgies ikr
Yeah, not many can appreciate its beauty. 💀
No doubt some of the most valuable footage of kowloon out here, thanks boss!
Thanks GaidenHertuny. My pleasure!
Hi Mr Frost, I am video producer with the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. I am doing a story on a former drug addict and traid member who lives in the walled city. I am wondering if I could use some of your footage in my story? Thanks a lot.
Hi SCMP Yes please feel free. Please credit me and send me a link when it is ready. All the best. Rob
www.scmp.com/video/hong-kong/2067891/former-walled-city-heroin-addict-now-helps-teens-quit-drugs Thanks a lot for the help!
Great video. Moving story. Glad I could contribute.
Nice
It's Jan Hammer. Very popular at the time due to Miami Vice TV show. 1st one called 'Trance' the second 'One way out'. I have credited him in the opening annotations. (You need to have Flash player installed and switch on captions. I also reccommend a smartphone with Shazam)
Thanks +princeviny17
One of the most fascinating things I've seen lately. So much darkness, it must've been a status symbol to have an apartment with a window facing the outside
Thanks astraiiia. Yes I have always thought facing the outside would have been the best place to be. Not just because of fresh air. A lot of people living on the inside had people walking through their homes all the time as there were few communal passages above ground level.
I had a big smile on my face while I was reading your response. I cannot feel what you have felt but I can imagine. you have my biggest appreciation - it is a pleasure for me to meet someone like you. I wish you the best, my friend
The beat in this video had no business going as hard as it did.
I keep coming back to this video. Thank you beyond thank you. You have preserved history that needs to be remembered for many reasons. Im teaching my children about this place and how dynamic it was in the face of society at the time. Blessings.
Thank you Sydney. My pleasure!
Fascinating document, thanks for uploading
Many thanks Alex. My pleasure.
You are a respectable recorder of the times, sir.❤😊
Thank you Chenbaige!
It's quite surprising, I can see the kowloon walled city park from where I live, but I never knew that it had any historical meaning till now.
Thanks +iTz_RaG I am glad you found it interesting.
好珍貴的視訊，作為九龍寨城拆除後出生既人，睇呢d只能去博物館喇。thank for sharing
Thanks Steven
Very creatively inspiring, and an interesting example of people making the best of things. But I'm not sorry to see it go. The place was a disaster waiting to happen. One large fire, building collapse or typhoon could have killed hundreds of people.
Thanks Wooboo. I agree entirely.
Hi Bob, thank you for the footage kind sir. Much love from delhi
A pleasure sir. Much love from Dorset.
Greatest thing Ive ever seen. I've always wanted to visit the Walled City. Too bad I was too young to ever visit it before it got demolished.
Interesting footage, thanks for uploading this.
I learned the existence of this place through a manga called "Kowloon Generic Romance". Although the city is portrayed through a very romanticized lens, it's still a great read.
It saddens me that there's only so few video footage of this place.
Thanks Alfa. I hadn't heard of Kowloon Generic Romance. Very interesting and explains why this video gets a lot of views from Japan.
Wow, great to see mister rob frost you are still active in comments, I hope you and your family are safe in COVID crisis!
Thanks Titan yes I'm fine. I have enjoyed responding to comments for the 8 years since I uploaded it.
@@robfrost6128 haha must be a unique and good experience.
Great, great, great! Thank you for shooting, editing, and sharing this. I was just exploring the park that's at the site this evening. It's a nice park / historic site, but downplays this whole period of the walled city's history (like, most of the 20th century - ha). Thanks again!
Thank you blackcentury. Fascinating to hear you were just in the park. I plan to visit it one day but as I now live 6000 miles away in Dorset England it is not just a case of jumpig on the MTR.
Well, I'd easily trade for having gone into the Walled City itself! I'm just visiting HK myself, from the US, after wanting to come since around the time you were here. The Walled City was a major reason for my fascination with the city (along with HK cinema), so visiting the park was really just a consolation prize. It certainly doesn't evoke the feel of the place-just the opposite-and it's a strain to even mentally picture that's where it was (although the slope of the land remains). At least the adjacent storefront district, an almost entirely ethnic Thai neighborhood, is fittingly decrepit and working class, in contrast. And they're completely disinterested in foreign visitors too, haha!
I admire your bravery going in and shooting there - this is a treasure.
blackcentury Yes in a way it is sad that it has gone but there would be now way of preserving it as it was without people continuing to live there and it was an appalling, rat and disease ridden place. As you say there are still plenty of other places in the world that are nearly as bad. In almost every case if we got rid of them we would lose something fascinating but the world would be a better place. I hope you have a great time in HK.
Very true, very true. I shouldn't romanticize it. That it was a result of a geographic and governmental accident of history -neither British nor Chinese, and for so long- is what makes it unique and so fascinating to me. And that it manged to "work."
I think the reason places like this resonate with people, despite the obvious struggles and disadvantages of it, is because of how incredibly human it is, with all the goods and flaws.
Thanks Beepst. I agree. It was a friendly community despite the conditions.
This is extraordinary. Many kudos for pulling this off. The footage you shot is fascinating.
This is an interesting film of Hong Kong's KWC past history, well done.
Many thanks Slaoane.
Hi,Mr.Frost. Thank you for uploading the video !
The scenery makes me feel nostalgic, even though I've never been there.
素晴らしい動画をありがとうございます。訪れたことがないのにとても懐かしくて切ない気持ちになります。
I never heard city of Kowloon before until i played a game called Shenmue 2 back in 2002. The final fight scene took place on the rooftop of the tallest building in Kowloon. Great game..
+Ryo Gumay Interesting. If you find a video of the gameplay post a link here. Thanks
ruclips.net/video/FtxZCg9Bdp0/видео.html
Hi Mr Frost, I searched for Kowloon Walled City after I watched the Hong Kong movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In and your footage came up. FYI it is a movie about the Kowloon Walled City back in the 80s. It is nice to see what it was really like back then, thanks for your historical record.
Thanks very much blessedpapa! Over the last few weeks my views have more than doubled and I didn't know why. The trailer looks very realistic. I will find a way to watch it when it comes to UK. Thanks again.
Me too
Holy cow, that’s pure gold content right there. I’m pretty sure some people aged 40 to 80 today had actually been there and lived there before. A population density of KWC means that you would jam in 7,725,000,000 people to live in the size of Delaware state or Brunei or even Palestine or roughly 2,377 square miles.
Holy cow indeed X1. 1 person per square metre!
Aaahhh I wish this was like 4 hours long haha. Thank you so very much for sharing this. What a phenomenal place KWC was, wow.
Thanks YAWG. It could have been 4 hours if I got lost haha.
What if it caught fire? How would they get in the middle to put it out?
They couldn't. That was another reason for knocking it down. Mind you it was so damp everywhere it probably wouldn't spread far. I think small fires were frequent due to poor wiring and water everywhere.
Rob Frost ah alright. Makes sense. That'd be a huge bonfire if it all went up in flames tho!
A lot of it was built from concrete but it's amazing it never burnt diwn.
I am very glad you liked it, thank you.
I have loads more videos I have taken around the world over the last 30 years but none of anywhere as unusual as the Walled City.
1. turn off the volume of this clip
2. open Hong Kong Express music
3. watch and time travel to old Hongkong
Thanks CannibaLouiST. Nice music but a little modern and jolly to go with this dystopian video for my liking. I added Jan Hammer music when I edited it back in 1990 because he was popular at the time for scoring the Miami Vice TV show in the late 80's. I needed to add some music because the constant, deafening noise sounded awful. It sounds quite out of date now but it is contemporary and fits the mood. It is not everyone's cup of tea so I say turn down the music and play whatever you like but if you want to feel how I did as I wandered around the KWC it has to be a little scary. Thanks again for a great comment! I am now going to listen to more HKE.
I think the track you put in is good, too. In fact, the whole album is great.
Just recently read a book called "The Walled City." Can't believe it was something that actually existed! Great video!
Thanks Some Kid. I've just ordered the book.
The peak of freedom and evil in the exoticity of the Chinese world with imaginations unchecked. Thanks for uploading Rob. It's a great footage.
+Qin He - Great comment! Thanks a lot.
Matt Ho even though it was run by triad it was not evil, just another city. Every city has drugs and prostitution and gangs, and if anything the gangs there kept law and order and we're basically took the role of the government and police. The people had a sense of community seldom found in other communities of that size.
This is something straight out of dystopian fiction like Blade Runner or something. Thanks Rob for also turning me onto Jan Hammer! Great choice of music!
Thanks Xilo. Apparently Blade Runner was inspired by KWC.
The music was added at the time when I transferred it to VHS. Jan Hammer was popular at the time as he did the music for the late 80's Miami Vice TV show.
Thank you, this was very interesting. 10/10.
Many thanks dullsearake
Amazing, eye-opening views you had. I am stunned with no words when I often ponder on the Kowloon Walled City. It really peaks my curiosity. It’s breath-taking to see these dark, treacherous images/clips that only confirm what my mind had imagined on its own...
My soul longs to hear the many stories of the people and families who were forced to flee, and resonates deeply with the lost feelings of hope and unity these people may have felt.
Thank you Sydney. Very well put!
It is so fascinating to me how was this place even built, and how did it even become and end up looking like this!
It reminds me a lot of many similar smaller neighbourhoods I saw when I was in China.
Thanks Vasilije the story is quite interesting. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City
Thank you for preserving and uploading this footage
My pleasure quax428
How brave of you to go inside! You went there as a tourist?
Thank you Alex. I did live in Hong Kong at the time but I did go there as a tourist. In fact I deliberately dressed like a tourist with a video camera as I didn't want to look like an official or police.
Rob Frost And you are not asian? Wow. to be honest with you: I like to think of myself as an adventurous traveller, but I am not sure if I had the courage to do what you did. That was brave. I think you can be proud of yourself to be one of the very few people who have such video document to share. The music is not bad by the way... My deepest respect!
Rob Frost By the way: I was in Hong Kong 2 months ago and I remembered a photo journal about Kowloon Walled city which I read many many years ago. You can imagine my disappointment when I learned that they tore it down to build a park...
Rob Frost Were you harassed by gang members? How dangerous was it? I see footage of kids walking along the alley alone so i’m rather confused
perfectly chosen soundtrack that cannily evokes a very specific, narrow slice of time between the 80s and 90s. pensive, but slightly suspenseful and somber. really great.
I found this place cool. Sadly they'd demolished this place.
Irza Liando yeah, it'd be great with some urban decay photography
This video is such an important historical document… thank you for sharing it with the world.
Thanks guystudios. Yes I am hoping people will still be watching this long after I've snuffed it.
all the shops remind me of walking through a swapmeet
Thanks so much for sharing this footage. KWC fascinates me, and I've spoken with some Chinese friends who lived in HK at that time. One said he was too scared to visit. Another said he went once and came straight out! Last year, I got the book 'City of Darkness' by Ian Lambot, which is superb.
Thanks raksh9. I was very scared. Not of people. HK people are very good to Gweilos. Just the place and getting lost.
Hey Rob, I'm a middle school student and I have to make a documentary on the walled city for a history assignment, I was hoping I could use some of your footage in a non - profit educational institute?
+azaan maria Hi azaan sorry I only just saw this. Probably too late now but if not you are welcome to use it with due credit. Let me know if you do.
Thank you for introducing me to Jan Hammer!
Thanks I replied in your other comment.
this shuld have never been destroyed its so unique.
People often think that. This is my reply to the last person who said it should have been preserved:
I see your point. The trouble is if you cleaned up everything that was dirty dangerous or illegal there would have been nothing left. All the buildings were illegal, dangerous construction, open sewers and filth everywhere and lack of clean water. The only way to keep it the same would need people to carry on living in a dystopian hell hole. I feel very privileged to have visited it before it was knocked down but what I saw was a terrible place that had to go.?
Dante's first level of hell.
it is also a miracle that the walled city never had a fire or a collapse during all the years of its existence
@@TheAbderaman With so much leakage and moisture, I bet it would have been difficult to burn it
I believe some teams of Japanese went into the place after all who lived there were evacuated, and made quite detailed layouts of the structures, dwellings, shops and factories therein. The HK government could have used these plans to recreate a small section of the city using it as a museum - instead of the very boring park that is now there. Then again, what would you expect of authorities who demolished most of the historic buildings elsewhere in HK.
man, thank you very much, this is so extreme, fascination for this city is hard to grasp, and yet there it is, thank you so much.
Thanks +Stanisław Lem It's been a pleasure.
Thanks +Stanisław Lem It's been a pleasure.
I visited there back in the late 80s with my father...
That was when it was most densely populated. Did you go inside?
Yes we did. He wanted to show me the different businesses in there. He told me about a friend who lived there years ago back in the 70s. I didn't think much of it then, but now when i look back, that place was an abomination. I felt bad for those living under those conditions.
zcarenow wow how interesting! :)
zcarenow n u r alive?
I've been researching about the KWC for a year now as I am on the pre-production stage of producing an animation based on the KWC. I keep stumbling across the same sets of photos, German documentary, Kai Tak shots, etc., but this is very fascinating and useful. I created a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise money to buy one of the rare photobooks on the Walled City. However, first hand footage like this kind of makes me feel like I don't need the reference book. ...
Most cyberpunk city that ever existed.
Thanks ZZ, yes a lot of people have said that in the comments.
Cool vid! Was nice to see it from an individual's perspective, it was like looking through your eyes.
How did you manage to film this? Not very discreet to walk around with a big 90s camera in a walled dense city full of gangs not eager to have themselves caught on tape...
Good question. For starters despite living there I dressed like a tourist. In Hong Kong the gangs might "chop" each other every now and again but very rarely touched us Gweilos and never tourists.
You will also notice that there aren't many shots of people directly. The place was heaving with people but I filmed in places where there were few about.
The shot at the end (4:26) of the guys in the factory/shop I got by holding the camera sideways against my chest. I saw loads of these little factories but wasn't brave enough to film inside but felt I had to get one on film before I left.
Straight after that shot you see a guy walk past me carrying sacks. When I saw him coming I turned the camera to make it look like I was panning around but he had sussed out what I was doing. You see the camera shake when he hits me with the corner of a sack. There was plenty of room to pass, he was letting me know I wasn't welcome. I left after that.
The guy with the coke bottle (3:04) wasn't being that friendly either.
Thanks for asking.
@@robfrost6128 That is creepy and amazing. And what a perfect shot that is at 3:22 where you zoom in on the woman that looks at you, then a person walks in the way.
Great Job.
Btw, what is this music?
@@julzyboy8960 Thanks. The music is Jan Hammer. Very popular at the time due to Miami Vice TV show. 1st one called 'Trance' the second 'One way out'.
@@robfrost6128 You've got a sharp memory!
@@4g63t8 Thanks. I'm glad I give that impression ;-)
Awesome!! Didn't think I'd find any video footage of Kowloon Walled City...
Thanks Diiso. I was surprised how little footage there was too. I found it such a fascinating place. Mind you when I filmed it the general reaction I got was bemusement. Why on earth would I want to go to such a horrible, dangerous slum?
@@robfrost6128 I wish I could have gone there! How much of it did you explore? Also... this might be a weird question but what did it smell like??
@@2-diisopropylaminoethanol55 I didn't dare go above ground level. That was labyrinthine enough. I made sure I always knew the way out again in case I had to scarper.
It smelt like Hong Kong ++. There were all the same type of businesses but concentrated and enclosed. There were huge 20ft piles of rubbish in the gaps between buildings that stank very bad and I saw a few rats in the short time I was there.
I haven't been to Brazil (yet) but I saw the Rio Favellas in the excellent film 'City of God'. The standard of living looks equally poor. Judging by the film the Favelas look more dangerous. There wasn't a lot of gun crime in Hong Kong.
Both are cases of governments turning a blind eye to human suffering. I wonder if the 2016 Olympics will help sort out the Favelas in Rio.
Yeah, actually things didn't got too much different on Rio nowadays tho..
@@yuisaint6808 Thank you for your reply after 7 years. It's sad that in that time little changed.
Wow this is amazing just what I sought out to see. I have been watching short documentary videos and I wanted to see live footage so badly. So interesting
Thank you Diana. It is comments like yours that I like the best.
Look like a scene out of bladerunner or the 5th element. Unique it was to be there and see it, but i have to agree with the filmaker, this place was one giant disaster waiting to happen
Thanks Alex.
Thanks Mr Frost for preserving the history for Hong Kong people. Born in Hong Kong in the early 80s, I was still too young to be able to visit the KWC until then it was demolished. Thank you for sharing this footage so I can feel like I'm exploring this notorious place that no longer exists, and which forms a part of the old Hong Kong.
Thanks Henry. That is exactly the sort of comment I like to get. I posted the video 10 years ago for people like you.
これは超貴重！
ありがとうございました 主将帰宅部
Thank you for having the courage of filming this beautiful video and preserving an important piece of Human-history.
Its like of of the Mega Blocks in Judge Dredd!
Needed to Google that but yes I see what you mean. Thanks.
Thanks Tobias. The music is by Jan Hammer. Very popular at the time due to the TV show Miami Vice. 1st one called 'Trance' the second 'One way out'.