"City of Darkness: Revisited" who lived the lives of people spread out in the world's leading slums "Kowloon Castle"

Once in Hong Kong, the governments of any country can not interfere, a huge slum area that turned into a mid-lawless zone "Kowloon castle(Coulomb Castle) "existed. Kowloon Castle, which was mostly caught as a "devil's nest" due to the influence of movies and games, was actually a place of life in which common everyday life is repeated, in which ordinary people live in fact.

A renegade photographer got inside this lawless Hong Kong community that was 119 times denser than New York City - Business Insider Nordic
http://nordic.businessinsider.com/kowloon-walled-city-photos-2017-4/

The real name of "Kowloon Castle" whose high profile has been taken up as a subject of movies and games in Japan is "Kowloon Fortress'Cruising / coulomb'. As the name "Fort" shows, 500 elongated buildings were densely populated in a narrow area of ​​120 × 210 meters and boasted like a fortress.

Since this place became an area where the control of British and Chinese governments does not reach from historical circumstances, laws regulating building building are not applied at all. As a result, the buildings that did not meet the building standards were subsequently confused, and it was a slum area where as many as 50,000 residents lived a living for the time being. The population density was 119 times that of the current New York center.


In the late 1980s, Canadian photographer Greg Girard entered such Kowloon Castle, observing the actual situation of people and taking a picture. And I was publishing a photo collection "City of Darkness" that gathered a lot of valuable pictures containing the state at the time.


In Kowloong Castle there are buildings about 45 meters tall and there is little sunlight in the downstairs. Therefore, on the roof of the building, the figure of sunbathing seeking sunlight was often seen. Although it is "Bill", there are rarely built on the basis of neat construction plan, and many of them seem to be repeatedly expanded in a manner similar to "replenishment".


A figure of a person who delivers mail individually through a dark staircase. Since the sun's light is not inserted at all in the daytime, according to Mr. Girard, "It was like a night all along."


Even so, people were living their daily lives. In Kowloon Castle, many stores including sundry shops selling goods necessary for daily life were in operation.


Various grocery factories were also in operation. This picture contains the state of the noodle place where you make flour and make noodles. The factory of Hui Tuy Choy who started this factory in 1965 supported people's food, but there were no restrictions on hygiene, disaster prevention, working environment, etc. at all.


Factory which makes fish ball (fish protein), meat dumplings using fish meat only unique to Hong Kong. Products made in this manner were shipped to Hong Kong City as well as restaurants in the region.


Factory that processes pigs and other meat into meat. However, according to Mr. Girard, "It is extremely difficult to make hygiene control work in places beyond the law".


The fact that people live will obviously also increase the hair of everyone. That's why the barber shop is also open.


Kowloon Castle where all kinds of business existed like other worlds, but the biggest difference is that "the place is limited". Therefore, it seems that the place where it was school during the day was used as a stripping place or a gaming center at night.

This woman, Wong Cheung Mi seems to have earned his living as a dentist.


However, the dentist living in Kowloon castle was treated the same as a doctor of "Moguri" without a proper license. Although it seems that medical equipment of high level has been prepared by aid from overseas organizations etc, but when you do full-scale treatment and the bleeding stops stopping, it becomes necessary for doctors other than Kowloon Castle to need it, The dentist of Kowloong Caste who is an existence will interfere with business. Therefore, most of the dentists were supposed to do the necessary minimum treatment.


Not only in Japan, Mr. Girard said that the image of Kowloon Castle was emphasized as a "devil's nest" and some sort of erroneous impression was conveyed.


A figure of a jet aircraft flying as if to scrape over the building symbolizing Kowloon Castle on the day. The aircraft landing at the Kaitaku airport that was operated at that time turned around like Kousuke Castle and got on the runway.


A few relaxing places were at the top of the building. Although it was a roof top which was also a playground of children, it seems that it was not necessarily a safe place thanks to the TV antenna built with Bissli and the debris stacked so that the border of the building can not be understood.


In the evening, various "evil" appear in Kowloon Castle where the power of the law does not reach. Therefore, the Hong Kong citizen who lives in the neighborhood did not want to approach Kowloon Castle at night.


Although the security of Kowloon Castle in the 1980s seemed to be more stable than before, still the residents in the surrounding area taught that the child "Do not approach Kowloon Castle".


Although it was such Kowloon Castle, in 1994 all buildings were demolished in accordance with "Hong Kong's return" from the UK to China. In the area where slums existed once, the park was improved and it became a place for people's relaxation.


Mr. Girard and a number of photographs by Mr. Ian Rambot of the same photographer can see even more in the website "City of Darkness | Revisited" to read the detailed commentary.

City of Darkness | Revisited
http://cityofdarkness.co.uk/

Photograph collections of the same names by both are published and can be purchased on Amazon.

Amazon.co.jp: City of Darkness Revisited: Ian Lambot, Greg Girard: Books

This work has also been published in Japanese version in 2004.

People living in Kowloon Castle Mission Demolition - City of Darkness | Ichiro Yoshida, Greg Jillard, Ian Rambot, Miho Ohara | Books | mail order | Amazon


There is also an e-book version that can read the same work with Kindle.

Kowloon Castle Visit | Greg Girard, Ian Rambo, Ohara Miho, Yoshida Ichirou | Nonfiction | Kindle Store | Amazon