Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City: what life was like inside the City of Darkness

An aerial view of the Kowloon Walled City in 1987. Photo: SCMP

In March 1993, bulldozers moved in to begin condemning the Kowloon Walled City to Hong Kong’s history.

The slum area, known in Cantonese as the City of Darkness, was an infamous 2.7-hectare enclave of opium parlours and gambling dens run by triads, a place where police, health inspectors and even tax collectors feared to tread.

These pictures from the Post’s archive show what life was like inside the settlement, and how strikingly it sat in Hong Kong’s landscape.

The squatter village in front of the walled city, which was 2.63 hectares of tightly packed, dilapidated buildings without water supply or garbage-collection service, and with minimal police patrol. Photo: SCMP

Two young children in the Walled City in 1985. Photo: SCMP

Residents of the Kowloon Walled City setting up illegal water pipes in the slum in 1977. Photo: SCMP/C.Y. Yu

Youngsters preparing water bombs in the Kowloon Walled City in 1977. Photo: SCMP/C.Y. Yu

Two young girls living in the Kowloon Walled City in 1985. Photo: SCMP

Residents burn paper offerings and joss sticks to appease the spirits in one of the Walled City’s narrow, dark and dingy alleyways in 1986. Photo: SCMP

The notorious Kowloon Walled City, with its 40,000 residents, in 1987. Photo: SCMP/Sam Chan

The Kowloon Walled City in 1987. Photo: SCMP/Sunny Lee

Residents of the Walled City go about their lives as signboards advertising various services hang overhead in 1987. Photo: SCMP/Sunny Lee

A bird's-eye view of a centre for the elderly in the Kowloon Walled City in 1989. Photo: SCMP

Old residential buildings at the Kowloon Walled City in 1991. Photo: SCMP

A grocery store at the Kowloon Walled City in 1991. Photo: SCMP

The Kowloon Walled City in 1993. Photo: SCMP/Wan Kam-yan

The Kowloon Walled City, probably at the end of the 1980s. Photo: SCMP

The Kowloon Walled City in 1972. Photo: SCMP/C.Y. Yu

A wrecking ball smashes into a Walled City building in March 1993, as it was demolished by the Hong Kong government. Photo: SCMP

An aerial view of the Kowloon Walled City in 1987. Photo: SCMP

Inside the Kowloon Walled City in 1987. Photo: SCMP/Sam Chan

An elderly resident of the Walled City in 1987. Photo: SCMP/Sam Chan

Deserted buildings at the Kowloon Walled City, some time before it was demolished. Photo: SCMP

An alley in the Kowloon Walled City. Photo: SCMP

Another look inside the Kowloon Walled City and how its residents lived. Photo: SCMP

Cured ducks hang from hooks in the Kowloon Walled City. Photo: SCMP

Old residential buildings at the Walled City. Photo: SCMP/Sunny Lee

A wide view of the notorious Walled City. Photo: SCMP/David Wong

A young resident of the Kowloon Walled City in 1981. Photo: SCMP/Yau Tin-kwai

People using street taps on the border of the Kowloon Walled City. Photo: SCMP

A side lane in the Kowloon Walled City in 1983, with electricity cables dangling from buildings. Photo: SCMP/Chan Kiu

With water mains supply only to certain points inside the Kowloon Walled City, residents - such as this woman in 1983 - had to get water from standpipes. Photo: SCMP/Chan Kiu

The exterior of the Kowloon Walled City in 1991. Photo: SCMP