Kowloon City – Carpenter Road ca.1987
Historical Hotspots:
Kowloon Lok Sin Tong Headquarters, Primary and Secondary School
Along Carpenter Road, Lok Sin Tong’s century-old charity work developed. As early as 1929, Lok Sin Tong operated a free school near Lok Sin Road (formerly known as ‘Blacksmith’s Street’), which was destroyed during World War II. Post war, Lok Sin Tong resumed classes temporarily in a nearby school building. In 1949, Lok Sin Tong Primary School opened at its newly established location on Lung Kong Road. In 2019, this building was converted into a transitional housing project, called ‘LST Housing’, to continue its mission of serving the community.
Lok Sin Tong is one of Hong Kong’s oldest charitable organisations, having served the residents of Kowloon City since the 19th century. Originally founded by local gentry, Lok Sin Tong was committed to charitable causes, including the construction of the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge, providing free medical care and operating schools. Today, its educational services have expanded to include kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, supporting the younger generations of the community.
In the 1950s and 60s, given the harsh living conditions in Kowloon Walled City, Lok Sin Tong’s welfare services played a crucial role in supporting the community. Many women in the City, unable to afford hygienic delivery conditions, gave birth at the maternity home in the Lok Sin Tong building. This facility provided inpatient services to women nearing their due date, employing registered midwives to assist with deliveries. Many former residents of the Walled City were born there. Operating from 1958 to 1971, the maternity home was later converted into a drug addiction registry, offering assistance and referrals for rehabilitation services to those struggling with addiction in the Walled City.
During the demolition of the Walled City, Lok Sin Tong provided its headquarters as a temporary command station for the police. Today, it has evolved into one of Hong Kong’s most prominent charitable organisations, serving the needy and providing a diverse range of services and support to the community.
Photo courtesy of The Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon
Daily life in Kowloon Walled City
Kowloon Walled City in the 1980s had a strong appeal of local livelihood, featuring its characteristics to our different senses.
As the Walled City was covered in intertwined wires and pipes installed by residents to supply themselves with electricity and water, the sky was nearly completely obscured and the narrow alleys of the City were shrouded in darkness both day and night.
Within the narrow confines of the Walled City, a cacophony of sounds filled the air: the deafening roar of low-flying airplanes, hawkers shouting to appeal tompasser-bys, the constant dripping of water, the Mahjong tiles clacking, the sounds of scissors and hair dryers from the barbers, and the repetitive hum of food-production machines. Lacking adequate ventilation, the Walled City was perpetually filled with the pungent smell of cooking fumes and sewage, creating an overwhelming odour that lingered in the air. Those who once entered the Walled City would certainly not forget the experience.
Early in the 1980s, the Walled City was a spectacle that attracted tourists eager to take pictures. Former residents recalled a bustling scene where busloads of Japanese tourists arriving at the Walled City. The Walled City’s unique urban landscape was featured in numerous films, video games and comics. For example, in the 1993 movie Crime Story, Jackie Chan chased his enemies through the maze of narrow streets. In the recent movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024), adapted from the local comic series Kowloon Walled City, the unique spatial layout of the Walled City was showcased in the scene where the protagonist Chan Lok-kwun accidentally enters the Walled City. Video games like SEGA’s Shenmue II (2001), PlayStation’s Kowloon’s Gate (1997), and Hong Kong-developed Kowloon Walled City (2022) draw inspiration from its evocative setting. The Japanese manga series Generic Romance (2019 – present) by Jun Mayuzuki also captures the Walled City’s distinctive ambience.
Photo courtesy of Greg Girard
Kowloon Walled City
In the 1980s, Kowloon Walled City resembled a fortress, with its densely abutting buildings presenting an unbroken façade to the observer. Inside its confines lay a warren of residential units, shops and workshops.
The Walled City was described as ‘Sam But Kwun’, meaning a lawless state outside the jurisdiction of the three governments: the Hong Kong, British and Qing Chinese. This unique situation resulted from a treaty of 1898 in which the Qing and British Governments signed an agreement to lease the New Territories to Britain, with the stipulation that the jurisdiction of Kowloon Walled City would remain with Qing China. However, the declining Qing Government was no longer able to effectively govern the Walled City, leaving it a place, as described, ‘where the Hong Kong Government dared not rule, the British were unwilling to rule, and the Chinese could not rule.’ An astonishingly diverse way of life hence emerged from this constitutional no man’s land.
Spanning an area of approximately 2.8 hectares, equivalent to four football fields, Kowloon Walled City once housed over 300 buildings and a population exceeding 30,000, making it one of the most densely populated settlement on earth. Developmental planning was virtually non-existent, save for a legal height restriction implemented to safeguard aviation safety due to its proximity to Kai Tak Airport. Consequently, residents continually sought to expand their living spaces to meet their daily needs.
Some residents built additional floors on their rooftops, while others connected their homes to the floors of adjacent buildings. Individual staircases were often flattened and replaced with a shared one to maximise the available space on each floor. As a result, some residents had to cross their neighbours’ homes to reach their own. The elderly residents always said that only ‘true Walled City dwellers’ could navigate the intricate pathways of this labyrinth.
Following the demolition agreement signed between China and Britain in 1987, the Walled City was demolished in 1991, with residents relocated. The site was subsequently reconstructed into Kowloon Walled City Park, which was completed in 1995. Renowned for its award-winning horticultural design, the park has since become a landmark in present-day Kowloon City. In 2025, the ‘Kowloon Walled City: A Cinematic Journey’ Movie Set Exhibition opened at the park, which reconstructs the street scenery of movie sets from the film Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024) at a 1:1 scale, offering visitors an immersive experience that transports them back in time to the historical setting.
Photo courtesy of Greg Girard
Commercial activities in Kowloon Walled City
In the 1950s and 60s, prostitution, gambling and drug dealing were prevalent, and the portrayal of illegal, underground activities was a common theme in films and television productions set in Kowloon Walled City. The founding of the Kowloon Walled City Kai Fong Welfare Promotion Association in 1963 marked a turning point in improving the security and living conditions at the Walled City. Pathways were paved, streetlights were installed, and sewage drainage and garbage removal were properly maintained. The establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 1974 further curbed the criminal activity and enhanced the security in the Walled City.
By the 1980s, Kowloon Walled City’s underground economy had declined significantly, while legal commerce flourished. The periphery of the City featured about 100 shops, including grocery stores, cha chaan tengs (local restaurants), food manufacturers and electroplating workshops, designed with spacious layouts facilitating efficient logistics and storage of goods. The interior of the City housed approximately 50 smaller shops, engaged primarily in estate agency, hairdressing, electrical appliance repairs and interior construction.
One unique industry found only within the Walled City was water supply. Eight government-installed public water pipes stood outside the Walled City. Some residents constructed their own pipes to channel water from the public pipes to their homes, while others relied on daily deliveries. Private water suppliers also pumped groundwater and stored water in rooftop tanks, charging residents for their services. Former residents recall that private water suppliers would regularly collect water bills from residents. Although every household had water and electricity meters, residents paid a fixed monthly fee for their water, regardless of their actual water usage. This unique ‘law and order’ was a defining feature of the City.
Although Kowloon Walled City has been demolished, the ‘Kowloon Walled City: A Cinematic Journey’ Movie Set Exhibition in Kowloon Walled City Park now gives us a chance to experience its unique historical and cultural setting by travelling back in time and exploring the recreated underground workshops of Kowloon Walled City!
Photo courtesy of Greg Girard
The clinics in Kowloon Walled City
In the 1980s, Kowloon Walled City thrived as a hub of healthcare, boasting an astonishing 30 clinics per hectare. With about 90 Western medicine clinics and 100 dental clinics, the walls of the buildings along Tung Tau Tsuen Road were adorned with signboards, creating an unforgettable spectacle for passersby.
This cluster of medical services in the Walled City was a direct consequence of the absence of law enforcement, including medical regulation, by neither the Chinese, British nor Hong Kong governments over the area. At that time, many medical practitioners and apprentices arrived from Mainland China. While they might have valid licenses to practice in the Mainland, their credentials were not recognised in Hong Kong. Consequently, they resorted to practising within the Walled City, where they could operate without the burden of taxes and maintain low operating costs. Medical services were also forced to offer low prices because of fierce competition, leading to exceptionally affordable prices. For instance, in 1988, tooth extraction cost just over HK$10 in the Walled City, far less than the HK$20 charged for a cinema stall seat.
Despite lacking regulatory safeguards, professional standards, adequate hygiene and equipment, Kowloon Walled City’s clinics provided affordable medical services during a time when public health services were still underdeveloped. These low-cost services thus attracted not only local residents but also people from other districts of Hong Kong and even overseas. Some people who visited dentists in the Walled City when they were young remember the environment as being quite dirty, but their parents still took them there because of the low costs.
Photo courtesy of Greg Girard
Movie Hotspot:
CITY IN TIME incorporates cinematic elements at designated locations. Check out these filming locations of Hong Kong movies, where you can revisit classic Hong Kong movie clips on-site or stills on the website:
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled in
Released in 2024, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled in is the second Hong Kong film reaching a box office gross over 100 million Hong Kong dollars in the history of Hong Kong movies. The film was selected for screening in the “Midnight Screening” section of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and it was Hong Kong’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. At the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards, the film received 14 nominations and won 9 awards including the Best Film, Best Director (Soi Cheang), Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Action Choreography and Best Art Direction, etc.
Set in the Kowloon Walled City in the Eighties, the film follows troubled youth Chan Lok-kwun (Raymond Lam) as he accidentally enters the Walled City, discovers the order amidst its chaos, and learns important life lessons along the way. In the Walled City, he becomes close friends with Shin (Terrance Lau), Twelfth Master (Tony Wu) and AV (German Cheung). Under the leadership of Tornado (Louis Koo), they resist against the intended invasion into the Walled City by villain Mr. Big (Sammo Hung) giving rise to a series of fierce battles. Together, they vow to protect the safe haven of Kowloon Walled City.
The footage shows Chan Lok-kwun (Raymond Lam) accidentally stumbles into the Kowloon Walled City.
Courtesy of Media Asia Film Distribution (HK) Limited
Animation:
Until its closure in 1998, Kai Tak Airport served as Hong Kong’s primary civil aviation airport, with aircraft flying over Kowloon City during their landing. Passengers had the privilege of witnessing a breathtaking low-altitude aerial panorama of the urban landscape below during their descent. Pilots and flight attendants who landed at Kai Tak Airport recall glimpsing not only clotheslines on rooftops but also the light emanating from televisions within residences at night. Students from nearby schools developed a fondness for the airport, as plane-gazing was a popular pastime when they got bored in class.
For Kowloon City residents, the sight of landing planes became a regular part of daily lives, as they watched planes streak across the rooftops and heard the deafening roar of the engines day and night. Every time an airplane flied overhead, they would naturally pause their conversations and wait for the engine noise to fade away.