User:Chick Yue Hong/sandbox

History

Kowloon Walled City was the fort for the defense of the boundary of the country of Sung Dynasty. During the Opium War in Qing Dynasty, the Chinese government sent troops to station in the Walled City. In 1898, China and Britain signed a treaty to extend the territory to the new territories. At that time, Qing government insisted to maintain the authority over the Walled City. In 1899, Britain declared the Kowloon Walled City to be a part of the colony. Due to the fact China did not admit to give up the Walled City but Britain also did not exercise the authority on Walled City, so it became a place where no body governed and a place where full of crime and poor sanitation. In 1987, “Sino-British Joint Declaration” determined the demolition of Kowloon Walled City and reconstruct to park.

The poor living condition in the Walled City

The Walled City is one of the famous representative building of British administration. Since both of colonial government and Qing government had not implemented the governance in this city, it became no man’s land and the hideout of criminal until British policeman govern and maintain security since 1976. The long-time vile urban environment worsen people’s life quality, while the rubbish and channel system were lack of cleanup, the cheap rent attracted a lot of unlicensed factories and produced air and noise pollution.

The community circle of Walled City

In 1975, there were different services for the people who lived in Kowloon Walled City. The charitable organizations held three kindergartens in there. Although these kindergartens were small and lack of human resources, the fees were much cheaper than outside fees which good for the poor residents there to afford. For the medical services, there were many clinics and the doctors were mainly from mainland China and South East Asia without license. The residents and even outside people also liked to buy dental service in there because it was much cheaper than outside. Youth centers were one of the attractive places to the youth. It was hard to find some open spaces in the Walled City, so youth centers became the places that provided large area for the youth.