Kowloon Walled City: Heterotopia in a Space of Disappearence Matthew Hung
Abstract
8 January 2013
This study builds an alternative understanding of the Kowloon Walled City which has been frequently misrepresented in the past. As an informal settlement developing in a political no man’s land between Britain and China, it was a natural sanctuary for those in Hong Kong who wanted to be out of the reach of the colonial order. As a result it developed an image as a place of vice and criminal activity that shared little with the rest of Hong Kong. This negative image of the area was promoted by the colonial government in order to legitimize British rule over the colony. However, many accounts suggest this depiction of the Walled City was an exaggeration. In order to build a more comprehensive understanding, I utilise the spatial concepts of Henri Lefebvre, Edward Soja and Michel Foucault to re-examine the historical position of the Kowloon Walled City and show that there was in fact a myriad of spatial links with the rest of Hong Kong. These connections which were subdued by the government builds an alternative picture of the area; a place which was deeply intertwined with the everyday in Hong Kong, able to affect the wider society it was portrayed to be isolated against. Under this renewed significance, I attempt to make sense of why there was little resistance against its demolition and use Ackbar Abbas’ interpretation of the cultural landscape at the time to do so; a unique environment in which the image had become the dominant means of experiencing space within Hong Kong. In the context of the Kowloon Walled City, I argue the only image that was available at the time was the negative one the colonial government had maintained throughout their rule. This tactic of misrepresentation is also highlighted in the Chinese park which was constructed after the area’s demolition. The design decisions bring to light the attempts to contain and obscure the history of the colonial period and in doing so create a fictitious continuity through this omission. Drawing from the findings of this study, I argue that these examples could act as a precedent in the next stage of Hong Kong’s postcolonial transition, when its status as a Special Administrative Region of China expires, in order to resist the subtle tactics of control seen in both the informal settlement and the Kowloon Walled City Park.
Acknowledgements I would like to express my most sincere thanks to Dr. Lindsay Bremner for her enthusiasm and support during my dissertation and to all those who have helped me along the way.
Contents
Introduction
15
Section One - Historical Account
i) The Opium Wars ii) Politically Contested Place iii) The Demolition and the Present
25 33 43
Section Two - Spatiotemporal Account
i) The Importance of Spatiality ii) Heterotopia iii) Foucault’s Principles iv) The Orderings of the Kowloon Walled City
51 57 63 75
Section Three - Cultural Account
i) Hong Kong Identity ii) Space of Disappearence iii) The Kowloon Walled City Park
83 91 101
Conclusion
109
List of References
117
List of Illustrations
123
Bibliography
129
Fig.
Introduction
Fig.
[1] The Kowloon Walled City in 1990 surrounded by Carpenter Road Park and the Tung Tau Estate
[2] The south west corner of the Kowloon Walled City at night in1987. Prior to the development of the Carpenter Road Park
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[3] Building Blocks. Showing the different structures which together form the large megastructure of immense density.
Opposite Page [4] Primary Circulation Network. The immediately obvious public routes through the City.
[5] Secondary Circulation Network. The informal routes which augment the primary network. Often semi-private spaces or rooms.
Fig.
[6]left Rooftop developments on top of concrete buildings withn the Kowloon Walled City.
[7]right Children making use of the roofscape. One of the few areas where there were plentiful light and fresh air. [8]bottom Barbeque meat factory processing roast duck and roast pork.
This Page [9] A convenience store which doubles as a living room and partitioned to form a bedroom.
[10] Luxuries of fresh air and daylight enjoyed by a resident watching over the washing on the clothesline
Fig.
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Introduction
[11] Space within the Walled City is limited. A bedroom often serves as a dining area and living room.
The Kowloon Walled City is known by many as the informal settlement that once existed seemingly out of place within modern Hong Kong. Many dared not enter this lawless zone which had developed a reputation as a place to be avoided, somewhere that harboured vice and illicit trades. A place where triads and criminals were in control and those brave enough risked having their cameras smashed or worse their throats slit,1 apparently at odds with the rest of Hong Kong. This architectural anomaly was born out of a rich nineteenth century political environment where a series of incidents turned the site into a political no man’s land. This unique situation of a diplomatic black hole provided a place where the surges of refugees escaping China’s political reforms could find shelter. Remaining unresolved until the late twentieth century, the enclave reached an incredible density and form which is still unprecedented. Prior to its demolition in 1993, the area housed approximately thirty three thousand residents and over seven hundred businesses within six and a half hectares, making it by far the most densely populated place in the world. In certain parts the structure reached as high as fourteen stories with some corridors as narrows as one metre.
[12] Despite the view that the place was lawless, the government provided certain provisions such as a postal service.
The Kowloon Walled City was often considered an anomaly, a place which was defined through difference from its context. Little has been written to understand it beyond this limited scope therefore this dissertation seeks to build an alternative understanding which reconsiders its historical position. Its density and form suggests a complexity and purpose that goes beyond it as a hive of illegality out of reach of the Hong Kong Government. For it to grow to such an extent and be sustained for such a long period in history, there must have been a vast number of spatial, socio-economic and political links with the rest of Hong Kong. I explore these connections and their implications in three distinct sections; a historical account, a spatiotemporal account, and a cultural account. 1
Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Chiddingfold: Watermark, 1993), 9.
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Introduction
Fig.
Left [13] Street Width Study I. A plan showing a main circulation route and adjacent rooms.
Right [14] Street Width Study I. A drawing depicting the main thoroughfare.
[15] Street Width Study I. A drawing analysing the informal extentions of semi-public space to the main circulation route.
Introduction
In part one, I look in depth at the context and the political dimension that surrounded the Kowloon Walled City, from its beginnings as a fort till its demolition and the park project which followed. This historical account provides the background from which the alternative readings of the Walled City will add to and enrich. It will also show that when framed in such a linear temporal description, the Kowloon Walled City can be misrepresented and remain unchallenged. A Chinese government spokesman once described the Walled City strikingly as “a problem left over from history”2, essentially describing it as superseded before it has reached irrelevance. Perhaps some validity can be drawn from this contradictory comment when the Kowloon Walled City is understood through a restrictive linear temporal account. However if this is the case, then it also serves to highlight the facets of the Walled City which are left unexamined. In the second section, I attempt to show that the Kowloon Walled City was not a self-contained enclave devoid of links with the rest of the colony, but rather a place which was an active part of Hong Kong with many similarities with the rest of society. I do this by re-examining the Walled City spatially and begin by explaining why this is important. I then give a spatiotemporal account which employs the spatial dimension missing from the linear temporal account given in part one. This predominantly serves to highlight it’s spatial relations with Hong Kong but also acts as a critique, drawing attention to the bias’ that can arise in prioritising time over space in the formation of knowledge. In particular, I argue that the Kowloon Walled City is a special type of space conceptualised by Michel Foucault as Heterotopias and use this spatial concept as a means to tease out those links with the rest of the colony that was overlooked in the strictly linear temporal account. In the final section I will explore the delicate period of transition for the Hong Kong people in the years between the agreement over the island’s return of sovereignty to China and the “Handover” in 1997. Drawing from the spatiotemporal reading of the Kowloon Walled City in the previous chapter and the repositioning of it from the strictly marginal to a place linked to the development of modern Hong Kong, I pose the question why 2
ibid, 71.
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Introduction
Fig.
Introduction
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Introduction
Fig.
Previous and Opposite Pages [16] A Japanese team were able to survey the area prior to demolition and the survey material allowed this cross-section of the City to be drawn.
Introduction
during such a traumatic period where the people were scrambling to define an identity that there was little outcry over its demolition. In an attempt to make sense of this, I utilise Ackbar Abbas’ interpretation of Hong Kong culture during this period in which the image had become the dominant means of experiencing space. I argue that this was problematic in the case of the Kowloon Walled City which had led to an abstracted understanding of the informal settlement. As a result, the spatial links and therefore the significance of the area was overlooked; overpowered by the dominant image of an isolated enclave of illegality which was morally incompatible with the rest of Hong Kong, an image that was promoted by the British for political gain. These colonial tactics of control are then raised in relation to the current context of the Kowloon Walled City Park which has replaced it. The Chinese garden in a style from the Qing dynasty is equally a place of control utilising the dominance of the image. In order to erase the painful memories of the unequal treaties and colonial exploitations during a period when China was in its darkest hour, a fictitious space is designed where history is controlled. As someone who was born in Hong Kong but lived mostly in Britain, there has always been an interest in the place that I once lived in. Looking at the anomalous Kowloon Walled City allowed me to understand the curiously sophisticated informal settlement. Its entanglements with its broader context also gave me opportunities to unravel the political circumstance which precipitated the extraordinary growth of Hong Kong, the mentality and identity of the Hong Kong people, and the nature of the cultural landscape there. This study was therefore a personal investigation relating to self-identity as well as a revealing exploration into the Kowloon Walled City.
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Fig.
Section One
Historical Account
Fig.
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The Opium Wars The Kowloon Walled City came into existence as a result of the political actions between Britain and China towards the end of the nineteenth century. Through the conflicts of the Opium Wars and the subsequent cessions of Hong Kong in various stages to Britain, a small territory remained disputed between the two nations which allowed an enclave to remain intact within the colony until Hong Kong’s return of sovereignty to China almost a century later. This section gives a detailed historical account of the political environment that allowed this anomaly to occur. In the early nineteenth century, Britain was involved in trade with China. Chinese products were in great demand in Britain. Luxuries such as tea were becoming increasingly more lucrative. However, China during this time was the dominant party within the trade relationship. Brimming with confidence, China declared in 1793 that they had everything they could ever need and would only accept silver as payment for their products.3 Foreign traders already had to abide by the Canton System which restricted the ports they could operate in and restricted trade with only Chinese merchant associations and not to the general public. These conditions meant that Britain were required to trade in products which were not in ready supply, creating a trade imbalance unfavourable to Britain.
3
Greenberg, Michael. British Trade and the Opening of China, 1800-1842. (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1979.), 4.
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
[17] The signing of the Treaty of Nanking to mark the end of the First Opium War. The negotiations took place on HMS Cornwallis anchored at Nanjing.
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In an attempt to rebalance this deficit, Britain introduced Indian opium into China. Available en route to the Orient, it allowed the British to gain a trade advantage by trading this surplus. Opium was initially tolerated by the Qing administration as it allowed them to increase tea exports but as opium use became more common with increasing amounts of opium being brought ashore, the administration reacted by seizing and destroying the opium and refusing to accept further trade of the substance. This action in effect lead to the First Opium War from 1838 to 1842 where Britain emerged victorious. This was marked by the signing of the Treaty of Nanking which required China to open a series of ports for trading, allowing the British to trade with whomever they desired, the ceding of Hong Kong Island to Britain, and the compensation to traders for the seized opium. Although the primitive beginnings of the Kowloon Walled City was a site which housed imperial soldiers guarding the salt trade, the colonial project on Hong Kong Island soon prompted the intensive fortification of the site which became “a visible and psychological symbol of imperial control against the barbarians in Hong Kong”4.
[18] Survey of the coastal areas of Hong Kong and the immediately adjacent shoreline prior to the ceding of Hong Kong to Britain.
4
Wilkinson, Julia. “A Chinese Magistrate’s Fort” in City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Chiddingfold: Watermark, 1993), 60–71.
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
ii) The Opium Wars
[19]
Similarly, the Second Opium War was an attempt by Britain to further increase their trade in the Orient. Not content with the Treaty of Nanking, they sought to renegotiate this treaty. The Qing dynasty rejected these demands and the second conflict ensued. The signing of the Treaty of Beijing at the end of the conflict allowed further opening up of China to trade. Also part of the treaty was the ceding of the Kowloon Peninsula demanded by the British, maintaining that the Colony was defensively vulnerable without the security of the northern part of the harbour. At this point, the Kowloon Walled City was in close proximity to the border between the two nations.
The signing of the Treaty of Tientsin that was later ratified by the Convention of Peking in which the Kowloon Peninsula was ceded to Britain.
[20] Map of Hong Kong in the first Convention of Peking outlining the boundary of the area on the mainland to be ceded to Britain.
With the northern part of the harbour secure, the British Colony was still anxious at their vulnerability to attack three decades later.5 It was during the first Sino-Japanese War that Britain sought to take advantage of China’s vulnerable position by suggesting that the ceding of more territory should be “forcibly urged before she [China] has had time to recover from the defeat that has been inflicted upon her”6. Although the extension was in regards to the defence of Hong Kong, it also had broader agendas such as ridding the undesirable activities around the Kowloon Walled City and also removing the enforcers of the Chinese custom laws and their invasive tactics.7 The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory signed on 9 June 1898 stipulated that the new area is to be leased for 99 years and that the Chinese will maintain authority over the small area of land occupied by the Kowloon Walled City as long as it did not jeopardize the security of Hong Kong. This decision to allow the Chinese to remain in a location deep inside British territory was a vital moment in producing a ripe environment in which the informal settlement was to later develop. It created an enclave in which the territory of one nation was completely enveloped within another nation’s boundaries. 5
Wesley-Smith, Peter. Unequal treaty, 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong’s new territories. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 31. 6 Robinson to Ripon, secret, no. 23, 9 Nov. 1894: CO537/34 cited in The Unequal Treaty, 1898-1997. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 12-13. 7 Wesley-Smith, Peter. Unequal treaty, 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong’s new territories. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 17-21.
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
[21] The Kowloon Walled City in the 1900s with the Yamen and the west gate in view.
ii) The Opium Wars
Following the signing of the convention, there was violent resistance to the changing of sovereignty by residents.8 Together with the increased amount of troops stationed at the Kowloon Walled City, a volatile situation for the colony was created. Britain used this as sufficient reason to expel the Chinese troops. On the 16 May 1899, the British entered the Walled City to find it deserted and claimed it with little resistance. Later that year, Britain issued an Order in Council which revoked Article 4 from the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory which specifies that Chinese officials stationed within the City of Kowloon can continue to exercise jurisdiction in so far as it does not affect the military requirements for the defence of Hong Kong. The occupation of the Kowloon Walled City and the subsequent unilateral act of legalising the change of sovereignty was another critical moment. By forcibly invading Chinese territory and legalising the event afterwards without the agreement of China, it allowed room in which the validity of the British claim to the area could be brought into question.
[22] Map from the Convention of Peking in 1989 indicating the extent of the extention of Hong Kong which is to be leased for ninety nine years.
8
Cottrell, Robert. The End of Hong Kong: The Secret Diplomacy of Imperial Retreat. (London: John Murray, 1993), 15.
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
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Politically Contested Place
[23] Drawings of the Kowloon Walled City at various stages in history; 1847, 1940, 1963, 1973, and 1989.
China saw the ceding of territory within this period of history as unfair as they were in a vulnerable position when the treaties were agreed, claiming that they were void having been signed under duress.9 As China could not meaningfully dispute the ceded territories of the treaties but had a valid claim over the sovereignty of the Kowloon Walled City, it became a place where the politics between the two nations were played out. The ambiguity of the unilateral Order in Council allowed the Kowloon Walled City to be disputed but neither side wanted to relinquish this area nor did they want to take full control. For China, the enclave was a reminder of the unequal treaties hence the illegitimacy of foreign rule over Hong Kong but they were also weary that claiming the area would suggest the rest of Hong Kong was rightfully British territory.10 11 Likewise, allowing the Chinese to lay claim to the area legitimised British rule as it provided a contrast between lawlessness and order, but without control over the area Hong Kong would have to tolerate the enclave as being outside their jurisdiction. This section brings together the historical events that positioned the Kowloon Walled city at the centre of the tension between the two countries. During the early years of the twentieth century, the Walled City stood largely vacant with only a couple of schools and a home for the aged in 1904.12 It became the site of a plague hospital and afterwards was turned into a hospital in 1925. Squatters likely moved into the Kowloon Walled City during the developments of the Kowloon City districts and the influx of migrants from china eager to leave the political uncertainty of the Nationalist Party in the 1920s.13 9
Wesley-Smith, Peter. Unequal treaty, 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong’s new territories. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 3. 10 Steinhart, John. “Overcoming the Wall of Confusion.” South China Morning Post, 20 June 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) 11 Harte, Sa Ni. “Another dividing wall falls before ‘97.” South China Morning Post, 13 December 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) 12 Hong Kong Weekly Press, 2 May 1904 cited in The Unequal Treaty, 1898-1997. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 124. 13 Wesley-Smith, Peter. Unequal treaty, 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong’s new territories. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 124.
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
[24] Rickshaw drivers and tourists visiting the Kowloon Walled City in the 1910s.
[25] Original Yamen Buildings Plan. A speculative sketch by Suenn Ho.
iii) Politically Contested Place
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The colonial government found these squatters to be a problem and saw the upcoming expiration of land leases in the Walled City as an opportunity to evict the illegal settlers. The five lots which were on short-term leases would be renewed after its expiry on 31st December 1934 but the structures on other lots were to be destroyed and inhabitants evicted. This accounted for 436 people living in 64 houses within the Walled City.14 Though the Hong Kong government offered compensation in money and land, the residents appealed to the Chinese government for help. Throughout the process, China voiced its objection numerous times but the Hong Kong government stood their ground over the sovereignty dispute and largely ignored these concerns due to the dwindling numbers of occupants protesting as time went on. The clearance was eventually complete by 1940 but this was to mark the first of many disputes. After the resumption of power by the British after the Japanese occupation of the Second World War, huge numbers of refugees flooded over the border from mainland China to escape the civil war occurring at the time. Damaged building stock resulting from the war exacerbated the housing problem and the Kowloon Walled City became occupied with squatters. The Hong Kong government once again attempted to solve the problem of squatters within the Walled City believing that this ambiguous zone could give refuge to Chinese criminals and agitators potentially causing them great embarrassment. 15 Proposals were drawn for the Kowloon Walled City to be turned into a garden of remembrance under Anglo-Chinese trusteeship but with China refusing and offering counter-proposals which demarcate it is as Chinese land, the plans for redevelopment were unrealizable at this time. Regardless, the Hong Kong government in 1947 continued with their intention of removing the two thousand illegal inhabitants. Police along 14
ibid. Lam, Annie, Ivan Lo, May Tam, and Yan Mei-Ning. “Internal Strife Before Walled City Is Pulled Down.� Hong Kong Standard, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350)
15
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
[26] Photo of the Kowloon Walled City in the 1960s depicting the recently built concrete high rise buildings amongst the immediate squatter area.
iii) Politically Contested Place
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with members of the Public Works Department, expelled the unwilling squatters from the city and demolished their huts. A riot occurred when police came back to evict those who had returned to the site and a few people were injured in the incident. These acts of resistance prompted sympathy and outrage from across China, including the burning down of the British consulate in Canton and students in Shanghai declared a two day protest strike, a comfort mission came from the neighbouring province of Guangdong providing help for those affected and the Nanking government protested directly to London.16 This essentially led to a stalemate over the issue as the question of jurisdiction had no clear answer and with the British government not wanting to agitate their relations with China any further, the Kowloon Walled City was left undisturbed. This cautious approach is evident in the processing of criminals within the Walled City at the time, rather than prosecution the preferred measure was deportation to China in order to avoid raising the sensitive issue of territory. The volatile political environment at the time was also evident in the measures the colonial government took in regards to the problem of fires in the 1950s. Fires were particularly disastrous in the squatter areas across Hong Kong and it has been argued that the colonial government’s active role in providing for the fire victims was a direct consequence of the tensions with China.17 The concerns over the misinterpretations of the colony’s noninterventionist approach as a mistreatment of Chinese citizens were confirmed in 1952. Chinese sentiments over the evictions in 1947 were followed up by the concerns for victims of the Tung Tau Fire that had affected parts of the Kowloon Walled City in 1952. After the fire, major redevelopment plans for the Kowloon City district including the Walled City were released. The residents appealed against the development plans and had the consciousness 16
Wesley-Smith, Peter. Unequal treaty, 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong’s new territories. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 124. 17 Smart, Alan. The Shek Kip Mei Myth: Squatters, Fires and Colonial Rule in Hong Kong, 1950-1963. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006)
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
iii) Politically Contested Place
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to remind the colonial government that the area was still part of China. Aware of the appeal, China sends aid to the victims of the fire and also issued a hundred dollars to each family for them to rebuild a new wooden hut.18 The continual disputes over the Walled City acted as reminders to the invalidity of British rule over Hong Kong and together with the colony’s proximity to communist China there were fears that fires could be used as a tool to destabilise Hong Kong.19
[27] The plans for the redevelopment of Kowloon City in 1961 overlaid onto existing plan of area. Showing the intention for the Tung Tau Resettlement Estate to encroach on the Kowloon Walled City.
Further confrontation occurred in 1963 when the Hong Kong government attempted to encroach on the Kowloon Walled City site with their proposals for the Tung Tau Resettlement Estate. The estate required the demolition of a corner of the Walled City in order to be implemented and the Kowloon City Anti-Demolition Committee formed to resist this proposal. China supporting the committee complained to the charge d’affaires in Beijing again highlighting that “the City of Kowloon is China’s territory, and within China’s jurisdiction and that this has all along been so in history”20. However, resettlement notices were posted in March 1962 with them being forcibly issued by the end of the year. With the Chinese government protesting that this act was a “gross violation of China’s sovereignty”, the Hong Kong government agreed to defer the scheme confident that they would be able to renegotiate. The matter was never resolved with the British government conceding to a change in the design.
18
Loke, Peter and Kris Chan. “HK to Kiss Walled City Goodbye.” Hong Kong Standard, 15 Jan 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) 19 Smart, Alan. The Shek Kip Mei Myth: Squatters, Fires and Colonial Rule in Hong Kong, 1950-1963. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006), 77. 20 Wesley-Smith, Peter. Unequal treaty, 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong’s new territories. (Oxford University Press, 1983), 128.
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
[28] The cannons that once defended the site lie discarded and unprotected within a passageway.
iii) Politically Contested Place
In 1970, a further dispute over the area was brought to the Chinese government’s attention when the residents complained over the attempted removal of the cannons which had been there since the Walled City was a fortified military installation. The Hong Kong government took the opportunity to remove the pair of cannons and place them into a museum as they were lying neglected in a passageway within the Walled City. However, the residents objected to this and brought about another incident. The Pro-China newspaper Truth Daily documented this and warned the Hong Kong government “should not attempt to wake the sleeping tiger” of China otherwise they will “put their hands in the matter”.21 The mounting pressures meant that the colonial government had to concede once more, making the judgement that it was not worthy of a diplomatic incident.22
[29] The cannons still mounted on a base in the 1920s
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21
Truth Daily, 24 June1970. Translation by Hong Kong Government. (File: HKRS 70-3-790) 22 Pullinger, Jackie. Crack in the Wall: The Life and Death of Kowloon Walled City. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990), 10.
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
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Demolition and the Present Following the Sino-British Joint Declaration on 19 December 1984 when it was agreed that Hong Kong’s sovereignty would be returned to China on 1 July 1997, the political ambiguity that had protected the extralegal community and allowed the illegal structures of the Kowloon Walled City to be sustained disappeared. It was clear that after the declaration was signed, China would not protest if the British exercised jurisdiction over the area as the whole of Hong Kong would be returned to them after 1997. As a result the Walled City became vulnerable, suddenly finding itself existing on Crown land.23
[30] A picture showing the Kowloon Walled City midway through the demolition in 1993. The perimeter buildings were the last to be taken down in the process.
Within three years, the decision had been made to demolish the area and turn it into a park. It is apparent that this decision had been agreed through discussions between the two governments and some have highlighted the successful co-operation in solving such a longstanding issue.24 However, it is not clear how much influence either side had in coming to the final design proposal of a traditional Chinese garden in the style of the early Qing Dynasty. Conducted in secret to avoid people rushing into the Walled City in anticipation of compensation meant that little is documented about the negotiations and the archived correspondence at the Public Records Office in Hong Kong will not be made available for access until the documents are at least thirty years old. What is clear is that both sides considered the preservation of the area as neither desirable nor compatible with the future of Hong Kong. It was already in the consciousness of some to resolve the area with a local delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference suggesting that the Kowloon Walled City should be worked out by the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group well before the handover.25 23
Bradbury, Patricia. “Hong Kong’s Lost City.” Asia Magazine, 5 May 1992. (File: HKRS 545-7-385) 24 Leung, Stanley “The End at Last to a Symbol of Defiance.” South China Morning Post, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) 25 Leung, Stanley. “Walled City’s fate must be decided before 1997.” South China Morning Post, 20 October 1984. (File: HKRS 545-2-350)
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
[31] Photo of the Kowloon Walled City from Tung Tau Tsuen Road.
[32] Photo of the Kowloon Walled City Park from the same position on Tung Tau Tseun Road.
iv) Demolition and the Present
The residents and business owners were compensated for their loss by direct payments to business owners and the choice to public housing for residents. However many people in Hong Kong disapproved of this compensation. They found the payouts to be a contradiction and were outraged by the enormous amounts of tax payers money that was used to relocate those who have chosen to live outside of the law and escape the government.26 By the end of September 1992, a hundred and forty thousand claimants had cost HK$2.1 billion with a hundred and fifty two residents holding out27 and by the end of the process HK$3 Billion was spent on compensation.28 Despite a nostalgic view of the Walled City, many residents accepted the decision with most of those who were initially defiant conceding once they realised that China was backing the demolition.29 The remainder were simply holding out in demand for more compensation. In order to avoid any legal confrontation with residents, the government applied for a Land Acquisition Possessory Title Ordinance which allowed the building and lands department to take over land within a month of notice as long as the department can prove it is in the public interest and in doing so, ensuring that the demolition would happen regardless of any disturbances.
26
“The Secretive Business of those Walled City Payouts.” South China Morning Post, 28 September 1992. (File: HKRS 545-7-385)
27
ibid.
28
“Hong Kong has been Generous to the Walled City’s People.” Hong Kong Standard, 14 December 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350)
29
[33] A lone resident in protest over the compensation offered to residents whilst police officers carry out evictions.
Dodwell, David. “Kowloon Walled City to be Demolished.” Financial Times, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350)
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Part 1: Historical Account
Fig.
[34] The Kowloon Walled City Park with its fish ponds and tradition Chinese pavillions at odds with its immediate surroundings
iv) Demolition and the Present
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The demolition took over a year starting in March 1993 and completed in April 1994. The decision was made to only conserve the “Yamen” building which was the old deputy magistrate’s office from when the Walled City was a Chinese fort, the rest was reduced to a hundred and fifty thousand cubic metres of disposable rubble.30 In its place now is a Chinese garden designed by the government’s Architectural Services Department. According to a government spokesman, the reasons for developing a park on the site was because it was in close proximity to the airport which meant any urban development would have been subjected to height restrictions but also because the park would blend in with the developments around the site which was already planned as a park.31 Both these reasons seems reasonable until we consider that Fosters were already engaged in discussions about designing the new Chek Lap Kok airport in 1992, prior to the demolition of Walled City bringing into question the relevance of any height restrictions to the site. Similarly, the Kowloon Walled City Park which is supposedly meant to blend in with Carpenter Road Park in fact stands distinct from it.
[35] The Carpenter Road Park maximises the limited green space that Hong Kong has due to its density. A different logic compared to seemingly unreasoned luxury of the Kowloon Walled City Park.
30
Fearns, J. W. “Kowloon Walled City demolition.” The Structural Engineer 73, no.17 (1995): 288. 31 Lau, C.K.. “Clearence Wins Chinese Approval.” South China Morning Post, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350)
Fig.
Section Two
Spatiotemporal Account
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The Importance of Spatiality Henri Lefebvre rejects the concept of space as inanimate and merely a container of functions but rather sees space as being a social product and hence produced through social practice. He believed that this is concealed behind the “Illusion of Transparency” and “The Realistic Illusion” which has led to space being interpreted as innocent and inactive.32 However when space is considered as a social product, “objects” become “productions of space” rather than “things in space” and therefore become much more of an actor affecting a multitude of other spaces.33 Under this concept of space, everything that exists may be considered to have a specific set of spatial relations with other spaces. Within Lefebvre’s conceptual triad, space can take the form of Spatial Practice, Representation of Space, and Representational Spaces which are perceived, conceived, and lived respectively. These forms of spatialities have a dialectical relationship with each other allowing different spaces to be produced but in doing so affecting the other two spatialities in the triad.34
32 33 34
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), 27. ibid, 37. ibid, 39.
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[36] A diagram showing the Trialectics of Spatiality which consists of spaces that are perceived, conceived, and lived.
ii) The Importance of Spatiality
Building on this concept of space, the postmodern geographer Edward Soja saw that all levels of knowledge formation involved three components, Spatiality, Historicality, and Sociality which he called the “Trialectics of Being”35. However, Historicality and Sociality has been the dominant pair in recent times with a “tendency during at least the past century to over-privilege the dynamic relations between the “making” of Historicality and the “constitution” of social practices or Sociality.”36 This is seen as problematic as the history-society link often creates “illusory knowledges that ‘embody’ and ‘nourish’ each other.”37 By utilising Lefebvre’s concept of socially produced space in order to overcome the Illusion of Transparency and The Realistic Illusion, Soja is able to rebalance the Trialectics of Being by empowering Spatiality and turning the predominantly binary relationship into a triad. This multiplies the dimensions which knowledge can be created, unlocking the potentials of Spatiality-Historicality and Spatiality-Sociality in addition to the Historicality-Sociality relationship. This rebalancing of the Trialectics of Being opens up opportunities in re-examining history in order to reinterpret accepted understandings within this new framework. As Lefebrve identified,
[37] A diagram showing the Trialectics of Being which consists of Historicality, Sociality, and Spatiality.
“If this distinction [space as perceived, conceived and lived] were generally applied, we should have to look at history itself in a new light. We should have to study not only the history of space, but also the history of representations, along with that of their relationships with each other, with practice and with ideology.”38 35
Soja, E. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996) 36 ibid. 37 ibid, 72. 38 Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), 42.
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By attempting to understand the Spatiality of the Kowloon Walled City, I give the neglected spaces a new significance which serves to reposition the informal settlement as an actor in society and in doing so highlight the biased portrayal of the Walled City. More specifically, I argue that the Walled City is a particular kind of space which Michel Foucault called Heterotopias. I do this by drawing similarities between the concept and the Walled City which not only serves to show it was a Heteroptopia but also draws out the myriad of spaces that were socially produced and therefore linked it to the rest of Hong Kong.
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Heterotopia
[38] The journal which first published an English translation of the manuscript of Foucault’s Lecture titled “Of Other Spaces”
[39] The first page of the manuscript translated by Jay Miskowiec in Diacritics.
Heteroptopia was a term first coined by Michel Foucault in 1967 to an audience of architects where he used it to explain the spaces of otherness. These spaces are sites which are places outside all places but at the same time relates to all the other sites from which it is located against.39 Much like Utopias which are “a direct or inverted analogy with the real space of society”40, Heterotopias are able, by way of difference, to reflect and reveal against the mainstream spaces. This relationship between utopia, Heterotopia and real space are explained through Foucault’s metaphor of the mirror. Like utopias, the mirror is a placeless place. The reflection of the self exists in an unreal space seemingly projected beyond the plane of the mirror. However, like Heterotopias, “the mirror does exist in reality, where it exerts a sort of counteraction on the position”41 that the viewer occupies. In the returning gaze from the realm of the reflection back into the real, the viewer can reconstitute themselves in place. Just like the physical mirror, Heterotopias can therefore disrupt by reflecting an image which differs from the internalised image of the self. By the same reasoning, it can also confirm by reflecting the expected image. The Kowloon Walled City can be seen as such a mirror to Hong Kong where some aspects of it confirm through its congruence with the rest of the colony but also disrupt through its rejection of the norms outside the City. However, due to its position as a contested territory between China and Britain, many of the links which highlight its similarities with the rest of Hong Kong are subdued by the colonial enterprise. Looking to use this area as a metaphor for China, the British administration found it advantageous to depict only the undesirable and incongruent aspects of the Walled City in order to emphasise the value of colonial rule over Hong Kong. The lack of political value that the less unsettling aspects hold in the contest over the territory are 39 40 41
Foucault, M. ‘Of Other Spaces.’ Diacritics 16, (1986): 22-27. ibid. ibid.
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iii) Heterotopia
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concealed and therefore often overlooked.42 However, it is these mundane relations that begin to reframe the shanty town from irrelevance to a space that is very much a part of Hong Kong. [40] A factory within the Walled City producing fried fish balls synonymous with Hong Kong food.
[41]left A factory worker using a metal press within a metal workshop in the Walled City.
The tailors, the textile manufacturing, the fish ball factories and the many other businesses, all link the anomaly to the wider society. As Harter has noticed, the Walled City was in fact not a self-contained, self-sufficient, community devoid of links with its surrounding as some authors may have suggested.43 The one-room factories that existed within boundaries of the enclave created products from raw materials that would have been sourced from or through Hong Kong. Likewise, the products processed by them would be sourced not only by the marginal such as street vendors but also by mainstream businesses.44 These factories within were able to remain profitable even after China started trading with the world. Much of Hong Kong’s manufacturing activity moved across the border but with labour being at one third of the price compared to the rest of Hong Kong, the Walled City with its cheap rent and the lack of regulation was able to sustain its advantage. Another significant linkage that is often overlooked is the enormous amounts of cheap human capital that the residents would have provided to the rest of Hong Kong.45 With over thirty three thousand residents thought to have been in the city, it is clear that they were not all sustained by the seven hundred businesses within the confines of the site. In fact, the central location with good public transport and cheaper accommodation than surrounding areas were the main factors residents remained in the area.
[42]right Muslin making was once a major industry in the Walled City until the emergence of synthetic materials.
42
Harter, Seth. “Hong Kong’s Dirty Little Secret: Clearing the Walled City of Kowloon.” Journal of Urban History 27, 1 (2000): 92-113. 43 ibid. 44 Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Chiddingfold: Watermark, 1993), 95. 45 Leeming, Frank. Street Studies in Hong Kong: Localities in a Chinese City. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977), 153.
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[43] Non-Domestic Unit Distribution. A diagram showing the number of commercial activity and their spread across the Walled City.
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Key Non Domestic Unit Non-Domestic Unit with Living Quarters
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Foucault’s Principles
[44]left A disproportionate amount of dentists operated in the Walled City. Despite the competition they were successful due to their cheap prices. People across Hong Kong would attend to their teeth here. [45]right An opium divan within the Walled City where people would smoke opium.
[46] An unlicenced doctor’s clinic within the Walled City. Similar to other services that were there, prices would be a fraction of what they would be in the rest of Hong Kong.
Foucault outlined six principles or characteristics that he recognised as being in all Heterotopias and I use these features as a means to further examine the Kowloon Walled City. Three of these principles are less evident than the others within the Walled City but are nevertheless present. One such characteristic is that Heterotopias are places capable of juxtaposing within a single real place several places which in themselves are incompatible. Foucault gave the examples of the theatre stage where performances could depict a variety of scenes but the Kowloon Walled City contained equally disparate places which were inconsistent with each other. The plentiful healthcare in the area were in stark contrast with the “divans” where addicts smoked opium. Another characteristic that featured less prominently are that Heterotopias function at a break from traditional time such as temporal accumulations seen in institutions such as libraries. In this way, the Walled City can be considered a museum of sorts, accumulating and protecting artefacts such as the Yamen and the old cannons from the changes occurring in the rest of Hong Kong. Heterotopias are also seen as not being readily accessible like public space. As a place that was intimidating to the outsider the Walled city was indeed a place which naturally excluded and those who had reasons to enter were also excluded due to the nature of their visit. The other three principles that Foucault mentioned in the lecture provide a more productive analysis in teasing out the Walled City’s connections with the rest of Hong Kong. One such principle is that Heterotopias arise in all cultures but in diverse forms. These are broadly categorised into Heterotopias of Crisis and Heterotopias of Deviance. Crisis Heterotopias are places where those who, in relation to the society they live in, are in a state of crisis such as adolescents and the elderly but this could equally apply to the refugee. Heterotopias of deviation are places where those “whose behaviour is deviant in relation to the required mean or norm are placed”46 such as prisons and psychiatric hospitals. 46
Foucault, M. ‘Of Other Spaces.’ Diacritics 16, (1986): 22-27
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[47] Aerial shot of the Kowloon Walled City in the 1970s.
iv) Foucault’s Principles
The Kowloon Walled City is arguably a Crisis Heterotopia. During its time in Hong Kong, it provided a place where those people that were in a state of crisis could reside. In particular, it allowed those refugees who had been alienated by China, but also inconsistent with the new orders of the colonial government, a place to live in a state of crisis. The impermanence of other squatter areas were solidified in the Kowloon Walled City by the ambiguous political environment and provided an area of relative stability. This area naturally attracted professionals who found they could not legally practice in the colony. Doctors and dentists could practice without costly retraining to obtain a licence. The manufacturing sectors also found the lack of regulation desirable enabling them to keep overheads low. In this respect, the market mentality which prevailed in the rest of Hong Kong also existed within the Walled City. Shielded from the forces of the market, the business owners can be seen as opportunists which parallel those in the rest of Hong Kong. The changes in the colonial mentality also changed the position that the Walled City occupied in relation to the rest of Hong Kong and this marks another characteristic of a Heterotopia. Foucault states that each Heterotopia has a precise function within a society but can have one function or another depending on the “synchrony of the culture in which it occurs�.47 This change in function is evident when we consider the Kowloon Walled City in relation to the changes in government attitudes during the 1950s.
[48] The Kowloon Walled City in the 1980s after the squatter area surrounding the site had been cleared.
Although the Walled City had connections with illegal activities as far back as the early colonial period and the multiple attempts to demolish it demonstrates the concern the Hong Kong government had in this regard, it was primarily another squatter settlement in a sea of other squatter estates during the 1950s. These places were the normal way of life for many migrants at the time and one author even considered them as an accepted part of the unofficial housing policy.48 They were considered desirable by the colony as they provided cheap labour to Hong Kong without the need for any British intervention.49 The position the colonial government 47
ibid. Geddes, Philip. In the Mouth of the Dragon: Hong Kong - past, present, and future. (London: Century Publishing in association with TVS, 1982), 83. 49 Smart, Alan. The Shek Kip Mei Myth: Squatters, Fires and Colonial Rule in Hong Kong, 1950-1963. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006), 14. 48
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iv) Foucault’s Principles
held was that the squatters were not invited to Hong Kong and therefore the taxpayers did not have any obligation to attend to them.50 [49] A major fire at the Shek Kip Mei shanty town in 1953 which left 53,000 people homeless.
[50] The Shek Kip Mei Resettlement Estate which is one of the first public resettlement housing projects,
The passive nature of the government towards squatters areas changed drastically following the series of fires in the early 1950s. Many saw the shift in the colonial mentality to be as a direct result of Shek Kip Mei fire where fifty three thousand people were made homeless and a drive initiated in the public good. However, Smart argues this was only one of a series of fires which prompted the adoption of an enormous re-housing program, based not on the public good but rather the imminent threat from China in the mistreatment of the Chinese people.51 This program which would eventually become the biggest public housing program in the world, affecting forty-five per cent of the Hong Kong population by the 1980s52, would change the context of Hong Kong completely. In doing so it shifted the Walled City from being a place accepted in society to an area incongruent with the rest of Hong Kong. The government’s shift from a non-interventionist approach in order to tackle the squatter problem brought to the fore the legalillegal dichotomy that had always been present within the mentality of the administration.53 A major concern, even in the early stages of the colony, was that of hygiene which brought about distinct forms of illegalities. Disease and epidemics were bad for trade and the Chinese were considered as the main culprits. By increasing control over the built environment, it increased the colonial 50
Geddes, Philip. In the Mouth of the Dragon: Hong Kong - past, present, and future. (London: Century Publishing in association with TVS, 1982), 79. 51 Smart, Alan. The Shek Kip Mei Myth: Squatters, Fires and Colonial Rule in Hong Kong, 1950-1963. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006), 2-4. 52 Castells, Manuel. “Four Asian Tigers with a Dragon Head: A Comparative Analysis of the State, Economy and Society in the Asian Pacific Rim,” In States and Development in the Asian Pacific Rim, ed. Richard P. Applebaum and Jeffrey Henderson (London: Sage Publications, 1992), 48. 53 Smart, Alan. The Shek Kip Mei Myth: Squatters, Fires and Colonial Rule in Hong Kong, 1950-1963. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006), 24.
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governments control over their subjects and brought the dualism directly into the everyday practices of the home. The re-housing of squatters located across Hong Kong into westernised housing was an attempt to educate the colonial subject. Planning was thus a cultural technology which created a western type of order.54
[51] A picture of the Walled City’s facade showing the extent of the extrusions residents built to extend the small apartments.
[52]left A rooftop extention similar to those on the Kowloon Walled City. Maximising opportunities for development. [53]right high
The decision to intervene and provide public housing for the squatter population not only cleared away the squatter areas which the Walled City shared a common ground with but also changed the mentality and culture of the people who identified with the informal settlement. This highlights that the Walled City was from the same lineage and therefore equally part of Hong Kong, the same as any other squatter area until the government’s change in attitude. This is not to say that this shift in the Hong Kong government’s housing policy sent the Walled City on a completely divergent path to the official and legal housing that replaced the squatter areas. In fact there are many similarities in the way that the Kowloon Walled City has developed when compared to the built environment of Hong Kong.55 The growth in the amount of residents were tackled in much the same way as outside the boundaries by increasing the height of buildings, reflecting the high rise developments in Hong Kong. The ingenuity of residents to maximise space in the Walled City can be seen elsewhere in the form of informal rooftop structures and side extension where cages often protrude in to the public realm. These technically illegal structures are now in most cases a tolerated part of the urban fabric56, much like the squatter areas were prior to the public housing program. This shows that the Walled City continued to have a relationship which mirrored and reflected the rest of Hong Kong. 54
A drawing of the building prior to any informal extention in 1956. As part of the survey of rooftop settlements by Wu and Canham [54]right low A drawing of the same building with the roof developments. As part of the survey of rooftop settlements by Wu and Canham.
ibid, 24. Shane, David Grahame. Recombinant Urbanism: Conceptual Modeling in Architecture, Urban Design, and City Theory. (Chichester: Wiley, 2005), 241. 56 Wu, Rufina and Stefan Canham. Portraits from Above - Hong Kong’s Informal Rooftop Communities. (Hong Kong: Peperoni Books, 2009) 55
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[55] A resident of the Kowloon Walled City cooking up drugs on a balcony. Something which would arguably be found elsewhere in Hong Kong.
[56] Although the Walled City was a place where people could go for drugs. Little reamined in the later years.
[57]
iv) Foucault’s Principles
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The remaining principle of Foucault’s Heterotopia maintains that these spaces function in relation to all other spaces that remain in one of two ways; as Spaces of Illusion where it relates to aspects of life that is suppressed in the rest of society such as a brothel or Spaces of Compensation where it is a space which is perfect in relation to the wider society such as a the seventeenth century colonies founded to be a pristine model in contrast with the colonial centre. The Walled City was predominantly a Space of Illusion in the way that it functions in relation to the rest of Hong Kong. It fulfilled the actions that the government suppressed and provided for demands which were considered incompatible with society. The ambiguity of the jurisdiction over the Walled City meant that it became a natural haven for all forms of vice. Prostitution, illicit shows, drugs, restaurants offering dog meat and gambling dens found a place to operate with relative stability within the six and a half hectare site. Though these illegal activities were in high concentration, it is wrong to assume that their business thrived on the residents. Many of the clients of these trades were from beyond the walls of the city. It has been described as a “Dark Twin” to Hong Kong, providing a shadow economy to fulfil the needs that a formal economy cannot meet.57 This shadow economy was in obvious conflict with the Hong Kong government yet it was also a place that provided products and services which were in demand. The idealised illusion of Hong Kong as a perfect place the government endeavoured to create, could only have been plausible if there was another place which represented all that the administration stood against. The Walled City was therefore portrayed as self-sufficient and isolated, able to represent the moral shortcomings of the colony.
A resident injecting drugs in the privacy of his own home in the Walled City. 57
Harter, Seth. “Hong Kong’s Dirty Little Secret: Clearing the Walled City of Kowloon.” Journal of Urban History 27, 1 (2000): 92-113.
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[58] Police patrolling the Walled City in the 1990s by which time much of the vice has moved elsewhere.
iv) Foucault’s Principles
When looking at the government’s efforts to deal with crime in the Walled City, it highlights the way in which the Walled City was much more of an actor in mainstream Hong Kong. There were consistent attempts to stamp out crime in the area beginning with police patrols in the 1960’s, prior to which even the police would not dare enter.58 However, police patrols did not manage to have a significant effect due to the prevalence of police corruption at the time. It was not until the founding of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, to look into police corruption that police activity started taking effect. The Hong Kong police force were widely rumoured to have been taking bribes with top ranking officials taking $160,000 HKD a day.59 Within the Walled City, the triads running these illegal trades would arrange police raids which would involve setting up bogus places manned by volunteers in order for the corrupt police to maintain respectable police statistics. These networks of criminals therefore had affected the efficiency of the law enforcement which operated not just in the Walled City but also beyond the city’s limits. Although corruption was widespread all across Hong Kong, the area was nevertheless able to shape aspects of the wider society that it was portrayed as being isolated from.
[59] A policeman on the same patrol noting the findings on his watch. 58
Pullinger, Jackie. Crack in the Wall: The Life and Death of Kowloon Walled City. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990), 13. 59 Steinhart, John. “Overcoming the Wall of Confusion.” South China Morning Post, 20 June 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350)
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The Ordering of the Kowloon Walled City The concept of Heterotopia and the science of these spaces, Heteropology, is vague. The lecture was never formally reviewed by Foucault for publication but the manuscript was released just before his death in June 1984 for an exhibition in Berlin. It was published later the same year in a French journal but prior to this, the concept acted as more of a rumour than a codified concept.60 It was two more years before a English translation was published. Edward Soja found his work on Heterotopias “frustratingly incomplete, inconsistent, incoherent.”61 Perhaps the reason for its ambiguity is that by listing the characteristics of Heterotopias, Foucault could be misread as making typological distinctions. Rather, Ritter and Knaller-Vlay suggests that the term Heterotopia is used as an “ auxiliary explanation for the spaces in which identity dissolves and is reconstituted in some other form- for example as a hybrid.”62 Hetherington draws from Foucault’s other works in order to bring clarity to the concept and contextualises the readings of other authors’ interpretations of the idea.63 Many of those who have used the concept have distinguished the term in relation to places of incongruence, paradoxical, marginalised which adopts Foucaults immediate translation of the term as a space of otherness.64 Hetherington proposes a reading that goes beyond the definition through their characteristics and draws together a framework from Foucault’s other texts, that of ordering. Rather than a marginal space of resistance, considering Heterotopias as spaces of alternate ordering brings clarity to the relationships between otherness, the connections with all remaining spaces, and their ability to unsettle those social and spatial relations. 60
Dehaene, Michiel and Lieven De Cauter, introduction to Heterotopia and the City: Public Space in a Postcivil Society, eds. Michiel Dehaene and Lieven De Cauter (London : Routledge, 2007), 4.
61
Soja, E. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996),162.
62
Ritter, Roland and Bernd Knaller-Vlay. Other Spaces: The Affair of the Heterotopia. (Graz: Haus der Architektur, 1998), 15.
63
41. 64
Hetherington, Kevin. The Badlands of Modernity. (London: Routledge, 1997), ibid.
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[60] The 14K triad gang which were active in the Kowloon Walled City marching in Taiwan in respect to the death of their leader.
v) The Orderings of the Kowloon Walled City
When considered in this way, it provides a slightly different way in which to consider the Walled City as a Heterotopia. As an alternate ordering, the Walled City can be seen not only as a place which is contested by both China and Britain but also brings to fore the relationship between the ordering of Hong Kong and the ordering of the Walled City. The Walled City’s ordering has changed over time. It’s beginnings as a Chinese enclave within British territory illustrates the friction an alternate ordering can pose and led to the British attempting to resolve this by claiming the territory. The eviction of the Chinese ordering allowed refugees to find sanctuary within the site. The complete lack of control in the area during its occupation by the early squatters marked another form of ordering; freedom. Like control, freedom is merely another form of ordering.65 It was during the post-war years when the triads exploited the area’s lack of control which marked another shift in the ordering of the area. The Triads were once described by urban councillor Elsie Elliot “a sort of government within a government”66, precisely highlighting that the triads were indeed a different order within the colonial ordering of Hong Kong, tolerated because they provided services in which the government could not meet. Locating their criminal activities in the Kowloon Walled City allowed them to dominate the ordering within and their expansion into non-traditional activities such as supplying water through illegally tapped sources67 is testament to the monopoly they had over the area. This ordering which was dictated by the Triads obviously made the Hong Kong government uncomfortable and gave the illegal activities a spatialised image.
[61] The structure of the triad organisation. with associated call signs and their roles.
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65
66
ibid, 34.
Geddes, Philip. In the Mouth of the Dragon: Hong Kong - past, present, and future. (London: Century Publishing in association with TVS, 1982), 84. 67 Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Chiddingfold: Watermark, 1993), 38.
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[62] The offices of the Kowloon Walled City’s Kaifong Association which provided services in the area and communicated with the Hong Kong government on behalf of residents.
v) The Orderings of the Kowloon Walled City
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It was not until the decline of Triad activity due to more effective police measures that the Kaifong Association began to increase their administrative control over the area. These community groups were cooperatives which would deal with welfare issues within a neighbourhood or housing estate and would provide the link between the government and the people. In the Walled City, most of the fifty founding members of the association were part of the anti-demolition committee which formed in protest over the previous demolition plans and later convened as the Kaifong Association in the early sixties. The formation of these Mutual Aid Committees however were not limited to the Walled City but were in many other housing estates in Hong Kong. These cooperatives were a social experiment on a large scale and was hailed a huge success by the Secretary of Home Affairs, remarking that “Mutual Aid Committees do seem to absolutely stop crime inside buildings.”68 The emergence of the Kaifong Association in the Walled City shows that there were similarities in how other housing estates were self-administered and the self-administration in the Walled City. It also shows that there were ambitions for at least some of the residents to collectively improve their situation.
68
Sui, Lydia. “Mutual Aid Committees’ War on Crime.” South China Morning Post, 3 February 1967. (File: HKRS 545-1-228)
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Section Three
Cultural Account
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Hong Kong Identity As someone that was born in Hong Kong during British rule, the question of identity has often crossed my mind. Did being a British subject mean that I am British? Alternatively, being of Chinese ethnicity, does that make me Chinese? The conflict between the geopolitical interpretation of national identity and the cultural interpretation has no clear answer. As one person poignantly recalls, “Every time I travel to another country, I have to write down my nationality... I have to ask the flight attendant, “what shall I write “British,” “British Hong Kong,” “Hong Kong,” or “Chinese”? For a long time I didn’t know how to properly fill out the forms.”69 There is a distinct lack of any sense of national identity in Hong Kong70 and it is particularly noticeable when one considers national pride in other countries; few would ever say that they hated their country or that they didn’t care at all about their country.71 This is clearly expressed by Ernest Gellner’s interpretation that the “idea of a man without a nation seems to impose a strain on the modern imagination. A man must have nationality as one must have a nose and two ears.” 72 This sense of dislocation represents the unique mentality of the Hong Kong people that existed up until the early 1980’s.
69
Mathews, Gordon, Eric Kit-wai Ma and Tai-Lok Lui. Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation. (London: Taylor & Francis, 2008), 1.
70
ibid.
71
ibid.
72
Mathews, Gordon. “Heunggongyahn: On the Past, Present, and Future of Hong Kong Identity.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 29, 3 (1997): 3-13.
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The reasoning for this can partly be attributed to the colonial tactics where political expression is purposefully subdued, providing no outlet for political idealism. In the case of Hong Kong, this resulted in the attention being directed towards the economic realm, with a mentality that “If you cannot choose your political leaders, you can at least choose your own clothes.”73 The lack of opportunities in being able to shape one’s own history under the colonial government naturally led to another means of self-determination; the economic sphere. One author appropriately describes the situation in Hong Kong: “People throughout the world are shaped not just by their sense of belonging to a national state but also of belonging to the Global Market; in Hong Kong, in the absence of the state, the market became ubiquitous.”74 [63] An arrivals card which represents one of the few opportunities in which you are required to define your nationality.
Engaging in the free market gave a freedom to the people blocked from democracy by allowing them an alternative context from which to improve their own situation, albeit at the individual level rather than the collective level of citizenship. The focus on the individual fragments the need for the imagined community of the nation. It is unsurprising then that in the Hong Kong Transition Project, the findings reveal those who express a Hong Kong identity are also those most willing to leave Hong Kong which suggests a belonging not to Hong Kong as a place but to the global market system. 75
73
Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearence. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 5. 74 Mathews, Gordon, Eric Kit-wai Ma and Tai-Lok Lui. Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation. (London: Taylor & Francis, 2008), 13. 75 ibid, 12.
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[64] The signing ceremony of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. A meeting of Deng Xiaoping and Margret Thatcher.
[65] The “Tank Man” attempting to stop tanks on their way to clear the Tiananmen Square protesters.
[66] The Handover ceremony in 1997 in which sovereignty over Hong Kong was returned to China.
ii) Hong Kong Identity
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Another reason is that Hong Kong existed primarily in the capacity of a facilitator. Existing as a far eastern entrepôt, it facilitated the meeting between the east and west. Hong Kong as a result of this role developed a floating identity that served them well in its development as a port city.76 This adoption of a situational and adaptable identity helped Hong Kong effectively negotiate the different cultures that they were engaged with. However allegiances with either of the competing sovereign nations were subdued by the colonial government. The British would actively downplay links with China in order to legitimise British rule but they would also downplay linkages with Britain for fear of residents clamouring to abode in the United Kingdom. 77 A combination of these elements existed to suppress a firm national identity. However, this malleable floating identity that Hong Kong created for itself became increasingly problematic during the period of uncertainty between the initial discussions of the sovereignty question over Hong Kong and its handover to China in 1997. The resumption of sovereignty represented a threat to Hong Kong’s way of life with many fearing that it will be subsumed into a politically alien China. Trauma is a term which “names that moment after our image of the future is destroyed before it has been replaced”78 and the people of Hong Kong can be described as being in a state trauma during the intervening years between the Joint Declaration and the Handover. The resolution of Hong Kong’s sovereignty after 1997 redirects the trajectory of Hong Kong from a place content with the status quo to moving down an unknown path. A path which threatened to return the Hong Kong people back to a communist regime that they themselves or their ancestors had fled. The anxiety over the resumption of sovereignty 76
Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearence. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 4. 77 Mathews, Gordon, Eric Kit-wai Ma and Tai-Lok Lui. Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation. (London: Taylor & Francis, 2008), 13. 78 Rice, Charlse, Adrian Lahoud, and Anthony Burke. “Post-Traumatic Urbanism.” Architectural Design 80, 10 (2010), 19.
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Fig.
[67]left A protester voicing his views amongst a fully packed Tiananmen Square.
[68]right Violence erupts leading to bloody scenes all across the city.
ii) Hong Kong Identity
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by China was further compounded by the events of the Tiananmen Square Protest. In 1989, peaceful protests took place in the square with students and the working class demanding liberal reforms which lasted several weeks. With the communist regime losing patience it culminated in martial law being imposed and troops ordered to clear the protestors from the area which provoked a resistance. This was eventually quelled by the use of force leading to thousands dead and many more injured. For many in Hong Kong, this confirmed the fears they had over their imminent return to a communist dictatorship of China. Within this period the amounts of people emigrating rose to three times the amount prior to the Sino-British Joint Declaration to sixty six thousand, around one percent of the population.79 Although there has never been any serious suggestion that Hong Kong itself become independent80, this trauma leads to a desperation for Hong Kong to define its identity in order to build a resilience that could defend the current way of life. The floating identity with all its transformative qualities and flexibility served Hong Kong well in the past but during this uncertain time, its lack of fixity was perceived as no longer viable.81 The imminent threat 1997 posed was expressed in the increased attention to define a Hong Kong Culture. “The imminence of its disappearence,” Abbas argues, “was what precipitated an intense and unprecedented interest in Hong Kong culture.”82
[69]left Tanks roam the streets as protestors wait for the opportunity to escape the from the underpass. 79
[70]right Later termed the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the actual deaths is unknown but is thought to be over two thousand five hundred.
Mathews, Gordon, Eric Kit-wai Ma and Tai-Lok Lui. Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation. (London: Taylor & Francis, 2008), 44. 80 ibid, 12. 81 Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearence. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 4. 82 ibid, 7.
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Fig.
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Space of Disappearence It is within this traumatic period between the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the “Handover” of Hong Kong that the Kowloon Walled City’s demolition is to be situated. Under this context, the lack of resistance against its demolition is even more extraordinary. At a time when the people of Hong Kong were hyper-sensitive to any form of culture that could be called theirs, the heritage value of the Kowloon Walled City was never a consideration. As I have tried to show in part two, the informal settlement was a place that was an engaged part of Hong Kong with a network of relations to the rest of the colony. It also represented what it means to be “Hongkongese”83, with many of the first generation migrants able to relate to the hardships within the squatter areas. In this section I attempt to understand this lack of identification with the Walled City by drawing from Ackbar Abbas’ Space of Disappearance. Ackbar Abbas puts forwards a reading of Hong Kong which attempts to make sense of the unique environment of desperation during this time and reveals the problem that this space has in relation to culture. He believes that the reason why Hong Kong seems to lack a culture was due to the import mentality under colonialism.84 This gaze saw culture along with everything else as coming from elsewhere, whether it is the modernist architectural styles from the west85 or Chinese traditions from the mainland. This was not because Hong Kong did not have any culture as the popular term of Hong Kong as “a cultural desert” may suggest but rather that Hong Kong did not recognise it as being their own culture. This “reverse hallucination”86 of not seeing 83
Liu, Zhaojia. Hongkongese or Chinese: the problem of identity on the eve of resumption of Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong. (Shatin: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, 1997) 84 Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearence. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 6. 85 Chung ,Wah Nan. Contemporary Architecture in Hong Kong. (Hong Kong : Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co 1989), 7. 86 Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearence. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 6.
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“ In the convulsions of the commodity economy we begin to recognise the monuments of the bourgeoisie as ruins even before they have crumbled. ”
Fig.
iii) Space of Disappearence
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what is actually there was what existed prior to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. After which the sudden intense awareness of culture produced a special form of culture, what Abbas calls the “Culture of Disappearance”. A culture in which its appearance is stimulated by the imminent threat of disappearance. This “Culture of Disappearance” does not mean a non-appearance but rather a misrecognition. The pressure to build a cultural identity leads to the acceptance of readily available images and identities such as the use of the old binaries of east and west which mask the complexities of space. Abbas makes sense of the Space of Disappearance in more depth through three distinct aspects of the concept; its relation to the ephemeral, to speed, and to abstraction. In the first instance, the attention directed towards the ephemeral caused by the imminence of its disappearance leads to an allegorical reading of space.87 A reading where the attention is not only directed towards what is there but also what is no longer there or not yet there. However, this sense of the ephemeral can no longer deal with the changes that take place in Hong Kong where the concepts of temporary and permanence is not merely interrupted but inverted. This inversion in which a street market in Hong Kong can become a permanent fixture to the city whereas corporate buildings seen as commodity within the flux of market forces become very much a temporary element in the city. As Walter Benjamin noticed, “In the convulsions of the commodity economy we begin to recognise the monuments of the bourgeoisie as ruins even before they have crumbled.”88 These inversions can be seen as distortions as a result of speed. Abbas draws from Virillio’s conception of speed in order to understand the problem this speed causes, noting that “under conditions of speed our concept of physical dimensions loses all meaning through sensory overload, the fusion and confusion of 87 88
ibid, 9. ibid, 64.
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Fig.
[71]right The Hong Kong Tourism Board’s website depicting the east meets west image of a Chinese junk amongst a backdrop of western styled architecture.
[72]right The limited number of water stand pipes was one way the government neglected the area, with just eight water outlets provided for thirty three thousand people.
iii) Space of Disappearence
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the fast and the slow, the absence of transition between the big and the small.”89 The result of this confusion caused by speed is the preference of the digital over the analogical experience of space resulting in “a kind of tele-conquest of appearance”. This teleconquest of appearance alters our experience of space by widening the ways in which we experience it, it also becomes oversaturated with signs and images but as a result becomes more abstract and ungraspable. “The more abstract the space the more important the image becomes and the more dominant the visual as a mode.”90 The speed at which Hong Kong operates renders representation problematic because of the dominance of the Image. Spaces within the city cannot be readily understood on face value as the image that surrounds it is disconnected with the real, quite often repurposed for alternative agendas. The easily graspable icon of the Hong Kong Tourist Board depicts a traditional Chinese junk superimposed onto Hong Kong’s modernist skyline suggesting the aforementioned binary of east meets west and the blend of local and global which obscures more than it reveals about Hong Kong identity91, in this case clarity is sacrificed for branding agendas. It is within this volatile context that the lack of protest over the Kowloon Walled City’s demolition can be situated. It is clear that under colonial rule the area was neglected in some respects such as the physical appearance and drainage infrastructure whilst other provisions were maintained by the government such as postal services, basic health measures such as vaccinations, and social welfare.92 One can speculate that this soft approach to government services maintains the colonial agenda of utilising the area to legitimise colonial rule. Rather than concentrating on infrastructures which are expressed, there has been greater 89
ibid, 9.
90
ibid.
91
ibid, 11.
92
Secretariat for Chinese Affairs to Mr H.K. Chan (A.S.C.A). MEMO: Water Supply in Squatter Area, 18 October 1967 (File: HKRS 742-15-18)
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Fig.
iii) Space of Disappearence
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emphasis on tactics which are less perceivable to the outside. This selective neglect maintained the poor physical environment in which the image of vice and illegality continued to be expressed, long after it had reached irrelevance. This consistency in the physical appearance and its place within a unique period of Hong Kong’s cultural space meant that the dominant image which was readily grasped by the Hong Kong people was the one which the colonial enterprise had promoted. This further embedded the reading of the Kowloon Walled City as a place incompatible with mainstream Hong Kong as it was the only available image of the place at the time, despite the numerous accounts which portrayed the Kowloon Walled City in a positive light. There were many accounts which contradicted the negative image of the area. A government memo from 1969, suggested that crime was relatively low within the Walled City with only two murders, five robberies and eight serious assaults within a three year period.93 Mr Ho Chun-Yuet of the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups had similar preconceptions as those unfamiliar with the area but quickly discovered that it was not as wicked as people thought, noting the minimal amounts of vice within the area, levels which would be similar to those outside the city.94 Within a newspaper article titled “Walled City Dwellers not so Badly Off ” at around the same time95, the author similarly portrays a positive image of the area. The article draws heavily from a report prepared by the Institute of Social Work Training and the Salvation Army and claims to be the first concerted effort to look into an area which has been much misrepresented. It claims that residents of the area are in fact living better than residents in the government public housing estates and that most of the inhabitants are not 93
S.A.C.P./K to D.C.P/Operations. MEMO, 14 March 1970 (File: HKRS 978-216) 94 “Welcome News for Walled City Youths.” South China Morning Post, 15 July 1974. (File: HKRS 70-634-1) 95 Guterres, Halima. “Walled City Dwellers not so Badly Off ” South China Morning Post, 4 January 1976. (File: HKRS 545-1-512)
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Fig.
iii) Space of Disappearence
involved with vice but rather working class folk. In 1974, residents responded to the government’s concern over the “dreadful conditions” in the city by announcing that they were more comfortable than dwellers within the resettlement estates provided by the government.96 Mr Chu from the area also recognises that the public perception over the Walled City is completely distorted and blown out of proportion. He argues that the area is no different from the rest of Hong Kong particularly in crime and believes it is much safer than the rest of Hong Kong, a claim that is backed up by statistics.97 These testaments in the seventies and eighties portrays the Kowloon Walled City as being better than the typical accounts of the area and therefore shows that the negative colonial portrayal had engrained itself in the public’s consciousness. Perhaps, the reason why there was little attachment to it and calls for its preservation was because of the dominance of this negative image amplified by Space of Disappearance at the time. The colonial governments persistent portrayal of the area as much worse than it was and reluctance to engage in any perceivable improvements, meant that this image was the blindingly dominant means of experiencing the Kowloon Walled City.
96
“Walled City: The Rise and Fall” South China Morning Post, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) 97 “Gloom Thickens in the Slum City” South China Morning Post, 16 August 1986. (File: HKRS 545-1-512)
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Fig.
Page #101
The Kowloon Walled City Park
[73] The Yamen which was maintained during the demolition is now a museum which acts to contain rather than express the colonial history of the area.
[74]left A signpost showing the various pavillions and attractions which have little relevance to the site.
[75]right A metal cast of the Kowloon Walled City prior to its demolition.
During my visit to the Kowloon Walled City Park, much like the informal settlement that existed before it, the area felt detached from the rest of the site. My approach to the site from the western end of Carpenter Road meant that I entered from the south west. Initially confused as to whether I was at my destination, a signpost directed me further when I realised I was in the outer Carpenter Road Park. As I approached, I was confronted by a thick stone wall which concealed what was within, except for the trees which covered the site. Upon passing through the north west gate, the atmosphere suddenly changed. The trees were denser and its canopy blocked out more light, covering the area in shadow. Covered walkways with the occasional person seated on the low walls were reminiscent of the walled courtyards in traditional Chinese architecture. Walking eastwards towards the Yamen down an undulating path was a pond swimming with fish and a paved area where a user was performing Tai Chi. Upon navigating down to a clearing, I was confronted with the front of the Yamen with two mounted cannons, a bronze cast of the Kowloon Walled City and a notice board containing the animated section drawn by a Japanese team. Occupying one of the outer buildings, within the Yamen, is where the park office was located. The rest of the designated “declared monument� is part of the permanent exhibition showing the history of the Kowloon Walled City. Split up into three distinct sections, the inner most building accommodated an interactive display which allowed visitors to access stories and interviews of former residents. The main part of the exhibition was located under a semi-external space. On one side, a timeline was complimented by photos and a model on one side showed the history of the site. On the opposite wall, the Kowloon Walled City prior to its demolition is presented as stories and memories through text and photos. Within the outer building, the exhibition continued in a series of very small themed rooms which attempted to recreate the atmosphere of the Walled City. Backlit images provided panoramas that surrounded the visitors and the occasional props attempted to bring some added realism with little success.
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Fig.
iv) The Kowloon Walled City Park
[76]
My experience of the Kowloon Walled City Park was one which bares similarities with the descriptions of the informal settlement which once existed on the same site. It had an almost foreign relationship to the surrounding area. The efficiency of the other municipal parks I have experienced within Hong Kong gave way here to a unreasoned luxury. Gone were the jogging tracks and leisure facilities maximising the green spaces of the city. Instead, the apparently aimless paths weave into each other to give you three hundred and sixty degree tours around the seemingly out of place artefacts which dot this landscape. This space could perhaps be considered heterotopic much like the Kowloon Walled City’s relationship prior to its demolition. However, rather than a place of otherness which was beyond the reach of the law. This area exerts an unfamiliar Chinese logic that goes beyond its appearance as a traditional Chinese garden.
The Yamen from the front. On either side are two of the original cannons from the fort.
[77]
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In examining the design decisions which were made in coming to the parks design, the intentions for the park to be a tool aligned with China’s agendas on the eve of Hong Kong’s handover becomes apparent. The Architecture Services Department had three goals that they wanted to achieve in this park and these are inscribed in Chinese on a large rock within the park. The goals were to provide a place of relaxation, to use the park to teach visitors about Chinese culture, and to preserve the spirit of the Kowloon Walled City.98 Although the first and second goal can be considered coherent with the park design, the intention to preserve the spirit of the Kowloon Walled City is completely at odds with the actualised design. As an imitation of a Qing dynasty garden in the lower Yangzhi River style, the Kowloon Walled City had yet to be constructed during the early Qing dynasty and at no time in its history was the area a recreational garden.99
The Garden of Chinese Zodiacs at the Kowloon Walled City Park. 98
Harter, Seth. “Hong Kong’s Dirty Little Secret: Clearing the Walled City of Kowloon.” Journal of Urban History 27, 1 (2000): 92-113. 99 ibid.
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Fig.
[78] The spatial moves contrasts vividly with the efficiency outside the walled site.
iv) The Kowloon Walled City Park
This inconsistency is revealing when one considers the significance of this period in China’s history. The early Qing dynasty was a time which is considered a high point in China’s cultural and economic development which was free from western influences.100 This choice was therefore not only a concerted effort to attempt to erase any impurities of the centuries that followed but an attempt to introduce a fictitious continuity. The opium wars, the unequal treaties, the territories ceded and the Kowloon Walled City are all contained in order to conceal these interruptions that contradict China’s idealised image of history. The particular region chosen of the lower Yangzhi River also suggests that it was not merely a passive gesture to mediate the return of Hong Kong to the immediate neighbouring provinces but rather an attempt to educate the Hongkongese that have developed separately under colonialism about central Chinese culture.101 In light of the “space of disappearance” which surrounded Hong Kong at this time, the Kowloon Walled City Park was an opportunity for China to redefine the image not only of the area but also the history of Hong Kong and in doing so create a fictitious continuity that reverted the people back to their Chinese ancestral roots. The heightened receptivity of Hong Kong to all forms of culture at this time makes this gesture particularly important to highlight.
[79] A pavillions which overlooks a pond with the covered walkway in the distance.
100 101
ibid. ibid.
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Fig.
Conclusion
Fig.
Conclusion
In this attempt to understand the anomaly of the Kowloon Walled City, I have taken readers on a journey which reaches beyond a study of the six and a half hectare site. Giving a historical account allowed me to reflect on the Walled City’s historical representation. In depicting the Walled City’s history sequentially, through the political incidents that allowed it to be sustained, it acts to conceal the many aspects which are equally valid when considering the topic. The selective nature of a historical account and the linear temporal framework it adopts is restrictive and therefore cannot offer a complete picture of the city. Portraying it in such a way, the Walled City becomes an isolated element within the urban landscape of Hong Kong; a place that was shaped and defined by the incidents out of its control. The linear temporal account also suggests that the Walled City had only one eventuality; destined to be a political no-man’s-land as a result of the nineteenth century treaties and the unilateral Order in Council, destined to be an attractive place for crime and illicit trades, destined to be demolished after the resolution of the jurisdiction over the area. Although this was the outcome, this portrayal allows it to be considered as inanimate and without agency which was not the case. This therefore neglects the inherent relationships which the Walled City had with the rest of Hong Kong. Utilising Lefebvre’s concept of socially produced space, Soja’s Trialectics of Space and Foucault’s concept of Heterotopia, the spatial relations with the rest of Hong Kong are revealed and given greater significance. In the spatiotemporal account given, the Spatiality of the Walled City complements the HistoricalitySociality reading which Edward Soja had described as being the dominant link in the formation of knowledge. This balancing of the Trialectics of Being and the productive nature of this framework serves to suggest that a linear temporal account is highly selective and can conceal many aspects of a historical subject. In the case of the Walled City, these connections and similarities to its significant other starts to suggest an alternative image of the area. An image which shows it as porous rather than isolated, affected Hong Kong as much as it was affected by Hong
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Conclusion
Fig.
Conclusion
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Kong, and a place which was historically an integrated part of society until the public housing program. The recovery of these neglected links directly contradict the colonial enterprise which have discursively isolated the Walled City during British rule. In the light of these spatial connections, I asked why there wasn’t more resistance over its demolition. Drawing from Abbas’ interpretation of Hong Kong’s cultural landscape, I argued that the lack of identification with this area was a result of the “Space of Disappearance” that existed which made the image the dominant means of experiencing space. This meant that the image the British created in their attempts to isolate and marginalise the area throughout their time in Hong Kong, became the only image that was consistent and readily graspable. Similarly, the Chinese agendas which are encrypted in the design of the Kowloon Walled City Park equally project a different representation of History, a representation which is made more readily acceptable within Hong Kong’s Space of Disappearance. Although there is no one overriding argument to this study except for an attempt to build an understanding of the Kowloon Walled City, the findings and subarguments can be synthesized and become potentially relevant in future situations in Hong Kong, if not elsewhere. In looking at the treatment of the Kowloon Walled City during colonialism and the immediate periods prior to 1997, the study highlights the colonial ambitions which have obscured the spatiality of the informal settlement. Likewise, similar tactics are used to control the imagination of the Hong Kong people in the Chinese park which is now in its place, showing that these assertions of control are not limited to colonialist rule but are also a tactic adopted by China. In both situations, spatiality is an important tool in analysing their positions within Hong Kong; the omission of a spatial understanding meant the actual significance of the Walled City remained obscured and without the spatial understanding of the park, the meanings which are embodied in the park’s design would not have been revealed. Therefore the equality of Spatiality, Historicality, and Sociality in the formation of knowledge is essential in resisting the subtle assertions of control seen in these examples.
Conclusion
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Fig.
No. 26 I hereby promulgate the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, including Annex I, Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Annex II, Method for the Formation of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Its Voting Procedures, Annex III, National Laws to be Applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and designs of the regional flag and regional emblem of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which was adopted at the Third Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on 4 April 1990 and shall be put into effect as of 1 July 1997.
(Signed) Yang Shangkun President of the People’s Republic of China 4 April 1990
Preamble
Chapter I: General Principles
Hong Kong has been part of the territory of China since ancient times; it was occupied by Britain after the Opium War in 1840. On 19 December 1984, the Chinese and British Governments signed the Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong, affirming that the Government of the People’s Republic of China will resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong with effect from 1 July 1997, thus fulfilling the long-cherished common aspiration of the Chinese people for the recovery of Hong Kong. Upholding national unity and territorial integrity, maintaining the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and taking account of its history and realities, the People’s Republic of China has decided that upon China’s resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will be established in accordance with the provisions of Article 31 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic China, and that under the principle of “one country, two systems”, the socialist system and policies will not be practised in Hong Kong. The basic policies of the People’s Republic of China regarding Hong Kong have been elaborated by the Chinese Government in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. In accordance with the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, the National People’s Congress hereby enacts the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, prescribing the systems to be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, in order to ensure the implementation of the basic policies of the People’s Republic of China regarding Hong Kong.
Article 1 The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China. Article 2 The National People’s Congress authorizes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to exercise a high degree of autonomy and enjoy executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication, in accordance with the provisions of this Law. Article 3 The executive authorities and legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be composed of permanent residents of Hong Kong in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Law. Article 4 The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall safeguard the rights and freedoms of the residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and of other persons in the Region in accordance with law. Article 5 The socialist system and policies shall not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years. Article 6 The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall protect the right of private ownership of property in accordance with law.
1
2
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What compounded this was that both the demolition of the Walled City and the implementation of the new park occurred during the traumatic period in which the Hong Kong people were attempting to define their culture and identity. This in turn led to the image being the dominant means of experiencing space, resulting in a misrecognition of spaces. In this Space of Disappearance, the Hong Kong public became even more susceptible to the images offered up by the two governments. The Kowloon Walled City’s portrayal by the colonial enterprise meant that the public never realistically considered it worthy of preservation despite the socially produced spaces which connected it with the rest of Hong Kong. Likewise, in the park now in its place which attempts to obscure the colonial history of the Walled City site, I suggest that the signs and symbols which make these suggestions similarly offer an image in which the actual space could be misrecognised as, especially within the Space of Disappearance.
Decree of the President of
the People’s Republic of China
THE BASIC LAW OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Conclusion
[80] The Basic Law. The constitutional document for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
These observations could find relevance in a future context of Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is now officially part of China, it was agreed in the Sino-British Joint Declaration that Hong Kong’s way of life would be maintained for at least a fifty years. The expiration of the constitutional document for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is still thirty five years away but it will represent another key historical moment in the city’s postcolonial transition, after which point the Chinese government will have total control over the administration of the former British colony. It is unclear whether the Hong Kong identity will remain distinct from the Mainland through these years should China’s propaganda continue but should it do so, there could be another period where the imminent threat to the Hong Kong way of life could precipitate another Space of Disappearance. In such a case, the period of transition in Hong Kong during the eighties and early nineties could serve as a precedent in order to consider any changes which occur. In particular, the problematic of the image within such a space and the significance of Spatiality in both portraying and examining history should be given added attention. Only then can we avoid anything again being considered as merely “a problem left over from history”.
Fig.
List of References
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List of References
List of References
Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearence. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997) Bradbury, Patricia. “Hong Kong’s Lost City.” Asia Magazine, 5 May 1992. (File: HKRS 545-7-385) Castells, Manuel. “Four Asian Tigers with a Dragon Head: A Comparative Analysis of the State, Economy and Society in the Asian Pacific Rim,” In States and Development in the Asian Pacific Rim, ed. Richard P. Applebaum and Jeffrey Henderson (London: Sage Publications, 1992) Chung ,Wah Nan. Contemporary Architecture in Hong Kong. (Hong Kong : Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co 1989) Cottrell, Robert. The End of Hong Kong: The Secret Diplomacy of Imperial Retreat. (London: John Murray, 1993) Dehaene, Michiel and Lieven De Cauter, introduction to Heterotopia and the City: Public Space in a Postcivil Society, eds. Michiel Dehaene and Lieven De Cauter (London : Routledge, 2007) Dodwell, David. “Kowloon Walled City to be Demolished.” Financial Times, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Fearns, J. W. “Kowloon Walled City demolition.” The Structural Engineer 73, no.17 (1995): 288. Foucault, M. ‘Of Other Spaces.’ Diacritics 16, (1986): 22-27 Geddes, Philip. In the Mouth of the Dragon: Hong Kong - past, present, and future. (London: Century Publishing in association with TVS, 1982) Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Chiddingfold: Watermark, 1993) “Gloom Thickens in the Slum City” South China Morning Post, 16 August 1986. (File: HKRS 5451-512) Greenberg, Michael. British Trade and the Opening of China, 1800-1842. (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1979.) Guterres, Halima. “Walled City Dwellers not so Badly Off ” South China Morning Post, 4 January 1976. (File: HKRS 545-1-512) Harte, Sa Ni. “Another dividing wall falls before ‘97.” South China Morning Post, 13 December 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Harter, Seth. “Hong Kong’s Dirty Little Secret: Clearing the Walled City of Kowloon.” Journal of Urban History 27, 1 (2000): 92-113. Hetherington, Kevin. The Badlands of Modernity. (London: Routledge, 1997) “Hong Kong has been Generous to the Walled City’s People.” Hong Kong Standard, 14 December 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Hong Kong Weekly Press, 2 May 1904 cited in The Unequal Treaty, 1898-1997. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983)
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List of References
“Kowloon Walled City residents warned attempts to delay clearance projects were bound to fail by government” South China Morning Post, 21 March 1991. (File: HKRS 545-6-377) Lam, Annie, Ivan Lo, May Tam, and Yan Mei-Ning. “Internal Strife Before Walled City Is Pulled Down.” Hong Kong Standard, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Lau, C.K.. “Clearence Wins Chinese Approval.” South China Morning Post, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Leeming, Frank. Street Studies in Hong Kong: Localities in a Chinese City. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977) Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991) Leung, Stanley. “The End at Last to a Symbol of Defiance.” South China Morning Post, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Leung, Stanley. “Walled City’s fate must be decided before 1997.” South China Morning Post, 20 October 1984. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Liu, Zhaojia. Hongkongese or Chinese: the problem of identity on the eve of resumption of Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong. (Shatin: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, 1997) Loke, Peter and Kris Chan. “HK to Kiss Walled City Goodbye.” Hong Kong Standard, 15 Jan 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) Mathews, Gordon. “Heunggongyahn: On the Past, Present, and Future of Hong Kong Identity.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 29, 3 (1997): 3-13. Mathews, Gordon, Eric Kit-wai Ma and Tai-Lok Lui. Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation. (London: Taylor & Francis, 2008) Pullinger, Jackie. Crack in the Wall: The Life and Death of Kowloon Walled City. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990) Rice, Charlse, Adrian Lahoud, and Anthony Burke. “Post-Traumatic Urbanism.” Architectural Design 80, 10 (2010) Ritter, Roland and Bernd Knaller-Vlay. Other Spaces: The Affair of the Heterotopia. (Graz: Haus der Architektur, 1998) Robinson to Ripon, secret, no. 23, 9 Nov. 1894: CO537/34 cited in The Unequal Treaty, 1898-1997. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 12-13. S.A.C.P./K to D.C.P/Operations. MEMO, 14 March 1970 (File: HKRS 978-2-16) Secretariat for Chinese Affairs to Mr H.K. Chan (A.S.C.A). MEMO: Water Supply in Squatter Area, 18 October 1967 (File: HKRS 742-15-18) Shane, David Grahame. Recombinant urbanism: conceptual modeling in architecture, urban design, and city theory. (Chichester: Wiley, 2005)
List of References
Smart, Alan. The Shek Kip Mei Myth: Squatters, Fires and Colonial Rule in Hong Kong, 1950-1963. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006) Soja, E. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996) Sui, Lydia. “Mutual Aid Committees’ War on Crime.” South China Morning Post, 3 February 1967. (File: HKRS 545-1-228) Steinhart, John. “Overcoming the Wall of Confusion.” South China Morning Post, 20 June 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2-350) “The Secretive Business of those Walled City Payouts.” South China Morning Post, 28 September 1992. (File: HKRS 545-7-385) Truth Daily, 24 June1970. Translation by Hong Kong Government. (File: HKRS 70-3-790) “Walled City: The Rise and Fall” South China Morning Post, 15 January 1987. (File: HKRS 545-2350) “Welcome News for Walled City Youths.” South China Morning Post, 15 July 1974. (File: HKRS 70-634-1) Wesley-Smith, Peter. Unequal treaty, 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong’s new territories. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983) Wilkinson, Julia. “A Chinese Magistrate’s Fort” in City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Chiddingfold: Watermark, 1993), 60–71. Wu, Rufina and Stefan Canham. Portraits from Above - Hong Kong’s Informal Rooftop Communities. (Hong Kong: Peperoni Books, 2009) Please note that all newspaper articles were sourced from the Hong Kong Public Records Office in the form of clippings. Any files from the Hong Kong Public Office Archive is referenced with the HKRS number.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.
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Greg Girard, Aerial Shot, 1990. Photograph. <http://photosofwar.net/history-war-photos/2012/09/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-circa-1990.jpg> Greg Girard, Walled City Night View (from SW Corner), 1987. <Photograph. http://www.greggirard.com/work/kowloon-walled-city--13> Suenn Ho, Building Blocks, 1993. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 7. Suenn Ho, Primary Circulation Network, 1993. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 8. Suenn Ho, Secondary Circulation Network, 1993. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 9. Greg Girard, Roofscape, cir. 1990. Photograph. <Photograph. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=55357&page=16> Greg Girard, Walled City Rooftop, Summer, 1989. Photograph. <http://www.greggirard.com/work/kowloon-walled-city--13> Greg Girard, BBQ Meat Factory, 1990. Photograph. <http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/10/kowloon-walled-city-population-density.html> Greg Girard, Convenience Store Living Area, 1989. Photograph. <http://www.greggirard.com/work/kowloon-walled-city--13> Greg Girard, Walled City Rooftop View, 1989. Photograph. ibid. Greg Girard, Walled City Apartment Interior, 1989. Photograph. <http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/10/kowloon-walled-city-population-density.html> Greg Girard, Walled City Mail Delivery, 1987. Photograph. ibid. Suenn Ho, Street Width Study I, 1993. Drawing. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 16. Suenn Ho, Street Width Study I, 1993. Drawing. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 16. Suenn Ho, Street Width Study I, 1993. Drawing. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 16. Kyuryujo Tankentai, Cross Section, 1997. Drawing. <http://www.deconcrete.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Kowloon-Cross-section-low.jpg> John Platt, The signing and sealing of the Treaty of Nanking, 1849. Painting. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/The_Signing_of_the_Treaty_of_Nanking.jpg> Sir Edward Belcher, China: Hong Kong, 1841. Drawing. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Hong_Kong_Map_made_by_Edward_ Belcher_in_1841.jpg> Illustrated London News, Signing of the Treaty of Tianjin, 1858. Drawing. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Signing_of_the_Treaty_of_Tientsin-2. jpg> Map of Hong Kong in First Convention of Peking, 1860. Map. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Map_of_Hong_Kong_in_First_Convention_of_Peking_in_1860.jpg> Kowloon Walled City, cir. 1900. Photograph. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardwonghk/4274043798/sizes/z/in/photostream>
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List of Illustrations
22. Hong Kong Extension, 1898. Map <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Map_of_The_Convention_for_the_ Extension_of_Hong_Kong_Territory_in_1898_-_1.jpg> 23. Growth of the Kowloon Walled City. Drawing. <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3Mcpryhx5NY/T0ueLhTmLBI/AAAAAAAAE9I/TwYiE6iuQpE/ s1600/Kowloon-Hong-Kong-Walled-City-historical-plan.jpg> 24. Rickshaw drivers and tourists at the Kowloon Walled City, cir. 1910. Photograph. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardwonghk/4258379459/sizes/z/in/photostream/> 25. Suenn Ho, Original Yamen Buildings Plan, 1993. Drawing. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 3. 26. Kowloon Walled City, cir. 1960. Photograph. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardwonghk/4256112941/sizes/l/in/photostream> 27. Area to the North of Carpenter Road, 1961. Layout Plan. File HKRS742-15-16 Kowloon Walled City, Public Records Office, Hong Kong. 28. Cannons in the Walled City, cir. 1970. Photograph. <http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=55357&page=16> 29. Mounted Cannons, cir. 1920. Photograph. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/52622119@N04/4853023292/sizes/l/in/photostream> 30. Ryuji Miyamoto, Kowloon Walled City, 1993. Photograph. <http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/photographs/ryuji-miyamoto-kowloon-walled-city-hongkong-5625781-details.aspx> 31. Kowloon Walled City Site Before. Photograph. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/old-hk/3098174924/in/photostream> 32. Kowloon Walled City Site After. Photograph. ibid. 33. Greg Girard, Solo Protest, cir. 1993. Photograph. <http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/10/kowloon-walled-city-population-density.html> 34. LindyLouMac, Kowloon Walled City Park, 2011. Photograph. <http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XlEeXHJdNak/UDo9KWZpShI/AAAAAAAADt4/B8s3yNkdSA4/s1600/Thailand+And+Hong+Kong+-+October+2011+-+Volume+Three+370.JPG> 35. BlueBalu, Carpenter Road Park, 2012. Photograph. <http://bluebalu.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/bike-race-course-kowloon-carpenter-road-park-1. jpg> 36. Edward Soja, The Trialectics of Spatiality, 1996. Diagram. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. (Wiley, 1996) p74 37. Edward Soja, The Trialectics of Being, 1996. Diagram. ibid, p71 38. Diacritics Front Cover, 1984. Cover. <http://www.bates.edu/french/files/2012/08/diacritics.jpg> 39. Michel Foucault, Of Other Spaces. Text. <http://www.colorado.edu/envd/courses/envd4114-001/Fall09/Theory/Foucault-Other%20 Spaces.pdf> 40. Greg Girard, Walled City Fish Ball Factory, 1987. Photograph. <http://greggirard.com/work/kowloon-walled-city--13> 41. Greg Girard, Worker in Metalwork Factory, 1988. Photograph. ibid. 42. Greg Girard, Muslin Factory. cir. 1990. Photograph. Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Watermark, 1993), 150.
List of Illustrations
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43. Suenn Ho, Non-domestic Unit Distribution, 1993. Drawing. Drawing. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. (Suenn Ho, 1993), 19. 44. Greg Girard, Dentist, cir. 1990. Photograph. Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Watermark, 1993), 160. 45. Jackie Pullinger, Opium Divan. Photograph. Pullinger, Jackie. Crack in the Wall: The Life and Death of Kowloon Walled City. (Hodder and Stoughton, 1990), 15. 46. Greg Girard, Doctors, cir. 1990. Photograph. Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Watermark, 1993), 194. 47. Aerial Shot of Kowloon Walled City, cir. 1970. Photograph. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardwonghk/4256070871/sizes/l/in/photostream> 48. Aeirial Shot of Kowloon Walled City, cir. 1980. Photograph. <http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=510181&st=0> 49. Shek Kip Mei Fire, 1953. Photograph. <http://www.hkartclub.com/photo/photo1.jpg> 50. Wrightbus. Block 18, Shek Kip Mei Estate, 2006. Photograph. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shek_Kip_Mei_Estate> 51. Greg Girard, Kowloon Walled City Facade, cir. 1987. Photograph. <http://img.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/tdomf-2/447160/kowloon_walled_city_ desktop_1920x1200_wallpaper-438143.jpg> 52. Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham, Rooftop Housing. Photograph. Wu, Rufina and Stefan Canham. Portraits from Above - Hong Kongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Informal Rooftop Communities. (Peperoni Books, 2008), 15. 53. Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham, Building 1 in 1956. Drawing. ibid, 16. 54. Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham, Building 1 in 2008. Drawing. ibid, 17. 55. Greg Girard., Resident Preparing Drugs, cir. 1987. Photograph. Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Watermark, 1993), 168. 56. Greg Girard., Resident Preparing Drugs 2, cir. 1987. Photograph. ibid. 57. Greg Girard., Resident Injecting Drugs, cir. 1987. Photograph. ibid, 169. 58. Greg Girard., Police on Patrol, cir. 1990. Photograph. ibid, 166. 59. Greg Girard., Police on Patrol 2 , cir. 1990. Photograph. ibid. 60. 14K Triad March. Photograph. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Triad-1.jpg> 61. Structure of Triad Organisations. Photograph. <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BrloiEvGMN4/TKcVWR_bxtI/AAAAAAAAAgg/248B5N-PY78/ s1600/trd+strktur.png> 62. Greg Girard, Kaifong Association, cir. 1990. Photograph. Girard, Greg and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. (Watermark, 1993), 176. 63. Hong Kong Immigration Arrivals Card. Photograph. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/superlocal/3839819158/sizes/z/in/photostream/>
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64. Sino-British Joint Declaration Talks, 1983. Photograph. <http://www.chinatopfamily.com/portfolio/deng-xiaopings-leadership-from-1978to-1997> 65. Jeff Widener, Tank Man, 1989. Photograph. <https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/download/attachments/28160876/TankMan-750799.jpg> 66. Handover Ceremony, 1997. Photgraph. <http://img.timeinc.net/time/asia/magazine/2007/0618/timeline/hk_handover2_0618. jpg> 67. Tiananmen Square Protests, 1989. Photograph. <http://qingmaonow.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/tiananmen-square-timeline.html> 68. Violence Erupts, 1989. Photograph. <http://www.year1989.pl/dokumenty/zalaczniki/18/18-23330.jpg> 69. Cover from Tanks, 1989. Photograph. <http://cryptome.org/cn/tk/tiananmen-kill.htm> 70. Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989. Photograph. ibid. 71. Hong Kong Tourism Board, 2012. Website. <http://www.discoverhongkong.com/uk/about-hktb/index.jsp> 72. Water Stand Pipes in the Kowloon Walled City. Plan. <http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=55357&page=15> 73. Taken by author, Kowloon Walled City Park - Yamen, 2012. Photograph. 74. Taken by author, Kowloon Walled City Park - Signpost, 2012. Photograph. 75. Taken by author, Kowloon Walled City Park - Metal Cast Model, 2012. Photograph. 76. Abasaa, Kowloon Walled City Park, 2011. Photograph. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Kowloon_Walled_City_ Park_02.JPG> 77. Zodiac Statues, 2011. Photograph. <http://www.travelfootprints.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/zodiac-statues-in-kowloon-walled-city-park-hong-kong-china.jpg> 78. BlueBalu, Dragon Bush, 2012. Photograph. <http://bluebalu.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/kowloon-walled-city-park-dragon-bush. jpg> 79. Kowloon Walled City Park, 2012. Photograph. <http://hongkongsecrets.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/kowloon-walled-city-park.jpg> 80. The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 1990. Consitutional Document. <http://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/images/basiclaw_full_text_en.pdf>
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