My Family History - Part 2 - Kowloon Walled City

So here we are, next episode in the family history saga. From the ages of 6 to 13, I lived in Hong Kong with my parents (initially with my sister too). We stayed in an apartment on Waterloo Road, in a suburb now known as Kadoorie Hill (Kadoorie being the name of one of the more famous families in HK during the post-war British era. Quite possibly today too, for that matter! But for some reason I always thought we lived in Kowloon City. At least adjacent to it anyway, as the Kowloon City markets were always a shopping destination of my mum's when we lived there. I remember her wondering why the chicken sellers always made a point of picking up the live chook and showing her its anus. I guess if it was clean that was a sign of a healthy chicken? Who knows! These markets were also the place where one could see fish filleted but still alive - as in one fillet had been removed, and the organs and spine etc were still in place, and the fish's mouth was still opening and closing. I guess it was a way of demonstrating freshness, but oh boy, I always felt for those fish. I hope they didn't feel too much pain. These days, animal activists would be up in arms over such a thing. And whilst I often disagree with those kinds of people, in this case I think I would be with them - it's too inhumane a practice. Whether or not it persists, I am not sure.

Mum and I in our kitchen at 90 Waterloo Rd circa 1980

Another key thing I remember about living at 90 Waterloo Rd was the hospital next door. Right next to us at ground level was a clinic - a chest clinic I believe - with a nice garden area directly across from our balcony. I have a memory of my brother Peter buying one of those ball and mitt things that's all velcro, and us going over there for a catching session. At the end of the garden was a wall, at the end of which was a small gap with a low wall you could step over. Do that and you were in the car-park of the fairly major hospital complex that sprawled around the corner past Waterloo Rd and then up the hill.

My mate Martin and I would occasionally wander up there and nose about. There was a time soon after the original Ghostbusters came out (the third cinema experience for me, after Charlotte's Web and Star Wars) where we wandered around with backpacks and broomsticks, pretending we were wielding those energy things they had in the movie to catch ghosts. But a key day that sticks in my mind is going up to the very top and sneaking in past the fence. It soon became clear to us that this was an area for mentally disabled patients, as we quickly ran into a fellow who went ballistic and screamed at us, while gesticulating wildly. We panicked and ran to the edge of the facility and scaled the fence. It was atop a fairly sizeable hill, but luckilly for us there was a storm-water drain down the side of it. Full of leaves and mud as it was, but that did not deter us, as we were convinced we were about to be assaulted. One foot forward, one tucked up under the bum, and down we slid. It was all quite well done as I remember. I imagine I came home in a dreadful state, but fortunately I don't have any recollection of Mum's reaction to that!

This post actually started as one all about the Kowloon Walled City (hence the post name) but I figured I may as well turn it into a family history post. So there will be more on my time in HK at a later time. I decided to turn this into a family history post because hey, we used to live just down the road from the walled city, and I remember Dad pointing it out to me as a kid. We ventured to the fringes of it, but never inside.

I may never have made it inside the walled city before it was demolished in the 90's, but a significant thing happened just prior to that, which would imprint this den of iniquity forever into my mind - the movie Bloodsport.

Image from IMDb.com page on the movie

Well, before anyone starts, just remember that Cantonese cinema in general is a B Movie experience, because that's how they like it. Over-acting and all! And at that time, it was a freaking awesome movie. To be honest, it still is. I love it for many reasons, most of all because it was made in HK, not long after we had left, so many of the places and 100% of the culture portrayed in the film, were very close to my heart. I believe it was likely one of the very first collaborations between HK and western cinema, at least post-Bruce Lee.

There is another reason this was meaningful to me - more now than then, although I suspect subconsciously it resonated at that time too. That reason is closeness to my Dad. He was never much of a hands-on father, and frankly I didn't have a whole lot in common with him as a child. I don't think that's his fault, I believe it was largely a product of culture at the time. Ironically and sadly, my life now would be so interesting to him, both as a miner and an expat, but alas our relationship exists now only in my heart and mind. Still, it's meaningful to me and I am a better person because of these experiences I had as a child. I have no doubt about that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City is a good spot to find out some stuff about the walled city. The site related to the book City of Darkness (one of the images below is from that) is also freakin' awesome. I'll talk about my cousin Phil and his book in another post, but my take on the walled city is this - Hong Kong was always a place where anyone could make their mark, anyone could become a rich man. I think the walled city was a reflection of that. When HK was a British colony, well they couldn't just let all these underworld activities flourish on the streets, but in a contained, almost restricted area - from the inside out, not the outside in, depending on your perspective - it worked. Hong Kong is an incredible place because it represents such diversity, because it displays such history, because it embraces many cultures and allows them to flourish together. Quite simply, there is no place on Earth like it. The last couple of photos show just how unreal the walled city was. A citadel within a city state.

Image from Wikipedia article on Kowloon Walled City

 Image courtesy of City of Darkness: Revisited