Description

By The Lost Pearl

Recently, there have been many debates abut heritage preservation. Have you noticed the “lost pearl” of Hong Kong – the Kowloon Walled City? It is evidence of what happened in Hong Kong hundreds of years ago, but despite its importance, it is likely to be neglected. Without an attractive architectural building design or knowledge of which it represents, it seems that it will be forgotten. Hence by investigating this ‘lost pearl’ we can discover an interesting and important part of our collective heritage.

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The joyous scene in spring of the Kowloon Walled City Park may fascinate holiday-makers, mostly having their family day. Have they ever noticed that this park witnessed the transition of Hong Kong under the sovereignty of British, Hong Kong and Chinese Governments? Such significant historical value makes its existence unique. Yet unlike other heritage sites, it seems that the Kowloon Walled City is overlooked and neglected by most of the Hong Kong residents, particularly the younger generations.

In the park, there is always a crowd in front of the Main Gate. If you are curious to know what is happening, you will discover that Uncle Man is performing the Chinese paper cutting for visitors. His fate with the park has embarked since his visit to this place in the 60s.

In 60s, Uncle Man went to the Walled City to find his friend. However, it turned to become a horrible memory to him. At that time, he walked in a quiet street. Suddenly, a stranger stopped him and asked him for money. He felt scared as he did not know that person and had no idea what he could do. Fortunately, his friend found him and brought him out of the Walled City. It was the first time that he entered the city. He knew nothing about the special architecture of the Walled City. It looked like a maze. When he entered a room, he discovered that there were lots of stairs of which he could go to other places in the Walled City through. He was told that the Kowloon Walled City was an anarchic space that resulted from rivalry between the governments of China, Britain and Hong Kong and it was beyond the control of the governments of China, Britain and Hong Kong. ‘Now it’s a peaceful place for family gathering and for the older generations to gather around but you cannot imagine the life there in the Walled City in the old days. It was notorious for drugs, gambling and prostitution. There were many secret factories and there were many unlicensed but good dentists. My friend had reminded me that no one would harm me if they knew I was the friend of the residents here.’ ‘So don’t really think that the residents of Kowloon Walled City in the old days were only bad guys. They had justice, of course, only among their friends.’ Uncle Man recalled.

Uncle Man has stayed in the Kowloon Walled City and the Kowloon Walled City Park for more than thirty years. Thinking of the old days, Uncle Man told us his story and his love towards the Walled City and the park. He remembers that he felt depressed due to his family problem. He walked around in the district of Kowloon City. At last, he walked into the Walled City. And that was the second time he had entered the Walled City. He didn’t worry too much about the safety and the messy situation in the city. He just wanted to find a place to stay. Residents there must a skill to survive. He chose to perform Chinese paper cutting art. His performance was really appealing, even the staff of the Walled City loved his show. His love towards this place grows as the time passes by. Now, he wants to raise the awareness and publicity of the Walled City. So he has determined to stay in the Walled City Park and promote its historical value. He voluntarily becomes the tour guide.

Uncle Man has made a lot of friends from being a tour guide. Among them, Jackie Pullinger, a British and a Christian as well impressed him a lot. Jackie described herself as a boyish and independent girl. Her adventurous character and her bravery were the main reasons for her coming to explore Hong Kong alone in 1966 when she was young. Coincidentally, Jackie walked in the Walled City. She discovered that the problems of drug abusing, prostituting and gambling were very serious. She, therefore, decided to stay there and helped those in need. In the following 20 years, she used Gospel to rescue the people. She persuaded the gamblers to repent; she helped the prostitutes to escape from sexual work; and she helped the druggies to quit from drug addiction.

Jackie recalled that she needed to be consolidating at every step when she was walking in the street because the floor was very dirty and wet. Besides, she also needed to crap her hands in order to scare the big mice away. According to Jackie, Kwong Ming Road has such an ironic implication that the light emitted was from illegal activities, especially drug abuse. The favorable condition of weak security in the city speeded up the growth of gang and drug related businesses. Her effort was worth spending, a number of them quitted the bad habit.

Once, Jackie’s Youth Centre was destroyed by an unknown gang, she really wanted to leave Walled City and went back to England. However, she chose to stay in order to lead those in need towards a brighter future. Luckily, she received the protection from the leader in charge of the City’s gangs (they called him “Big Brother”).

Even Uncle Man is not a local resident of the Walled City, he has the zeal for promoting its valuable history to the public. Busy citizens have different excuses to know more about the history of Hong Kong. The Kowloon Walled City Park does not have an attractive appearance, yet you could find the modernization from the past until now here. You should not miss the brilliancy of this lost pearl, otherwise it causes a huge loss on understanding the development of Hong Kong of the offspring.


SCHOOL: Buddhist Wong Wan Tin College

TEAM
Leader: Victoria Yeung Lok-Tung, writer
Miuki Lin Chui-Miu, researcher
Venus Tse Sze-Sze, writer
Harrison Ng Yu-Fung, photographer
Teacher in charge: Ms Ho Ting-Yi

CAPTION
1. Uncle Man has special Chinese paper cutting skills
2 - 4. Uncle Man plays.