Before it was razed to make way for the present-day park, the Kowloon Walled City was an anomaly of history. The 1840 Qing Dynasty coastal fortress was the only district in Hong Kong not ruled by the British. It remained in a state of uncertain sovereignty for eight decades, a lawless decrepit community and a bone of contention between Britain and China. Today it is an award-winning public park featuring Qing relics, giant chessboards, floral walks, bonsai trees and an almshouse.
The Walled City was constructed between October 1846 to May 1847 with donations of official and local gentries. It's shape was a rough parallelogram of 210 x 100 metres with 4 gateways and 6 observation towers.
When the New Territories was leased to Britain for 99 years, to acknowledge Chinese sovereignty, it was mutually agreed that the city would reamin under Chinese jurisdiction. In 1899, Britain sent troops to occupy the New Territories, they met resistance by inhabitants. They suspected that Chinese troops took part in the resistance so they occupied the city in May 1899. Renogotiations over the city's fate ended in failure. In December 1899 British declared rule over the City. The Qing government insisted that Chinese had jurisdiction. Chinese troops withdrew but no British troops were sent to station the walled city. The Qing government faced the Boxer Uprising in North China and were so preoccupied that no further negotiations with the British took place. Thus, the issue regarding the jurisdiction of the walled city was left unresolved.
Since the withdrawal of the Qing soldiers, the city had became a residential area. Inhabitants cultivated farms and raised pigs. ALso there were many squatters. The Hong Kong government allowed churches and charities to use the buildings. In 1933 the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the houses and redevelop the area into parks on the grounds of needing to improve the environment to fall in line with other development plans. The residents protested. This led to new and prolonged negotiations between China and Britain. The controvery lasted 4 years, until the Japanese invaded on December 1941. The Japanese, wishing to extend the airport, demolished the city walls to obtain the necessary stone. Only part of the East Gate, a few wall sections, and a beacon tower remained intact.
After the war, China wished to regain jurisdiction but the Hong Kong government planned to evict the squatters. The start of demolition in January 1948 caused anti-British demostrations in various China cities. Several times there were negotiations but there were no compromises. Due to the unsettled matter regarding jurisdiction, long term city planning and proper administration were difficult to implement. Rapid population growth was accompanied by illegal occuption of land and unauthorized construction of residential buildings within the area. The insanitary environment badly needed improvement.
Following the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, the problem was solved. In 1987 the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the city and replace it with a park. The park was finally completed on August 1995 using the Jiangnan garden style of the early Qing dynasty.
 one of the few buildings left in very good condition
|  built in 1847, it was the meeting place for discussing public affairs |
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left : scenes from the garden
top : This sign is originally from the East Gate. It translates
as "Kowloon Walled City."
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