南华早报出品
距九龙寨城拆除已经20年了，为了纪念它，南华早报制作了一个信息图形，详细地描述了这座奇异建筑内部的事实和数据。
休息之后阅读更多关于葵涌的疯狂事件…
Courtesy of South China Morning Post
It has been twenty years since the demolition of the Kowloon Walled City. To mark this, the South China Morning Post has created an info-graphic that details the facts and figures of what life was like inside this architectural oddity.
Read more about the madness that was KWC after the break…

九龙寨城是香港城市建筑中的一个故障：一座2.7公顷无人制约的城市。它是一个银翼杀手式的贫民窟或者说贫穷但密集的聚落，这取决于你问谁。不管如何，在上个世纪的大部分时间里，它是地球上人口密度最高的地区，3,250,000人/平方英里，而相比之下的香港，仅仅17，000/平方英里。
寨城的基地要追溯到几百年之前。它这里大部分的生活都如在中国的军事前哨一般，当香港在1898年成为英租界的时候，这些中国人漂泊在葵涌。由于其位置刚好在陆地的中间，使得他们很容易监控这些新的居住者，这让英国人很不舒服。
接下来几十年发生的混乱和外交上的敏感性，是由于两个国家都在争取获得这个地区的主权。在第二次世界大战结束的紧急关头，曾经占领了这座城市的日本人投降了。中国宣布了要完全收回这个地方的意图，造成了洪水般的难民逃亡到那里，也造成了还打算继续统治这个地方的英国的不安。
The Kowloon walled city was like a glitch in the urban fabric of Hong Kong; a solid 2.7 hectare block of unrestrained city. Depending on who you ask, it was a Bladerunner-esque slum or a poor, but tight-knit community. Either way, for the best part of the last century, it was the most densely populated place on earth, with 3,250,000 people per square mile, compared to Hong Kong’s mere 17,000.
The site of the walled city dates back hundreds of years. Spending most of its life as a Chinese military outpost, the Chinese hung on to the KWC when Hong Kong was leased to the British in 1898, as its location, right in the middle of the territory, made it easy for them to keep an eye on the new tenants – an idea which didn’t sit too well with the British.
What transpired next was decades of confusion and diplomatic sensitivity, as both countries sought to claim sovereignty over the area. It came to a head at the end of WWII when the Japanese, who had captured the city, surrendered. China announced it’s intention to fully reclaim the site, causing floods of refugees to flee there and creating unease with Britain who intended to continue as it had before.

为了避免造成更加深远的关系紧张，两个国家对这座寨城实施了“不干涉”的政策，让这个孤立点或多或少地不被警察，建筑法规，健康卫生法律或者其他形式的法规所控制。寨城的人口急速增长，难民和小商贩群居在那里，都是为了利用这个新城的优势，不需要签证，营业执照或者付任何的税。
这种人口巨浪依然未加抑制，而政客往往都不介入。政府给寨城里提供水，电源以及邮件传递，同时在20世纪70年代精心策划了一系列的突袭来根除三合会（洪门），它掌控着寨城里各种各样的妓院，赌场和毒品窝点。到20世纪80年代，这里的人口已达33,000人中的大部分都和其他几个家庭共享250平方英尺或者更小的公寓。大量复杂的350个分散的建筑高度都在10-14层之间并且缺乏来自建筑师，规划师或者工程师的介入，建筑的高度仅仅因为邻近启德机场才得到限制。
To avoid putting further strain on relations, both countries developed a ‘hands-off’ approach to the city, leaving the enclave more or less ungoverned by police, building codes, health laws, or any other form of regulation. The population of the city boomed as refugees and small businesses flocked there to take advantage of this new city where you didn’t need a visa, a licence to operate, or to pay any tax.
The population surge continued unchecked, while politicians, for the most part, stood back. The government provided water mains and mail delivery to the city, as well as orchestrating a series of raids in the 1970′s to root out the Triads who had taken control of the city’s various brothels, casinos and opium dens. By the 1980’s, the population stood at 33,000, with most people sharing apartments of 250 sqft or less with several other families. The vast majority of the complex’s 350-odd buildings were between 10-14 stories tall and devoid of any input from architects, planners or engineers; their height was restrained only by the proximity of Kai Tak airport.

维基百科出品
在建筑之间是密集狭窄如迷宫的巷道，很多都只有1-2米宽，阳光很少能够照到底层。当通过这个网络时，居民要带上雨伞以保护自己不被上面泄露的管道里的水淋湿。相互交织的楼梯和通道意味着你可以从一个孤立点的尽头到达另一个，却从不接触地面。
尽管它有着反乌托邦的外观，极度的贫穷以及不卫生的条件，这里大部分的居民依然深情地记住了这个地方。事实上，在1963年当香港政府早期企图拆毁这座寨城的时候，这里的居民组成了一个抗拆委员会并且成功地抵抗了当局。
Courtesy of Wikipedia
Between the buildings there was a dense labyrinth of crevice-like alleyways, many only 1-2 meters wide, where sunlight rarely made it down to ground level. When navigating this network, residents would carry umbrellas to protect themselves from water dripping from leaky pipes above. An interwoven series of stairs and passageways meant you could travel from one end of the enclave to the other, without ever touching ground.
Despite its dystopian appearance, extreme poverty and unsanitary conditions, many of the residents remember the place fondly. Most of them recall a close, community spirit, spawned from shared poverty and closeness. In fact, in 1963 when an early attempt was made by the Hong Kong government to tear down the city, the residents formed an anti-demolition committee and successfully resisted the authorities.

维基百科共享资源出品
然而，到了20世纪80年代，肮脏的生活条件引起了当局太多的关注以及1984年中英联合声明开始使用落锤破碎机。不管抗议，政府花费了27亿港币来重新安置这些居民。到了1992年，这座寨城空了。仅仅两年之后，它被夷为平地并用一个传统公园代替；然而，在此之前，它被那些对此深深着迷的建筑师和摄影师所记录下来。今天，这块土地的古怪历史的仅有证明就只是一个曾经伫立在那里的小规模的群落。
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
However, by the 1980′s the squalid conditions had become too much of a concern for the authorities and a joint Sino-British declaration in 1984 set the Kowloon wrecking ball in motion. Despite protests, the government spent HK$ 2.7 billion on relocating the residents. By 1992, the city was empty. Just two years later, it was razed to the ground and replaced by a traditional park; however, not before it was documented by fascinated architects and photographers alike. Today, the only indicator of the site’s eccentric history is a small scale-model of the cluster that used to stand there.
来源：南华早报
via South China Morning Post

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