It's dangerous to continue to write about the Kowloon Walled City.,Now it's hard to crack down on the city.,There's a danger of being sealed if you cross the border slightly.,I wanted to write a few more chapters of the Kowloon Walled City.,After thinking about it.,Decided to give up.,Here's the material I'm going to write.,Rather than wasting it.,It's better to send it out.,Let everyone see.,Like the Kowloon Walled City.,Avoid the trouble of finding information.。 As the title suggests, if you don't like the Kowloon Walled City, don't subscribe, it's a waste of a few cents.

……

For 150 years, the Kowloon Walled City has been the only Chinese enclave in the British colony that claims to be 'sovereign', and the British side has repeatedly tried to demolish the walled city, but the local residents have resisted it, for which the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China have lodged strong protests to the British side.

After 1949, the British Governor of Hong Kong intended to demolish and relocate twice, both of which were abandoned by the intervention of the mainland, but this form was changed after the Sino-British negotiations, and in 1997 the British would formally hand over Hong Kong Island to the mainland.

This is a good idea, but the problem is that in the past, China has always taken a tough stance against demolition and relocation, but it has suddenly changed its attitude and how to justify itself, especially the issue of jurisdiction involved in demolition and relocation, and how to deal with it with great caution.

During the Sino-British negotiations, the Hong Kong and British sides communicated with the Chinese side through informal channels from the very beginning on the issue of the demolition and relocation of the walled city, and were unwilling to include the demolition issue on the agenda of the Joint Liaison Group meeting, and did not make any commitments at the Joint Liaison Group meeting.

This kind of handling is really rare, and the logic of Hong Kong and Britain is as follows: the British side has in fact issued a directive to Hong Kong and Britain to govern the Kowloon Walled City, but on the one hand, due to Chinese intervention, and on the other hand, due to insufficient capabilities. Hong Kong and Britain did not exercise jurisdiction, and because the royal decree could not be violated, Hong Kong and Britain regarded the demolition of the Kowloon Walled City as their own right, so as to avoid giving the impression that they had taken the initiative to negotiate with the Chinese side.

In the Chinese side's view, since the consent of the Chinese side was sought for the demolition, it can be proved that Hong Kong and Britain have no jurisdiction.

At that time, the biggest problem in the demolition of Hong Kong and Britain was how to review the ownership and qualifications of the residents and merchants of the Walled City; how to resettle 40,000 walled city residents; How to co-ordinate the actions and steps of the demolition of the city and the use of the remaining 30,000 square meters of land after the demolition.

Under the multiple rounds of negotiations between the Chinese side and Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, in order to avoid jurisdictional disputes as much as possible, the demolition and relocation of the Kowloon Walled City was transformed from a political issue into a specific issue of urban renewal—the construction of a park on the site of the walled city after the demolition, instead of developing properties and building office buildings. In terms of resettlement and compensation for residents, "in order to avoid interfering in the specific operations within Hong Kong. It is inconvenient for the Chinese side to discuss the compensation standard and resettlement details with the other side during the consultations, and the Kaifang Welfare Association is a small person to deal directly with Hong Kong", so it set up an advisory special committee with the task of determining the principles of demolition and compensation, studying solutions to problems, accepting complaints from residents, and subsidizing the demolition and relocation work carried out by the British Housing Authority of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong issued a notice announcing the demolition of the Kowloon Walled City. The social response was calm.

Since the walled city has been unmanaged, in order to implement a compensation plan. It has been reported that 60 police officers were dispatched under the direction of the department to assist in the registration of houses in order to avoid confusion among black market residents. The purpose of the operation was to arrest illegal immigrants in the city.

When announcing the demolition of the Kowloon Walled City, the British Governor of Hong Kong said that it was expected to resettle more than 40,000 residents at a cost of billions, and that he would be responsible for one qiē related compensation. Set up a special committee under the Housing Authority to arrange resettlement and register the qualifications of residents and businesses.

According to the report on the work of the Committee, it adds up. A total of 9,420 households and 28,198 people were resettled. Of these households, 3,541 (38%) purchased houses, 4,804 (51%) moved to public or temporary housing, and 1,075 (11%) arranged their own housing. In addition, after the completion of the clearance project, another 32 households with a total of 65 people were resettled.

Although the British authorities in Hong Kong claimed that they would be responsible for the compensation, they failed to satisfy the 40,000 residents. It is understood that the compensation plan at that time was based on the market value of the house at that time, and of course the amount was much lower than the market value of the same district at that time. In addition, the housing is not arranged for resettlement in the same district, and the residents are forced to move into public housing in the new town, so there is a suspicion that the residents are used as "cattle to open up the wasteland".

Compensation for property owners is based on the price of the house and is given to owner-occupiers and non-owner-occupiers", "the same compensation for residential and non-domestic uses, and if owner-occupiers give up their occupation of public rental housing, they can receive additional compensation based on the price of the house, and ex-gratia allowances will be given to commercial and industrial users.

On the other hand, the amount of compensation paid by the Chief Secretary was not enough for them to purchase a factory of the same size for production. The resettlement and compensation issues, which are of greatest concern to the residents of the city, have not been satisfactorily arranged, so this group of residents has become the biggest obstacle to the demolition of the city.

As Hong Kong and Britain adhered to the principle of compensation and did not back down, residents complained. At that time, the community welfare association was very united, and there were-for-tat confrontations with the British Affairs Office of Hong Kong at every turn, and some residents were dissatisfied with the arrogant attitude of the officials and slept in protest and demanded a judicial review, and the demolition incident was disturbed for three years.

As a result, ZF used the methods of "procrastination" and "quick knife to cut through the mess" to enclose the main entrance and exit roads, making it inconvenient for residents to enter and exit, forcing them to commit crimes, forcibly cutting off water and electricity, and removing street lights and staircase lights that had been moved out of residential areas, which caused strong protests from residents against the disguised forced eviction of Hong Kong and Britain.

The reason why the demolition operation has been delayed again and again is that the office dedicated to dealing with the demolition of the city has implemented a "procrastination" strategy, that is, the authorities do not take the initiative to discuss the issue of compensation with the residents and carry out "administrative delay" in the legal way of going to court, so that the residents and businesses are impatient to move out on their own, and also privately reach an agreement with the landlord when the lease of the shop expires to "seal the shop" in real time.

At the same time, Hong Kong and Britain deliberately co-opted residents' organizations that supported the demolition and defended interest associations in order to undermine residents' unity. As a result of the increasing number of evicted residents and the authorities' deliberate reduction in the management and maintenance of the Walled City, the environmental hygiene in the area has become deplorable, rodent infestation and law and order have deteriorated. Some residents said that rat bites have occurred from time to time, and they have been stolen by bandits many times, although residents continue to oppose it, but with the deterioration of the environment, it is imperative to demolish the city.

On the eve of the demolition, although most of the residents had already moved out, some residents were dissatisfied with the compensation and gathered to protest, and protest leaflets were plastered inside the walled city. At the time of the demolition, the road was blocked by the police, and protest banners were still visible everywhere. It is written in both Chinese and English, and most of the on-site commanders and executions are white police officers.

From the slogans, it can be seen that the spearhead of the residents' protest is the Hong Kong government, and they regard themselves as "the people of China's walled city", and even display the five-star red flag. Previously, CCPs in the mainland were active in the walled city, and a people's congress was also established. Among the opposition groups for demolition and relocation, there are two groups, one of which appears to be a self-organized group of residents, advocating "negotiations with the Hong Kong authorities for reasonable compensation for demolition and relocation". In the protest rally he held, pro-democracy members of the British Parliament in Hong Kong were also present to support it. The other is this "people's congress faction", which is not suitable for this proposition under the pretext that Britain will demolish the Kowloon City Walled City, which is China's territory. Death will not leave the walled city! The way it looks. There is no concerted opposition between the two organizations, or even a cold relationship with each other. After being forced to move out, residents built temporary wooden houses at the entrance to the walled city and put up various signs:

"Resolutely demand that the Hong Kong government try the criminal acts of the person in charge of land expropriation for harming the residents of the walled city!"

"Residents don't dare to think about discounts, they don't dare to think about improvements. I don't want to get rich, I just want to continue to survive on the original basis."

"Hong Kong Ying Zhu Jianxing forcibly robbed residents' properties and persecuted people's houses. It's been five months of sleeping on the streets, and this is a pirate human right! ”

Many people have a positive attitude towards the demolition of the Kowloon Walled City: the Kowloon Walled City has become a serious problem for Hong Kong and social development, as if a healthy person has a sore on his body, although it is not a fatal injury, but many times it makes the healthy person feel uncomfortable and threatened by disease for a long time, and now the time has come...... This is a major event, and it is also the most beneficial and constructive good thing for the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, and while we rejoice, we should speak highly of the Governor of Hong Kong for taking such positive measures.

Official reports have dismissed the Kowloon Walled City as a great achievement, but in fact it is not always true.

Leaving aside the housing and property rights of the poor, this demolition is not appropriate from the perspective of urban governance.

Like most city planners and authorities, the British saw urban enclaves as static appendages, undesirable growth organisms of healthy cities, and in the West, many of the disastrous urban policies that led to reckless slum clearance programs that destroyed the livelihoods and futures of tens of thousands of people.

That's exactly what we're seeing in Hong Kong. The anarchy and chaos of the Kowloon Walled City are not due to the nature of the neighborhood, but are the result of the fate of being abandoned by the government, and in the course of a hundred years of self-destruction, the walled city has developed a resilient social structure, a long-lasting and stable network of social relations, and a variety of social functions, including promoting social integration and social mobility, protecting and relocating a considerable transitional population, providing opportunities for them to operate industries, and even alleviating the pressure and resource conflicts caused by the migrant population to a certain extent. This is because the self-sufficient supply of public affairs within the walled city is actually performing the functions that should be performed by the government.

The Kowloon Walled City, with its relatively continuous and stable network of people, high degree of free mobility, thriving industries, and close and harmonious social ties, actually plays a very good role as a "settled city" or "transitional community".

It is the absence of the government in the supply of public affairs that leaves room for the full infiltration of gang forces and religious gospels, and there can be a better way to renovate such a neighborhood, only by removing the elements that breed its maluses, such as the proper control of the quality and scale of buildings, the entry and exit of population, and the operation of industries, ensuring the supply of basic public facilities and services, and fully retaining its original reasonable social structure and functions, the city can be fully developed into a vibrant and benign urban space again. It may create a positive benefit of ZÀO, and it may be far greater than the new block planned and built by ZF.

The use of uprooting and demolition is undoubtedly the simplest and most brutal method, although there is no strong backlash and terrible consequences that may occur under the government's strong and corresponding resettlement policies. However, in addition to achieving the cleanliness and beauty of the city on the surface, this initiative has not solved the problem, but has worsened the real problem: the survival problem of these migrants and low-income people has not been solved, and the social space and social network on which they depend have been completely removed, and they have been dispersed to all corners of the city, forced to reintegrate into this unsuitable urban space and bear the extremely high cost of living. (To be continued......)