Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the Walled City became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. By 1987, the Walled City contained 33,000 residents within its 2.6-hectare (6.4-acre) borders. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by Triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug use.
In January 1987, the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the Walled City. After an arduous eviction process, demolition began in March 1993 and was completed in April 1994. Kowloon Walled City Park opened in December 1995 and occupies the area of the former Walled City. Some historical artefacts from the Walled City, including its yamen building and remnants of its South Gate, have been preserved there.
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China, Walls of Benin, Hadrian's Wall, and the metaphorical Atlantic Wall, which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial boundaries. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced.
Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick and timber-built variants are also known. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain (e.g. rivers or coastlines) may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective.
Kowloon (/ˌkaʊˈluːn/; Chinese: 九龍; Jyutping: gau2lung4; Hong Kong Chinese: Giu3lung2) is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, the mountain range including Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of 43,033/km2 in 2006. Kowloon is located north of Hong Kong Island and south of the mainland part of the New Territories. The peninsula's area is approximately 47 square kilometres (18 sq mi). Together with Hong Kong Island, they contain 48 percent of Hong Kong's total population.
The systematic transcription Kau Lung or Kau-lung was often used in derived place names before World War II, for example Kau-lung Bay instead of Kowloon Bay. Other spellings include Kauloong and Kawloong.
The name Kowloon stems from the term Nine Dragons, which refers to eight mountains and a Chinese emperor: Kowloon Peak, Tung Shan, Tate's Cairn, Temple Hill, Unicorn Ridge, Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, Crow's Nest and Emperor Bing of Song.
Kowloon is a station on the Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express of Hong Kong's MTR. The station provides in-town check-in service for passengers departing from the Hong Kong International Airport and free shuttle bus services to most major hotels in the Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei areas.
The station is located less than a kilometre west of Jordan Station on the Tsuen Wan Line.
Escalators link Elements directly with the station concourse.
The station was designed by TFP Farrells. During the planning stage, it was called West Kowloon Station (Chinese: 西九龍站).
On 16 September 2000, the new shopping mall "Dickson CyberExpress" (Chinese: 迪生數碼世界) was opened by Dickson Poon. The size was 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) spread over four levels of the station with six shopping areas. However, the mall did not have the expected volume of customers and business was weak. After half a year, the mall shrank its size. The mall management company planned to decrease the level of the mall from 4 levels to 3 levels and to combine some of the shopping areas. Business remained poor due to sparse population near the station and a recession at that time. The mall finally closed its operation in 2005.
Kowloon is an urban area that is part of Hong Kong, China.
Kowloon may also refer to: