This was the slum of all slums- Kowloon city in Hong Kong. 35,000 people were packed into 6 acres of pure filth. They shut the place down in 1992, and many people DIDN’T want to be evicted. They were happy. This is how bad communism is. The misery index is skewed to the point where living in a sewer wasn’t all that bad.
The balconies were used as storage and they were fully barred because crime was simply a given in the city.
This was a street alleyway that was infested with rats. The street was covered by other buildings, creating a sarcophagus of crud that received no sunlight. There were signs warning people not to eat the rat bait.
Rooftops were the children’s playgrounds.
See the rest of the amazingly depressing pictures HERE.
ht/ nm
Yikes! I’ve seen similar in Central America, on a smaller scale. Brings back some memories.
Thanks a lot. lol
But if you notice most are working.
Even most somewhat happy.
Can muslims do that NO.
Hong Kong was never communist. Even when it was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, it pledged to rule by a method called “one country, two systems” To this day, Hong Kong maintains an air of independence although they know the heavy boot of authoritarian is just one step away.
An absolutely fabulous novel taking place when Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain is called Tai-Pai. In it you’ll understand why you see living conditions like those images and why the people there are such work horses.
There’s a reason why Hong Kong, with no natural resources at all, has one of the strongest economies on earth. To this day, even with the Chinese looming over them, they are ranked as the freest economy in the world.
I have to wonder what health (not health care) was like there, and what the average lifespan was.
You may see dystopia, but I see a bustling busy free economy.
Looks like Cabrini Green only without the crime. Wonder why that is?
Welcome to the South Bronx.
This is how I know welfare recipients are a bunch of lazy-assed losers. If I lived in a place that grim, that depressing, that uncivilized, I would making getting the hell out my life’s work. And, like Scarlett O’Hara eating radishes and proclaiming she’d never be poor again, couldn’t nobody stop me.
yes it is sad and depressing and a travesty of human dignity.
And, it is also a testament to the adaptability and resolve of the human will, and a testament of what is actually required for a human to be happy.
We can truly be happy with very little.
How many millionaires and billionaires are horribly miserable people?
Thank God I live in America!
At this very moment, my wife is in that very same area. It looks nothing like that today. Thank God.
But they do still hang their laundry out on the balcony. Some things won’t change, I suppose…
Obama’s blueprint for America!
What did their alternatives look like?
A WSJ documentary about Kowloon City –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_8ucS3lMY
I knew a Navy guy (from the Vietnam era) who claimed that Kowloon had the cleanest brothels on Earth. They were run by the British gov’t.
izlamo delenda est …
Many of those people were really productive, in spite of their poverty – running a store or noodle factory from their own homes. I admire that spirit, of wanting to achieve a better life for oneself and family.
BRA,
Agree. For all those pictures, there may be poverty, but everyone seems busy and productive. If there are pictures of people sitting, it”s after a long hard day’s work. Yes, it’s crowded and slum-like, but there’s none of the ennui of the lazy and slovenly.
Love the guy in the lounge chair ….reminds me of the Supertramp ablum cover for “Crisis, What Crises? “
An Obama Administration Urban Renewal project blueprint!
Civilization compared to parts of Africa, Asia (non-British ex-possessions), India (non-British ex-possessions), Indonesia, Micronesia, and South America.
Probably good parts of Central Asia, too.
And izlam-infested lands.
izlamo delenda est …