Imagine living in an ungoverned enclave that was only 6.4 acres in size but home to 50,000 residents, and featured alleyways between buildings just 3 to 7 feet wide. This is Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. It’s also called City of Darkness because it lacks natural light and figuratively speaking, also a hot bed for crimes, prostitution, illegal gambling, narcotics and triads. The city was demolished in the 90s.
This is an officially licensed film set from the movie Twilight of the Warriors Walled in. It’s a Hong Kong action film in 2024. For a small nook book, it’s heaping with history. One side of the nook book is an 80s inspired barber shop, and the other side is a stacked up homes from the walled city.
I got interested in building this because I love anything historically significant. I have lived in Hong Kong for six years and because of that and because I’m interested in history, I’m inspired to build this.
This was the original Kowloon Walled city in 1989 and my miniature version.
And this is the barbershop scene from the movie and my mini version.
This build is challenging for its size. Instructions could be better because it’s challenging to read it even with magnifiers and ample lighting. The pictures are small and dark and not clear. But I love the challenge so I continued with it. I did a lot of sanding and modifying because the tabs are a struggle to fit in the slots.
I must say this is one of the most challenging yet unique builds I’ve ever done. I highly recommend for people who are into realistic, historically significant builds.
I didn’t know that there was such a place in Hong Kong. The walled city looks realistic.
I’ve been to Hong Kong a few times, so I can only imagine what the mini city was like before being demolished. Thank you for sharing such an unique build with us!