Remnants of the South Gate of Kowloon Walled City

Date Captured

April 17th, 2015 at 06:55 UTC

Camera

SGH-I717R

Aperture

ƒ / 2.7

Shutter Speed

1/270 sec

Focal Length

4.0 mm

ISO

32

Exposure Value

10.9 EV

Download

900 × 675

On my third trip to Hong Kong I made a pilgrimage to the site of the legendary Kowloon Walled City. Almost nothing remains of the city apart from the yamen, sanitized and restored to its Qing Dynasty appearance, and this modest monument. It is hard to imagine that this small plot of land was once home to some 33,000 people, a temporary autonomous zone of vast proportions.

For more about Kowloon Walled City have a look at this documentary or this article for starters. Entire books have been written about the subject and there is much to learn.