Until 1993, the Kowloon Walled City existed in Hong Kong. Its defining feature was the actual absence of government authority. This became possible because, during the transfer of land from the United Kingdom to China in 1898, a small area of 2.6 hectares containing the fortress was not included in the agreement. It became a Chinese enclave, but later, as it turned out, China withdrew its troops from there. Consequently, this territory became controlled by no one.
After World War II, people began to settle in the Kowloon territory en masse, and by the early 1990s, its population reached 50,000 people, making it the most densely populated place in the world. The entire area was densely built up with buildings. Of course, this place suffered from poor sanitation and a lack of space; one could only breathe fresh air on the rooftops, and visually, it was a terrifying place. Furthermore, in the 50s and 60s, the area was controlled by criminal gangs. Nevertheless, people actively moved there for permanent residence. How did this happen?
Kowloon was a place where state regulations and taxes were absent. Although gangs and drug trafficking were widespread there initially, by the 70s, Hong Kong police had begun conducting raids and flushing them out. The population of Kowloon also took up the eradication of drug trafficking and violence. A practice even developed where if someone committed a crime, that person was simply thrown out of the city, where they would quickly fall into the hands of the Hong Kong police. Former residents of Kowloon themselves claim that the place was safe. And for the most part, the state still did not interfere in the life of Kowloon, which meant that after the disappearance of the bandits, business flooded in and the place began to prosper.
A cohesive society also emerged in Kowloon, where residents helped each other in everything. This included the appearance of kindergartens, schools, clinics, and charitable organizations, which required no laws or regulations to exist. Along with the presence of diverse businesses that sought out Kowloon due to the lack of taxes and regulations—causing even residents of the rest of Hong Kong to frequently visit to purchase cheap goods and services—all of this made the Walled City an attractive place to live, despite all its seemingly most serious drawbacks.
As we can see, the assertion that people are willing to sacrifice freedom and give a significant portion of their money to the state just to live in comfortable conditions with spacious streets, good ecology, parks, and all possible amenities, is not all that well-founded, since Kowloon—which provided no comfort but gave complete freedom in how to live, earn, and manage one’s means—attracted so many people, even though the comfortable “city of the future,” Hong Kong, was within walking distance. In fact, all such amenities could have existed in a place like Kowloon if it weren’t for territorial limitations. Furthermore, security was provided in Kowloon, not least due to the efforts of the residents of the walled city themselves. Although there was police intervention in the 70s, they were not present there on a regular basis and mainly only took in criminals who had already been expelled from the city. Kowloon was not some kind of “violent ancap,” as some might claim. The Kowloon ancap was quite safe and non-violent.
Of course, Kowloon was ultimately destroyed by violence—external violence from a stationary bandit, even if the latter had previously helped in getting rid of internal violence. That is why it is important to eradicate all forms of violence, including having some serious means to neutralize external aggressors, rather than relying on the hope that “good” aggressors will only catch “bad” aggressors without ever interfering in the lives of peaceful people.
