In the upper picture, such a group of dense buildings were the Kowloon Walled City. It was built from 1949, and dismantled in 1993. More than 50000 inhabitants lived there, but the area of that is only 0.026 square kilometers, we can tell that the density of the walled city was 1 million 900 thousand people per square kilometer, there was the most densely populated area in the world especially during 60-70s.
Moreover, there were numerous criminals, drug traffickers, hungers, unlicensed dentists and prostitutes living in the Kowloon Walled City. They could be neighbors of any other common people, which brought not only high crime to this place, but also a kind of mysterious charm. People nowadays call it as legendary slum. Such a slum already provided loads of important inspiration to a large number of artworks, especially some science fiction of cyberpunk. Personally, I prefer this kind of dirty and marginal-culture place than those prosperous place. The reason is I prefer stories from more real people.
One of my favorite comments about it is: Kowloon Walled City is a place where the story never lacked.
This picture is about two gay boys in a club, which is 54 studio- the first club that allows both gays and heterosexuals to enter at the same time.
With the disco age coming in America, teenagers started to go to clubs to release their stress and unhappiness. And studio 54 was the most popular one in New York in 70s, all celebrities such as david bowie, Michael Jackson, Andy Warhol, Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, etc, came there to drink and dance for the whole night. But not only the celebrities, normal people can also come into studio 54 to enjoy their nights. There’s no class distinction or rules there, there was no age limit, no sex and sexual orientation restrictions. This is exactly what I love studio 54 the most, you can just be yourself and enjoy yourself in a relatively equal and free environment.
Its founder Steve Tyler once said: ‘A Good party is with people who are even more interesting than you.’ I would do anything if I have the chance to go back to that era and go to studio 54 even for one night.
Bibliography:
1, City of Darkness – Life in Kowloon Walled City 1993, Ian Lambot and Greg Girard, Watermark Publications (UK) Ltd, October 1993
2, lost memory, http://projects.wsj.com/kwc/?lang=cn#chapter=intro
3, Disco and legend Club steeped in drugs. The fall of fame and fortune in New York at the end of the 70s, https://mp.weixin.qq.com/mp/getmasssendmsg?__biz=MzA3MDc5NTk0Nw==&uin=MTM4MzcyOTMyNg%3D%3D&key=7abe095b989640fcad8e0dc32e64400054a3a55d3ec7a6c5fe4e90291ecbf7336372647409df736d72f6d22362229c747d5f7ffe7422b37d4c65b30feca9dc161942fde83d88b78e2e72b0d81b959da0&devicetype=iMac+MacBookPro14%2C1+OSX+OSX+10.12.6+build(16G29)&version=12030010&lang=zh_CN&nettype=WIFI&ascene=0&fontScale=100&pass_ticket=tg%2BBXpc%2FXQQo%2F0aEx6aQW8YJxm9WinV1jREvZrcFatHDutiWgO6k6di5csacK7lc#wechat_webview_type=1, Prozac, 2017/2/8
Liu Xinyi