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by martiancookbook 717 days ago
Maybe it's non-normative ways of living? In many places, people are not allowed to live in whichever way they please - there are rules and regulations, mostly in the name of safety (from crime, fire/flood, infection, etc).

Kowloon seems to exist outside/before these restrictions, and might therefore feel more "free" in some way. It might also be why fantasy/science fiction fantasy tends to take place in a slightly more "lawless" and uninhibited world.
2 comments
cortesoft 717 days ago
> Kowloon seems to exist outside/before these restrictions, and might therefore feel more "free" in some way.

I doubt most of the people who lived there felt that way. There were rules enforced by the powerful people living there, it just wasn’t enforced formally via laws. Instead, strongmen imposed their own rules.

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bluGill 717 days ago
sort of - most of the people there also didn't have good options to leave. I suspect most would leave if given a better option. Note however that better option needs to somehow include your friends and family.
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martiancookbook 717 days ago
Agreed! Fantasy tends to assume your basic needs are satisfied, especially the unsexy ones. E.g. you rarely see someone use the restroom in space, and I bet that the “fantastical” nature of Kowloon is interrupted in reality by waste management

When I say “free” and “uninhibited”, I am talking only about the mind playing with fantasy, not the actual lived experience of residents

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wkat4242 716 days ago
> I bet that the “fantastical” nature of Kowloon is interrupted in reality by waste management

And the resulting pest presence yes. Yuck :)

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5040 716 days ago
Many did not want to leave, for want of having better options. The dentists were especially attached to the place.

>Medical and dental care were no problem at all: many of the residents were doctors and dentists with Chinese qualifications and years of experience but lacking the expensive pieces of paper required to practise in the colony. They set up their neat little clinics in the City, oases of cleanliness and order, and charged their patients a fraction of what they would pay outside.

Source: City Of Darkness: Life In Kowloon Walled City (1993)

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