History: (Source: The university of Chicago)
In 1945, on the day World War II ended, Hong Kong had roughly 600,000 people, well below pre-war levels. By 1950, it had 2,200,000; by 1960, 3,000,000. The dramatic growth created staggering housing shortages; squatter settlements sprang up in many places. Near Mount Davis, after the removal of many squatters in the early 1950s, government officials worked with the private sector to build some 295 cottages.
Most refugees were poor and housed themselves however they could. Their more established neighbours often objected. Officials worried about sanitation and contagious diseases, fire risks, social effects of crowding, and potential threats to law and order. Although the squatters at Mount Davis were mostly removed in the early 1950s, squatting occurred at later dates, and even into the 1980s.
Meanwhile, the government divided land without permanent, authorized buildings into three types of housing zones: “permitted” areas, where the government could ensure that a certain number of homes meeting minimum standards were built, to be bought or leased by people meeting employment and other standards; “allowed” areas, where people could build their own housing as long as it met certain physical standards (lower quality than permitted housing, but better than most squatters’ shacks); and areas where new housing was forbidden. Mount Davis had land in each category, but it was marked for less development than many other areas.
Mount Davis’ largest “permitted” area – slightly northeast of here, near the former Tung Wah Smallpox Hospital – became the site of the Mount Davis Resettlement Cottage Area called Kung Man Tseun, also known as Citizens’ Village. Most construction was completed by late 1952, and families had begun moving in earlier in that year. By 1954, roughly 250 cottages had 1,539 official residents; by the 1970s, the cottages probably housed over 2,000. Most early residents of Citizens’ Village were refugees; some had already lost makeshift homes in the huge Shek Kip Mei fire (December 1953). Their cottages at Mount Davis were fairly basic. They were less than 400 square feet; none had running water or indoor toilets until after 1990. Still, they were much less crowded and more comfortable than the public resettlement blocks, which housed almost one-third of Hong Kong residents by the mid-1960s (and where some families of five had only 120 square feet). Many cottagers made improvements. A neighbourhood welfare association, founded in 1955, provided various services: aid to the elderly and poor, student scholarships, classes for adults, some Chinese and Western-style medical services, and a low-cost pre-school. Former residents recall a safe, closely-knit neighbourhood. All the houses were completely demolished in 2002 and the remaining residents were settled in different areas by the government.
Photos:
A picture of the whole area in the 70s (Source: Google)
A picture of the whole area in the 70s (Source: Google)
My pics:
Remnants of floor tiles
Thanks for looking!
