If you have been living in Hong Kong for quite some time or if you are a Wong Kar-wai’s movies lover, you must certainly know Chungking Mansions, often called “the ghetto of Hong Kong”.

Describing Chungking Mansions to someone who hasn’t experienced it can be quite challenging, so let’s start with some facts and statistics. The worn-out grey building opened in 1961 on the busy Nathan Road, during an era of rapid growth in industry, immigration and tourism in British Hong Kong. It consists of 17 storeys, five lifts, and three blocks interconnected by a two-floor shopping arcade.

The building was supposed to be residential, but the lack of regulations at the time made it possible for flats and commerces to co-exist, with many guesthouses, small shops and restaurants scattered throughout, including curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, and foreign exchange offices.

Chungking Mansions, 1970s – Photo HKU Libraries

Home to about 4,000 residents (6,000 originally) from 129 different countries, it became a large gathering place for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly South Asians (Indians, Nepalese, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans), Middle Eastern people, Nigerians, Europeans, Americans. Its proximity with Kowloon Mosque, the largest mosque in town, also helped Muslims to settle down in the area.

However, these figures fail to capture the essence of Chungking Mansions as a self-contained city within Hong Kong, an ecosystem simultaneously integrated with and distinct from its surroundings. Often called the “little United Nations”, it is described by anthropology professor Gordon Matthews as a “world centre of low-end globalisation”, the place extending its ties beyond Nathan Road to markets in Lagos and Karachi.

Inside Chungking Mansions

By the late 1960s, many of the flats in the building had been converted into guesthouses where American soldiers would come from Vietnam to meet sex workers, and where backpackers and hippies would be attracted by the cheap rates.

The arcade basement was hosting nightclubs with magicians and hostesses for foreign sailors, while the second floor became The Hong Kong Shopping Mart selling clothes, computers and cheap electronics such as mobile phones. On the residential floors, flats were converted into Indian restaurants and light industrial workshops.

In the 1980s, Chungking Mansions had a sulphurous reputation, being known as the centre for gold-smuggling rings and prostitution, as well as a favourite spot for triads, and many Hong Kong people would avoid it. With so many different cultures and cuisines, the place was also a melting pot for more adventurous tourists and curious locals.

Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten and his wife at Chungking Mansion, 1994

Over the years, fire safety became a big issue. The building was obviously not designed for commercial kitchens, so electrical cables were hung outside the walls. In 1993, the electrical system exploded. So, the owners’ corporation had to finally handle the electrical supply. This was unveiled during an official ceremony in 1994 with Hong Kong’s Governor, Chris Patten, the only Hong Kong leader to ever visit Chungking Mansions.

In the 1990s, backpackers started to decline while residents from India, Pakistan and Nepal increased, many of them often working illegally in the building’s shops and restaurants. With the installation of CCTV, Chungking Mansions started to feel safer. The numbers of visitors spiked after the release of Chungking Express by Hong Kong movie director Wong Kar-wai, giving the building some kind of a renaissance.

Woman in blond (Brigitte Lin) in “Chungking Express” by Wong Kar-Wai

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, African traders arrived by waves, buying goods in Hong Kong and China to resell in their home countries. Professor Mathews estimated that, in 2008, about 20% of mobile phones in use in sub-Saharan Africa were coming from Chungking Mansions.

For the past twenty years, the activities have decreased and the attendance has evolved. While the basement of the arcade is still filled with cafés, grocery stores and electronics shops, the mezzanine is almost empty. The building has been renovated, the quality of the guesthouses has improved, and CCTV and fire sensor systems have made it safer and less infamous.

In 2009, American writer Michael Connelly featured Chungking Mansion in his book Nine Dragons, where detective Harry Bosch travels from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. The building is then described by a character as a “post-modern Casablanca — all in one building.”

Today, the scruffy and chaotic Chungking Mansions stands out as anachronistic and its peculiar appeal makes it an interesting place to visit. Efforts are also being made to restore the building’s image and history, with the organisation of tours by a few local organisations and associations. Young Hong Kongers are now coming for a meal – something their parents would have never done in the past.

To visit Chungking Mansions, you can book tours with Africa Center HK here or with City University of Hong Kong here.

To go deeper, read The Ghetto at the Centre of the World: Chungking Mansions by Professor Gordon Matthews (2011).