Remembering walls by map naming and planned attempts to eradicate and salvage a wall-less “walled city”: Kowloon City

Abstract

As of 1946, the site of the former imperial Chinese fort, Kowloon City (City), stripped of its stone walls during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in the Pacific War (1941–1945), became called Kowloon Walled City in English official communiques with the Colonial Office/Foreign and Commonwealth Office when, apart from a few Crown lessees, it was occupied by squatters. As a contribution to place naming and place memory research, this paper uses hitherto unreported archival materials to show that this renaming of the City began with post-war official colonial Hong Kong government's planned attempts to eradicate the squatter development on the site. The discussion should shed light on the specific question as to why its long gone City walls have been remembered and the influence of place naming and mapping for place branding in land use planning and policy.