In July, the video game Stray came out
and people went wild for it.
It was still one of the most popular games three months in.
Stray is about a cat that is trying to escape an underground city
and find his way back to the surface.
It’s inspired by the Kowloon Walled City,
once an informal settlement in Hong Kong
before it was demolished in 1994.
Drugs and crime were common in the 2.7 hectares high-rise site,
but so were small businesses and camaraderie
among the 50,000 residents.
We wondered if the game captured the spirit of the walled city,
so we got former resident Albert Ng to play the game with us.
My name is Albert Ng.
I’m a former resident of the Kowloon Walled City.
I moved there in the mid-70s.
By the way, Albert and I have never played video games before.
We started with a chapter of the game
we felt resembled the city the most.
I can’t control the camera. Haha.
Were there a lot of stray cats in Kowloon Walled City?
Were there a lot of stray cats?
Um, I don’t really remember. I remember there were a few.
Oh, so this is the leader?
Yes, I think so.
I don’t know what he’s saying though.
Can the robot B-12 translate?
Oh, so the robot hid because they were afraid of the cat.
They thought it was a monster.
They thought it was Zurk?
Yes.
We can explore the ground level first.
In the walled city, there weren’t that many areas
with this much space.
How about the area in the middle?
Where the retirement home was.
Yes, the retirement home was actually,
we called it an almshouse in English.
It was a Yamen (imperial Chinese office) in the past.
Many years ago, during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912),
the government sent officials here.
They lived at the back,
while they heard cases and worked in the front area.
So if you visit the Kowloon Walled City today,
you'll be able to see the entrance.
I see two cannons at the entrance.
Those cannons are real.
They used to be on the floor in some dark alleyways.
Were there neon lights? I’m guessing not.
Yeah, there weren’t. No one would’ve been able to see them.
This spot looks more like Japan to me.
He's holding a guitar?
There are some cat logos.
Was the environment like this?
The pile of rubbish looks familiar.
There wasn’t a system to collect garbage.
So the only thing residents could do was to take their trash
and see where other people threw theirs at.
Let’s look around and continue exploring.
In this game, there are different robots
that formed a community.
Can you describe to me
what people living in the walled city were like?
What did they do?
I know there were many metal workshops.
But the most famous businesses were the dentists.
There were so many of them.
They were trained in mainland China
but the Hong Kong government didn’t recognize their qualifications.
So they worked here.
Sometimes, I saw a person give a packet of stuff to someone else.
You knew it was drugs.
But if you don't talk to them, they’ll leave you alone.
This spot looks similar to the actual place,
especially when you look up.
But the buildings need to be closer.
It was impossible there would be a gap
in between two buildings.
These (air conditioners) here, we couldn’t afford them.
It’s quite dark here.
This looks quite similar. It was really quite dark. dark.
Living in the walled city, you needed a very important skill.
Know how to keep your head down.
There were many unauthorized pipes and they kept dripping.
It could be clean water,
but it could also be water from the drainage system.
There were many ditches.
The hygiene was very poor there.
Can we go to the rooftop?
You can control the cat by getting it to jump.
You can see if there are really 13 floors
like the actual city.
Okay, what’s the next step?
You can jump onto the awnings.
You can jump from this building to another block.
Make the cat face the left side. Yes.
Yes.
You can jump when you see the “X” sign.
Ready. Jump!
Yes, it was similar. The kids used to jump between buildings.
The rooftop feels a little like the one in the walled city.
Because we were very close to Kai Tak Airport.
When we saw a plane fly past, we would wave at it.
if you went to the top of the walled city,
you could see places that were very far away.
The airport, the runway, Kowloon City,
Victoria Harbor, and Hong Kong Island.
If the distance between the buildings were shorter,
it would be more realistic.
There were mattresses and chairs (on the rooftop).
When it was less hot,
men went up to relax and smoke.
Here’s a mattress!
The walled city’s rooftop had a lot of antennas.
Because we needed them to watch television.
We put up the antennas
and wires would hang between buildings﻿.
Maybe we can try entering people’s houses.
Your turn.
Let me look for them.
Here.
You can enter here, right?
From the window.
Let me push everything down﻿!
Was your house this big?
How big is it here? Wow, it’s a very big flat.
My flat was around 200 sq ft.
There was a bedroom for my mom and my sisters.
I had a bed in the living room.
It was where people sat.
All buildings at the Kowloon Walled City
didn’t comply with infrastructure standards.
Because the government couldn’t manage them.
We didn't have a water supply system.
So the whole building, 13 floors, had no water.
My mom needed to get water from downstairs all the time.
In retrospect, this makes me feel sad.
Because we didn’t have resources,
neighbors always helped one another.
The community in the walled city was very close.
We had very strong relationships.
Was there a desk like this for you to study?
Not really.
So how did you study? At school?
Our favorite place was Kai Tak Airport
because there were air conditioners and toilets.
It was very comfy.
It was really tough at that time.
I caught tuberculosis twice during high school.
But my classmates were very nice. They studied with me.
Some of us got admitted into the University of Hong Kong
to study engineering.
When it was demolished, I was very happy.
I could finally leave.
To be honest, I don’t really think
it looks a lot like the Kowloon Walled City.
I find it looks like the dystopian towns
you see in American dramas instead.
But traveling in a place that slightly resembles it,
from the point of view of a cat,
is more interesting than I thought.
I’m happy because someone remembers the settlement.
I’m sad that the world thinks Kowloon Walled City
is some filthy town rife with crimes.
I agree to some extent, but as a former resident,
it’s not entirely true. It was my home.
I’m thinking, would it be possible
for us Hongkongers to create a game?
So that we can really recreate
what our lives were like in the past.
It’s good to preserve this part of history through a game.