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Backgroud information:
Chungking Mansions (重慶大廈) is a famous building in Hong Kong. It is located at 36-44 Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Chungking Mansions is an accommodation with relatively low rent comparing with the rest part of Tsim Sha Tsui.
The Chungking Mansions features a labyrinth of guesthouses, curry messes, sweat-shops, and sari stores. It is an interesting building in the way that it acts as a large gathering place for the minorities in Hong Kong particularly Indians and those from the middle-east like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan. The building was completed in 1961 and local Chinese residents were dominant at that time. Now, it has nearly 4,000 people lodging in the Mansions, which is mainly because of the cheap lodging fee of the Mansions. In addition, there are some foreign exchange shops offering favorable exchange rates. That is why many foreign workers love to stay there.
In fact, Chungking Mansions is not only famous for their low lodging fee, but the mansions also provide a chance for cultural interchange of people from different nations. Indeed, Chungking has now become a symbol of culture integration in Hong Kong.
How to get there
There is no complimentary shuttle service running between the Hong Kong International Airport. Tourists can get there by various kinds of transportation easily, for example: MTR, several airport buses or taxi. It only takes a few minutes walk from the MTR station. For tourists arriving from China by trains, the best way to reach Chungking Mansions is to take a taxi from the Hung Hom KCR station. RE: You can get there by Bus A21 in the airport
Actually, there are 5 blocks of buildings in Chungking Mansions, each seventeen stories high. And there are 90 guest houses with 980 rooms in it. The rent is low, from $150 to $280 per day. It is the mansion that has the most guest houses in Hong Kong.
It is not expensive to buy a flat in Chungking Mansions. From a recent statistics, the price of a flat is found to be ranged from $300,000 to $1,000,000.
It has been built for 42 years.
Illegal Immigrants caught by police:
Yahoo HK news 2004-01-19
Another crime happened in Chungking Mansions:
Yahoo HK news 2004-02-04
Murder in Chungking Mansions:
ycwb.com 金羊網
11 people caught by police:
[1]
Housing
Chungking Mansions, the infamous ghetto-like structure, has some of the cheapest rates in town, making it a legendary haunt for backpackers and budget travelers in search of adventure.Featured films
The unique identity of Chungking Mansions also attracts the interest of film director. A famous Hong Kong director, Wong Kar-wai, has chosen Chungking Mansions as the setting of one of his award winning film, Chungking Express in 1994 and Fallen Angels in 1995. The former one won 4 prizes in the 14th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards-best picture, director, actor and editing.
In the film, Chungking Mansions made a great contrast with the building in Lan Kwai Fong. The former shows loneliness and disconnections in the city, while the latter shows happiness.Trading
The interesting combination of people in the Chungking Mansions has developed a special trading environment. As most of the Indian and African governments implement strong trade restrictions over the amount of export and import, this triggers a high demand of consuming products over those countries. Therefore many businesses are done through importing parallel goods.Security issue
Chungking Mansions has been stigmatized as a symbol of crime. CCTV can be found easily in everywhere. Because of their cheap lodging and convenient location, Chungking Mansions attract the interest of illegal immigrants. The Hong Kong police can raid hundreds of illegal immigrants lodging in Chungking Mansions every year.
Moreover, prostitution, drug dealing, robbery, theft...etc are also security problems of Chungking Mansions. Implication of Chungking Mansions
Everytime, whenever people pass by the Mansions, they try not to put up their head. They tried to avoid looking at those people standing besides the Mansions.
Why is it happen?
Actually, Chungking Mansions, in Hong Kong history, is the happy home of criminal. Even policemen, they are not very willing to get into it.
The Mansions show the police force of Hong Kong is not good enough.
Chungking Mansions also give people feeling of alone. If you are not alone, you will not choose the Mansions to live in.
The Mansions show feeling of loneliness and also disconnections of people in the city.Related news articles
Food
Although Chungking Mansions had a bad reputation for security, there are many restaurants, e.g. small, family-run Indian or Pakistani restaurant with delicious, traditional Indian curry and Nepali food. Together with their reasonable prices, they can indeed attract visitors coming all over the world.
Photos of Chungking Mansions
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Photos are taken by Igarashi Taro and are kindly adapted from IGARASHI Taro Photo Archives 9 and http://www.ypmap.com/photo/normal/HOTELS/HTL8M-3.JPG
