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12 Hong Kong L.J. 179 (1982)
A Tale of Two Walled Cities: Kowloon and Wiehaiwei

handle is hein.journals/honkon12 and id is 201 raw text is: A Tale of Two Walled Cities: Kowloon and Weizaiwei N J Miners* THE issue of Chinese jurisdiction within the area of the old Walled City of Kowloon has not been a cause of contention between China and Britain since the foundation of the People's Republic. This is in contrast with the strong views held on the subject by the preceding Kuomintang government. The issue had lain dormant for thirty-three years following the expulsion of the Chinese magistrates by military force in 1899, but in 1933 the Chinese government revived its claim to jurisdiction within the area and continued to press this upon the British government in a long correspondence which was only terminated by the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in 1937. As soon as the war was over the issue was again raised in September 1946 by the Chinese special representative in Hong Kong, Mr Kwok, and in January 1948 Chinese officials entered the area of the Walled City to encourage squatters to resist attempts to evict them by Hong Kong government officials. This led to a riot four days later in which the police were forced to open fire and several demonstrators were injured. This in turn provoked student demonstrations in China and the British consulate in Canton was sacked and set on fire. Diplomatic exchanges on this matter continued until the Nationalist government fled to Taiwan. But since 1949 the government of the People's Republic has only raised the matter once, as far as is known. That was in January 1963 when a protest note was handed to the British chargd d'affaires in Peking objecting to proposals to demolish certain structures in the area of the old Walled City and resettle the inhabitants. As a result the Hong Kong government prudently changed its plans.' This tacit argeement between Britain and China to ignore the issue is easy to understand in the present state of amity between Hong Kong and its mighty neighbour. But this does IMA (Oxon), PhD (Exe): Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Hong Kong. The Chinese names (of persons and places) have generally been romanised according to the style adopted in the source material. See note 23 below. 'This account of the Kowloon Walled City dispute is very much abbreviated. since full details are now available in Peter Wesle.y-Smith. U'ncismd Treay 1898-1997 (Hung Kong: Oxford UP. 19M(}), where full references to sources are given. Unfortunately the main files from the Colonial Office dealing with the 1948 Walled City riots are closed to public access at Ili Public Record Olficc in London for 75 years, inmtead of the normal period of restriction of thirty years.

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