Wonders in the Walled City

Last week, a friend invited me to go with her to the Kowloon Walled City Park (in Kowloon City, of course). She had flown in specifically to join the events celebrating Jackie Pullinger’s 60 years in Hong Kong. 

If you haven’t heard of Jackie Pullinger, you probably have heard of Kowloon Walled City. While the infamous City of Darkness was demolished in 1993, its legend still lives on today. It technically belonged to the Chinese (the only part of Hong Kong at that time) so British police could not enforce any laws there, but the Chinese also did not try to rule it, so it turned into a kind of no-man’s land with one triad ruling half of it and one triad ruling the other half. It was known for every kind of vice and was filled with opium dens, illegal dentists, brothels, and gambling parlors. And fishball factories. While it has been somewhat romanticized in recent years, the reality of growing up there was anything but romantic. 

With no building codes, buildings were built in a haphazard way, leaning into the other buildings so that the light couldn’t reach the bottom (hence the nickname, 黑暗 haak1am3 Darkness). Masses of wires ran everywhere. With no proper sewer system, lots of sewage ended up in the narrow streets. Most of the kids who grew up there had a hard time finishing school and drifted into joining a triad or working selling drugs or at a gambling den. 

Jackie Pullinger, a missionary from the UK, established a youth club in the Walled City, since there didn’t seem to be anything constructive a teenager could be involved in. After some of the young people decided to follow Jesus, she had to get involved in drug rehab out of necessity, and found that praying in the spirit helped addicts come off of drugs without pain (handy). Since that first youth club, there have been 285 different homes to help drug addicts get clean and learn to live new lives! 

That work still goes on today, and the park was packed with people who had been a part of the work, gone through the houses themselves, or wanted to hear the stories. 

After listening to an orchestra play and watching teenagers dance, we heard from some of the former Walled City residents. Ah Yin shared how his family of seven (and several dogs and a goldfish) lived in a 100-square foot flat. He not only was in a triad and addicted to drugs, but he also was in jail ten times. He met Jesus at 28 and was completely changed. He was able to come off drugs and has been involved with helping others ever since. As another brother noted, he used to be so mean but since following Jesus he became very kind. 

Another brother shared that he only decided to follow Jesus a few years ago. He also used to live in the Walled City and had heard of Jackie but never actually met her back then. A few years ago, he went to the funeral of a friend who had become a Christian, and he was shocked that Jackie was at the funeral! More than fifty years later, she was still there, still caring for people. He was very touched, and decided maybe he could give Jesus a try as well. 

Jackie herself shared that when she first went to Sing Jai, it was a place of darkness, despair, and thousands of heartbreaking stories. She had a vision that God’s light would come into that dark place and transform lives. She could see the old prostitute in a family who cared for her. She could see people on drugs healthy and whole. And now, standing in a beautiful, green park where there used to only darkness, her dream had come true! Hundreds of people there were testimonies to Jesus’ power to transform brokeness. Light HAD come, and it is beautiful. 

If you want to learn more stories from the brothers of the Walled City, you can read Jackie’s book Chasing the Dragon or check out the Instagram accounts 285andcounting and thevoice_hk.