With 50 000 residents, Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was said to be the world’s most densely populated place. It was the home of drug lords, criminals, prostitutes and gangsters (I know you said ‘gangsta’, it’s gangster in this case). Kowloon was also anarchistic, which means they were not under government rule. In 1948, there was a failed attempt to drive out the squatters in Kowloon and the British resorted to a ‘hands-off’ policy concerning the Walled City. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Chinese Triads ruled and, in 1993, the City was demolished. It might seem intimidating and frightening, but people continued to live ‘comfortable’ lives.

You are probably thinking: “How the hell can you live a happy life in a place like that?” It’s simple. If you grow up in a certain community, you grow accustomed to its way of living and eventually pick up the community’s habits. You begin to see it as ‘normal’. It’s only when you are made aware of other ways of life that you start comparing and say, “Oh, if only we were like so-and-so.” But what if the residents of Kowloon did not worry about other people? There were possibly many reasons for their happiness, but because they were somewhat ‘disconnected’ from the rest of the world they had nothing with which to compare their lifestyles. We also need to remember that that was their home. It was where they were born and bred and had memories. So yes, they might have been poor but they were happy.