Josh

And so they said, you know what, we're going to tell China on you, essentially.

And China stepped in and was like, no, guys, you're not going to do that.

These people have a right to live here.

This is, quote, a gross violation of China's sovereignty.

And everybody should protest and strike.

And they did.

And the cops came in and there were clashes.

And it became essentially an international scandal that the Brits were picking on these poor people who were squatting in this poor area in a colony the Brits were administering.

It was not a very good look.

So the Brits backed off.

And it was another chance for China to be like, ha ha, we are really using Kowloon, Walled City to the maximum effect.

So the Brits who still wanted to tear this down, they went back to the drawing board.

Yeah, and these were secret talks, right?

So for China, this city had outlived its political usefulness.

And I guess just as a, I mean, they wanted to tear it down so badly that the Brits were willing to do this for China shortly before the handover in 1997.

And so what they came up with is that residents would be offered financial compensation, pretty good compensation too, I think about $300,000 for a flat,

that again, they'd spent maybe $30,000 on 20 years before.

They would be moved into a high-rise public housing unit.

They're basically all going to be resettled into a nicer life gratis with a little spending money.

Yeah.