page_title: Chungking Mansions
section_title: Public safety
hierarchical_section_title: Chungking Mansions / Public safety
caption_attribution_description: English: Electrical wiring in block D of w:Chungking Mansions
context_page_description: Chungking Mansions is a building located at 36–44 Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Though the building was supposed to be residential, it is made up of many independent low-budget hotels, shops and other services. As well as selling to the public, the stalls in the building cater to wholesalers shipping goods to Africa and South Asia. The unusual atmosphere of the building is sometimes compared to that of the former Kowloon Walled City.
  Chungking Mansions features guesthouses, curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, and foreign exchange offices. It often acts as a large gathering place for some of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly South Asians, Middle Eastern people, Nigerians, Europeans, Americans, and many other peoples of the world. Peter Shadbolt of CNN stated that the complex was the "unofficial African quarter of Hong Kong".
  The building was completed in 1961, at which time Chinese residents predominated. Now, after more than five decades of use, there are an estimated 4,000 people living in the complex.
context_section_description: The age of the building, the diverse ownership and management structure are causes of the building's reputation for being a fire trap. Unsanitary conditions, security, ancient electrical wiring and blocked staircases all contribute to the hazards. On 21 February 1988, a fire broke out in the building. A Danish tourist who was trapped inside was killed. The fire, as well as a blaze in a similar building, provoked a review of rules and regulations concerning public safety.
  In 1995, Chungking Mansions made local newspaper headlines when Sushila Pandey, a 37-year-old Indian tourist, was killed in the building by her Sri Lankan partner Attanayake Wasala Dangamuwa, 54.
  In 2003, CCTV cameras were installed, and as of 2013, there are 330 CCTV cameras covering 70 per cent of the building's public spaces.
  Chungking Mansions is known to be a centre of drugs, as well as a refuge for petty criminals, scammers, and illegal immigrants. For example, in a police raid in June 1995, about 1,750 people were questioned, and 45 men and seven women from Asian and African countries were arrested on suspicion of offences including failing to produce proof of identity, overstaying, using forged travel documents, possessing equipment for forging documents and possessing dangerous drugs. In "Operation Sahara" in 1996, 52 men and seven women from 14 countries were arrested for violating immigration regulations. An episode of National Geographic's Locked Up Abroad showed the location as the rendezvous for gold smugglers, contracted to be mules carrying 60 or more pounds of gold into Nepal.
caption: Telephone wiring
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