Chapter 57 "Cage House" where are you?

There is no shortage of rich people in Hong Kong, but no matter how many rich people there are, they are still a minority, and the masses are still ordinary people. This fact is beyond doubt. I saw the "iron house" in Sham Shui Po, and my heart was already very heavy. In addition to the "iron house", in fact, I heard that there is a "cage house" in Hong Kong earlier. Someone promised to take me to see it, because I will never go again. , this way of living is likely to be extinct soon, so the "cage house" in Hong Kong has always been a bigger suspense for me, but before I found it, a happy Hong Kong person said: " People need to be open-minded, what's wrong with living in a 'tin house'? Even if you have to live in a 'cage house', you still have your own happiness, and you can talk about civilization when you walk on the street", which immediately turned my train of thought—indeed , Poor and rich can be weighed on the material balance, but spiritually, the balance cannot distinguish between high and low status.

But "cage house", where are you?From 2004 to 2006, for two full years, I have been looking for it. In the early 1990s, Hong Kong filmed a film called "The Cage Man", which won the "Best Film" award at the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1993.This film is based on a true story that happened in Hong Kong: a privately owned old-style tenement building (Hong Kong people call three or four-storey buildings without elevators "Tonglou") is facing the fate of renovation. The residents in a men's apartment were forced to move out of the "cage house" and couldn't find an equally cheap place to live, let alone solve the problem of livelihood, so a "group resistance" broke out.As a result, as soon as the film was released, it immediately attracted great attention not only from Hong Kong society, but also from the global Chinese world.

As the name suggests, "cage house" is a house like a cage. The people who live in this kind of house are not only called "cage people", but also "bird people". "Birdmen" are homeless, go to street parks for activities during the day, and return to their nests to rest like birds at night.However, "birds" are different from "humans". Once a "human" is "locked" into a small space like a "cage", the dignity of life, at least in my opinion, has disappeared. The image of a certain "animal" will come to mind——

I know that people living in "cage houses" in Hong Kong are called "cage people" not because they watched the movie "Cage People", but because they first saw a group of photos on the Internet.The rooms in the dilapidated tenement building in the photo, from the ground to the sky, have several stacks of three rectangular "cages" made of thick iron wires. The size of such a large cage is no more than one sheet. The single bed is less than one meter high and short. The "caged people" who live in it are regardless of gender, age or age, and everyone can see each other at night; Just buckle the general lock, and the "door" will be closed, and you will feel relaxed.

On July 28, 2006, still with the enthusiastic help of my friends, I finally had the opportunity to take a look at the "cage house" personally. Why do I say I just took a look at it? In 2006, there were too few "cage houses" in Hong Kong, and it was difficult to find them. In 2001, the government announced that "there are still nearly 150 places in Hong Kong", but by 2002, this number had been reduced to "48 places". It was with great difficulty that I found 5 companies, and 4 of these 5 companies did not apply to the government at all—the implication is that they are "black houses".This time I took me to "you can only try your luck", because even the head of the "cage house" that has passed the government's record, "it's hard to say whether they will open the door", let alone let me, a mainlander The reporter went in and carefully "visited" and "photographed" carefully.

Following the "guide" that day, I found No. 146 Yingpan Street, an ordinary dilapidated residential building. Since the lessor of this "cage house" was operating legally, we saw a block in front of the building when we walked downstairs. It was a big sign with the words "Men's beds for rent" written in red letters, but the price was not indicated. On the second floor, two side-by-side doors are tightly closed.At that time, I thought "it's broken", and I came all the way, maybe there is no one at home?But I knocked on the door and waited patiently for about two minutes. There was movement in the room on the left. A young fat woman opened the door and asked me what I was doing.As I said, "Come and see, see if there are any vacant beds here", I quickly handed in the two bags of fruit that I had bought in advance.The fat woman took the fruit unceremoniously, but didn't let me in. She admitted that she was the head of the "cage house", a charter woman, but the people living in it were male drivers who drove night taxis. Everyone is still sleeping, even if they are not sleeping, "women are not allowed to enter" her "cage house".Although I said all the good things, the woman insisted on opening the one-foot-wide door and would not retreat. In the end, I was helpless, and I didn't have to take out the camera. I could only open my eyes wide and look into the room vigorously.What have I gained from this look?There happened to be an open door within sight. There were several sets of beds stacked one upon another in the room. In one of the lower berths a man was sleeping, with his upper body naked and his lower body wearing a pair of uniform shorts; The berth is the middle berth, which is empty; there should be an upper berth above the middle berth, but unfortunately I can't see all of them, and I don't know if there are people.But just this "one look", I also took a long breath, why?The smell in the room was too bad, salty, bitter and smelly, mixed with hot air, rushing out the door.Needless to say, her "cage house" must have no air conditioning.However, it is such a condition. One person has to pay 700 to 900 to the charter woman a month. As for whether the package does not include utility bills, I wanted to ask further, but my throat is no longer up to date, and there seems to be something in my stomach. When I was about to come out, I couldn't help but instinctively retracted my head. Seeing my appearance, the charter lady took the opportunity to close the door with a bang.

Leaving the hard-to-find "cage house" was uncomfortable, let alone enjoyable.It has been two years since I searched for a "cage house", and now I have finally found one, but people still refuse to let me in.Although my friend later helped me knock on a "black house" that did not apply to the government, I could only look in from the door, but this time I strengthened a new discovery, which is the "cage house" in Hong Kong Now some of them no longer use iron cages, but use iron frames and wooden boards to maintain the essence of the "cage house". Although the size is still the same, there are still three "cages" stacked together from the sky to the ground, but each set "Cage houses" are separated by small rooms, and the privacy has been improved. Dozens of people living in a room of 40 to 50 square meters can at least be relatively independent. At the same time, a friend told me: Now in Hong Kong, I still live in "cage houses" I'm afraid there are only some old people and bachelors left here. If these bachelors have families, they are usually in the mainland, such as taxi drivers. They work in Hong Kong during the day just to make money, and they are tired at night and want to sleep. , what is needed is a bed?Is it worth buying a house?

Both "cage houses", I was not able to take pictures in the room.Going back to the main street, I was outside the old tenement building at No. 146 Yingpan Street that day, and took a few exterior shots at random. When I came back and developed the photos, I found that one of them was very interesting—it was not far from the old tenement building, and it was beautiful. A new residence has been erected in a building that happens to be across from the window of the "cage house".However, even though the residents of the "cage house" may not have to live in any "cage house" in the near future, when will they be able to stand at the same level as the rich people in Hong Kong?