The thrilling experience of aircraft swooping over the rooftop of tenement blocks in Kowloon City when descending into the old airport remains a collective memory in Hong Kong and beyond. Now travellers at the airport off Lantau Island are greeted with replicas of a film set from a blockbuster featuring an infamous enclave in the now-lost neighbourhood. The display provides a good example of harnessing the soft power of creative industries to promote the city, a much-needed step amid the slow pace of tourism recovery.
The life-size exhibits offer an immersive taste of the history and culture of Kowloon Walled City in its 1980s heyday. Another film set is shown in a shopping centre at the old Kai Tak airport site, which is now a prime…