A look of nervous curiosity clouds the faces of those who walk haltingly past the crumbling facade of Chungking Mansions in Kowloon district. The building, though flanked by some of Hong Kong’s most glamorous malls, has a shifty aura; seedy loiterers and overeager restaurant touts do little to dispel the feeling. But the dimly lit, unimpressive entrance hides a sprawling – and largely harmless – bazaar, where people from a dozen or so Asian and African nations do not just shop, but conduct full-on trade transactions in cheap electronics and textiles.
香港九龍重慶大廈(Chungking Mansions)破敗的外墻下，路過的行人步履遲疑，臉上透著既緊張又好奇的神色。盡管兩側都是香港一些最光鮮的購物中心，重慶大廈卻給人一種陰郁鬼祟的感覺。在附近閑逛的人穿得破破爛爛，餐館吆喝得過于起勁，這一切都令這種感覺更加強烈。然而，穿過燈光昏暗、毫不起眼的大廈入口，里面卻隱藏著一個雜亂（且基本上很安全）的大集貿市場。來自亞洲和非洲十幾個國家的人，在這里從事著廉價電子產品和紡織品的全套貿易交易，而不只是簡單的買賣。