Chungking Mansions

It's an infamous Hong Kong tenement building in Kowloon's teeming Nathan Road. Chungking Mansions has a colourful past, and who knows what future.

Built as luxury residential flats in the early 1960s, these days it's a haven for asylum seekers, commercial travellers and anyone who needs a cheap place to stay.

Chungking Mansions stands out like a shabby island from its more luxurious surroundings. With a thousand owners and bad past management, it has been almost impossible to get a consensus on what to do with it.

Meanwhile, the wiring could burst into flames at any minute, it thrives as a business community, appears to be self-sufficient and is an international melting pot which has been a law unto itself.

For RTHK, Sarah Passmore takes a step inside.

Chungking Mansions is part of Global Perspective, the BBC World Service international documentary series. This year's theme is Islands.

First broadcast on Friday 31 July 2009