Need a break from the Isreali threads? Come check out Mao Tse Tung's Underground City!

In 1969, Chairman Mao commanded the construction of a second Beijing beneath the surface of the original city, designed to accommodate all six million of its then inhabitants so that if nuclear war did kick off, folk would still have somewhere to hang out and play Mah Jong while the rest of us burnt to death in a shower of atomic rain. War never came, but the city is still there.

From this article: CHAIRMAN MAO’S Underground City

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It’s pretty hard to get down there now, but by a few deft strokes of magical luck during my last visit to Beijing I got put in touch with a friend of a friend of someone who knew a guy who heard a story of a bloke with a mate who had an access point down into the tunnels built incongruously into the back room of his small house in the center of the Hutong district of town. On the condition that we didn’t reveal the exact location of the access point, his identity, or how much of a bribe we paid, he agreed to take us down.

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It was always going to be highly unlikely that the police would ever pick up on us going down there, but obviously, getting busted would be #ing awful and our guide was skulking like he was being followed by searchlights and sniffer dogs as he lead us through the back streets towards the entrance point: this dilapidated shop.

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We corkscrewed down several unlit staircases before reaching an underground thoroughfare. Incredibly, despite the tunnel network reaching between eight to eighteen meters underground, the Beijing electricity board are still pumping the volts through the crumbling artifice – here and there the light switches still worked.

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As we got deeper, the groundwater level rose. Soon we were up to our knees in freezing cold, #ty, disease-ridden slop. Here the lighting was a bit more volatile. Sometimes it worked, sometime the water-damaged bulbs would explode above our heads as soon as we flicked the switch.

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Most paths – if they weren’t already flooded beyond accessibility – were blocked up with wood or trash. Our guide insisted that if we were to shift all the wood to get over the top, we’d be able to get all the way to Tiananmen Square, where the tunnels are apparently large enough to accommodate rolling tank processions.

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It has periodically been put back into use – for local council storage space, depressing accommodation for manual laborers shipped in en-masse from the countryside, or for mad raves held by daring Chinese punks wearing miners’ headlamps. But much of it has also been concreted up, flooded, or destroyed to make way for Beijing’s new subway train network.

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For a time, a small portion of it was also opened as a tourist attraction, done up to look as it would have if Mao’s underground utopia had ever come to fruition, but has since been shut down again after Beijing backpackers spoke with their wallets and realized they liked spending their money on cheap Chinese rice liquor more than on exploring empty, rat-infested tunnels.

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As we snooped around we found various rooms in different states of disrepair. I guess this is where the proposed underground restaurants, offices, hospitals, schools, theaters, factories, and even roller skating rink would have ended up.

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Here’s some evidence of the tunnels being multi-layered, though here the upper floor has been blocked off, or was never completed.

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As we wandered on a bit, we found a couple of tiny bedrooms – one complete with damaged old posters on the walls. Great place to bring a girl back to.

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Further down the flooded path, we found a few fading tokens of the dream that built this barren bunker

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A crumpled picture of the man himself, and a commemorative plaque reminding everyone to be good communists by “digging deep tunnels, storing more food, not seeking hegemony.” That’s always been my motto.

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Here’s a bit of a map we found that gives you an idea of the complexity of the tunnels.

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Then something quite unexpected happened. As we walked further, presumably close to another ground level exit, we spotted lights already on ahead of us, and a couple of rather pleasant potted plants.

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Turns out the People’s Republic of China are still pushing their proles underground, and some poor folk are actually living down here as a testament to Beijing’s swelling population and housing problems.

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Our guide started to get anxious that we were seeing too much and our feet were now soaked and freezing…

I found this very interesting, and have had a fascination with the underground for a while. This was made to house 6 million people! Ever wonder what your country has under your very feet?!

-E-

[edit on 2-6-2010 by MysterE]

Wonderful article, thanks for posting it.

I love reading about hidden rooms and networks of tunnels under cities. The Catacombs under Paris are my particular favourite.

very very cool thread i like the story about the access points and the skechy guide. picks were cool to-peace

Some great pics, amazing to think about. Imagine having to spend a whole life time living underground in something like that during a nuclear war.

Any stories of albino alligators living down there?

I'm sure there are or were more elaborate bomb shelters built around the world, but the Chinese version on an entire sub-city was rather genius.

The US may have continuation of government and military bunkers deep below the earth, but they sure don't have anything for the "common man".

reply to post by MysterE


You had me at:

Need a break from the Isreali threads?

Fascinating read buddy, thanks for the welcome change!!!

S+F!!!

I sure wish I could afford to have my own giant, underground complex!!! No, in the USA, we don't even have simple fallout shelters, anymore.Now, the SovUnion, excuse me, Russia- has undergroung cities, stocked and waiting. NOT as nice as the ones Switzerland has, mind you....

Great thread. I always enjoy learning about underground cities and tunnels, I find it fascinating. That they intended to build it large enough for 6 million people is just amazing.
I have to say though, that's pretty awful that anyone has to live down there like that.

Found an interesting video on the subject:

Totally cool. I must confess that it reminded me of the sewers in C.H.U.D. which totally freaked me out when I was a kid. Something about underground cities and hollow earth stories fascinate me to no end.

Wow, that's pretty interesting. I can imagine all sorts of things down there.

The situation with the guide taking them into a forbidden abandoned area reminded me of the Russian movie Stalker.

Funny how a communist gov. seems to have there own people's life in mind. Wish I could say for america. The gov has this or larger and it streaches from Norad to the Denver airport. One problem thou, its only for the elite and politically corrupted. No room for the simle ethical common man.

Pretty awesome article. Reminds me of Midnight Meat Train though.

Originally posted by robbinsj
Funny how a communist gov. seems to have there own people's life in mind.

Well, I don't think that is what he had in mind.

Mao's social-political programs, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, are blamed for costing millions of lives, causing severe famine and damage to the culture, society and economy of China. Mao's policies and political purges from 1949 to 1976 are widely believed to have caused the deaths of between 50 to 70 million people.[2][3][4] Since Deng Xiaoping assumed power in 1978, many Maoist policies have been abandoned in favour of economic reforms.

Link

I'm thinking he was watching his and his political allies rear ends in case the SHTF! Especially since the population then was around 700 million.

-E-

Originally posted by postmeme
Pretty awesome article. Reminds me of Midnight Meat Train though.

If you mean that movie with Randy Quaid that came out in the 70's then yes I was thinking the same thing. Great stuff, I needed a break from the Israeli threads, they are getting very tiresome. Underground and hollow Earth theories are amazing to me.

I love this 'I got put in touch with a friend of a friend of someone who knew a guy who heard a story of a bloke with a mate who had an access point'...that killed me interesting stuff though!

Reminds me of a game called "Metro 2033"

www.gametrailers.com...

Wow what an incredible discovery! Big s&f for you!
I had no idea there was such a massive second city under Beijing.. My eyes are boggling!
It really reminds me of Metro 2033, in which the citizens of Moscow retreat to the Moscow metro after a nuclear attack, ironic as this was in preparation for such an event..
I'm very impressed! Kudos for sharing this!
Must tell my dad about this actually, he's really interested in the mad minds of communist leaders an their grand schemes.. Email coming right up, and credit where credit's due!

Thank you for the enlightening read, peace!

[edit on 2/6/10 by FunnyLittleFrog]

reply to post by Dotted


Like Metro 2033? Give the book a read, the game was based on it, and goes into so much more depth.. It's by Mikhail Glukhovsy I believe

...and it's AWESOME.

very nice thread BUT


there is no need to have a break from Israeli Threads...NO WAY

They are committing horrible crimes and if we keep on having breaks they keep on doing that

maybe a break from latest UFO sighting will do fine...but not from Israel

NO ONE will succeed in making us believe that he who feed information on the Israel Story is doing something retoric wrong or boring so nice try its the only thing i can say