Beijing's underground city was built during the height of the Cultural Revolution in 1969 when it was relatively easy for Mao Zedong to find volunteers.
The Chinese were sweet buddies with the Soviet Union at the beginning of the communist revolution, but things ultimately turned sour during a bloody border skirmish in northern Heilongjiang province in 1969.
A system of tunnels, bunkers, and air raid shelters was then built from 1969 to 1979 by thousands of Beijing citizens in case of a nuclear attack. Fortunately the elaborate labyrinthe was never needed for defense purposes and today serves as one of Beijing's least known tourist attractions.
Inside you can walk around some of the tunnels and see vacant facilities which were once meant to be hospitals, restaurants, schools, theaters, roller skating rinks, and barber shops. The temperature is maintained at 18 degrees Celsius throughout the year.
If you can read Chinese then you'll enjoy the amusing nostalgic Chinese slogans and murals still visible on the walls, with Mao quotes calling for people to "dig deep" and hopefully "win the fight against American imperialists and Soviet revisionists"
The only activity you might see is at an underground silk workshop where you can observe the entire silk-making process, but it is actually a recent addition contracted out to Jiangsu entrepreneurs hoping to sell pillow covers and pajamas to Hong Kong and Taiwan tour groups.
Admission into the tunnel costs 20 yuan for adults and 10 for children. It's best to bring your own flashlight, which you can find available for sale (very cheap) at stores on nearby Qianmen Dong Dajie.
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on Jun 18, 2005
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