Underground living: A peek into Beijing’s nuclear bunker homes

Nuclear city
Fear of a nuclear attack
The entrance to the underground city
Community rules
Cooking in the shared kitchen
Dry your clothes
Shopping in underground supermarkets
Small apartments
Desk, a bed and some decoration
Laundry room/ Bathroom
A blot on China's politics
The rent is around 109 USD
Many save for a house in the village
Underground hotels
More hotel beds
Pets
Washing dishes in clean communal washrooms
Hair salon underground
Leisure activities
Nuclear City
Nuclear city

Did you know that in Beijing, the capital of China, there are more than one million people who live underground?

 

Fear of a nuclear attack

It is a tunnel system consisting of thousands of air-raid shelters that was built by Mao Zedong in the late 1960s because he feared a nuclear attack.

The entrance to the underground city

The picture shows one of the entrances to the bunker housing located behind, luxury apartments. Due to soaring rents in Beijing, many of the city's migrant workers have been forced to move to these small underground apartments.

Community rules

Here we see the manager of a housing complex in a Chinese air-raid shelter putting up a community rules sign on the outskirts of Beijing.

Cooking in the shared kitchen

A man prepares food in the communal kitchen.

Dry your clothes

The laundry hangs to dry in the corridors of the underground settlement.

Shopping in underground supermarkets

A clerk gets up to help a customer in an underground supermarket. But there are also community centers, bars, dance schools and beauty salons.

Small apartments

A man sits in his cramped bunker dwelling where he keeps all his belongings. When the Cold War was over, the Department of Defense began renting out the bunkers as apartments.

Desk, a bed and some decoration

This young woman's room is decorated with posters. The bunker apartments are about 4 square meters in size, clean and, contrary to expectations, not at all damp or smelly. Most of the time, the bed is used as a storage area during the day.

Laundry room/ Bathroom

A washing machine is in the bathroom. There are few pictures of this city under the city, because foreigners are not allowed to enter. Security guards or caretakers guard the settlements and do not let anyone in.

A blot on China's politics

The reason for this is that the Chinese state wants to keep the underground nuclear bunker apartments a secret.

The rent is around 109 USD

An apartment can be rented for 700 Chinese Yuan Renminbi, which is about $109 USD, roughly $27 USD per square meter.

Many save for a house in the village

Many of the residents only use the bunkers as temporary accommodation. It is bearable to live there, but not in the long term, because living in small quarters underground in not good for mental health. But you can save faster there in order to buy a house in a village later.

Underground hotels

The picture shows one of the hotel rooms with beds where you can stay for little money.

More hotel beds

This "hotel room" is so narrow that the beds are place head to toe.

Pets

This picture shows a cat at the entrance to one of the entrances to the air raid shelters. However, the city authorities themselves state that around 281,000 people live underground in Beijing.

Washing dishes in clean communal washrooms

A woman does her dishes in one of the communal laundry rooms.

Hair salon underground

For an article, reporters from Galileo (Pro7) ventured into the settlements with the risk of being caught. The picture shows one of the hairdressing salons in the underground city, which is also home to whole families with children.

Image: YouTube / Screenshot Galileo: Nuclear City: Die Bunker-Stadt unter Peking | Galileo | ProSieben

Leisure activities

There is even a billiard room.

Image: YouTube / Screenshot Galileo: Nuclear City: Die Bunker-Stadt unter Peking | Galileo | ProSieben

Nuclear City

In the city under the city, live ordinary people who go to work every day or even have their shops there. In a city where rental prices are constantly rising, there is a chance to buy and save money in the hopes of fulfilling your dreams.

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