BEIJING – Over a million people are living in Beijing’s underground bunker metropolis which was designed to protect the city from a nuclear fallout.
In the late ’60s and ‘70s, anticipating the devastation of a Cold War-nuclear fallout, Chairman Mao ordered Chinese cities to build apartments with bomb shelters capable of withstanding the blast of a nuclear bomb.
In Beijing alone, roughly 10,000 bunkers were promptly constructed and when the nuclear threat never materialized, migrant workers and students were ushered into them to live.
Italian photographer Antonio Faccilongo, who went undercover to take the revealing snaps, says she met 150 people, and that only 50 gave permission for their pictures to be published.
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And with limited access to public, affordable housing, nuclear bunkers are one of the few feasible options for migrant workers.
Many of the residents are aspiring youth who believe that underground dwelling is just a transitional phase of their life until they gain the financial means for a room with windows and sunlight.
However, amid the current strained relations between China and western powers, these bunkers provide a sense of security to the people in capital Beijing in case of a nuclear threat.
Read more at This underground nuclear bunker city provides shelter to a million people
