Wind back the clock a little more than 30 years and much of the world was locked in an invisible war that many say has returned.
Known as the ‘Cold War’, the world’s superpowers — its main characters the US and the Soviet Union — were on their surface “at peace”, though anything but peace was common.
The threat of a nuclear conflict was very real, and smaller proxy wars were taking part all around the world.
This war wasn’t only between East and West, however, and though the Soviets and China shared a common political goal, they were also at each other’s throats.
Even worse for them was the fact that they shared a sizeable border and so the threat of invasion was very real. Those in power at the time saw only one course of action: preparation.
While the West focused heavily on its nuclear programme, China sought to build a vast network of underground shelters that rivalled in size any city.
One such system was known simply as the ‘Underground City’ or Dìxià Chéng in Beijing, described in a 2008 New York Times as “dark, damp, and genuinely eerie”.
Built between 1969 and 1979, the tunnels of the Underground City run beneath Beijing’s city centre and are believed to cover an area of 85 square kilometres some eight to 18 metres beneath the surface.
At one point, there were around 90 entrances to the city, each hidden in shops along the main streets of Qianmen.
Many of these entrances have since been destroyed or blocked off, although there are a handful of known entrances still clearly signposted if you look close enough, including 62 West Damochang Street in Qianmen, Beijing Qianmen Carpet Factory at 44 Xingfu Dajie in Chongwen District, and 18 Dashilan Jie in Qianmen.
The city is thought to be entirely impenetrable and indestructible, designed to withstand nuclear, biochemical and conventional attacks.
Such is its size that the entire population of Beijing at the time — six million people — would have been able to fit inside it.
They would have survived with the aid of the various restaurants, clinics, schools, theatres, and factories, not to mention a roller skating rink, grain and oil warehouses, as well as a mushroom cultivation farm.
Sites were intentionally created to source water from wells, intricate ventilation systems were installed, and 2,000 shafts were built into the tunnels that, on demand, could be entirely sealed off to protect from poisonous gas and water.
The Chinese government has never officially disclosed the extent of the Underground City, and though it was officially opened in 2000, for many years after 2008 it was closed for “renovations” due to serious safety concerns.
This hasn’t stopped people from moving in, however. As of 2024, more than a million people are thought to call the Underground City home, despite the fact this has been technically illegal since 2010.
They have disparagingly come to be known as the “Rat Tribe” or “Rat People”, those who can only afford the lower-income housing that the shelter provides. While many simply use the space temporarily, others have lived there for years.
