ABANDONED ATTRACTIONS

It’s difficult to estimate the total number of occupied landmarks in China, as only the Beijing municipal government appears to have kept close tallies. The following examples from Chinese media remind us that people can feel at home just about anywhere.

THE SECRET LAB

In 2006, Sina reported from Jinan, Shandong province, that a grotty three-storey building formerly belonging to Unit 1875, a Japanese biological warfare unit slightly less notorious than Unit 731, had been repurposed as workers’ dormitories and single-room apartments. A resident recalled sneaking into the basement to play as a child, “where we heard they used to do experiments on live people.” In 2007, the building became a city-level conservation unit but, as of 2015, Beijing’s Morningpost. com reported not much had changed besides a new plaque describing the building’s history.

THE LONGEST LOAN

One of the record holders for the longest-occupied landmark in Beijing is the Taigaoxuan Temple, an imperial ancestral hall and a part of the Forbidden City complex. According to Palace Museum officials, it was “borrowed” to hold an exhibition in 1950, and transferred to another organization afterwards. The museum finally got it back in 2013.

THE TWO TOWERS

An eyesore of southwest Beijing, the towers are a smokestack belonging to the Beijing No. 2 Thermal Power Plant, and the Tianning Temple Pagoda, first built in the 12th century. The pagoda was closed to religious and public visitors until 2007, after having gotten encircled by the plant’s “big compound.” It was returned to the Beijing Buddhist Association after the thermal plant relocated, but locals haven’t seen the last of the smokestack—plans are afoot to turn the area into another industrial-themed art zone like the 798 District.