San Francisco, 6:27 AM
Thu Dec 3
24 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz |
News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders |
Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner |
Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis |
Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan |
Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier |
Ed Grabianowski |
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan |
Lauren Davis |
Chris Hsiang |
Lynn Peril |
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins |
Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox |
Interns:
Tim Barribeau |
Julia Carusillo |
Alex Eichler |
Cyriaque Lamar |
Caitlin Petrakovitz |
Mary Ratliff |
Josh Snyder |
Sure it could have held six million people...for several hours, stacked like cord wood. then the air would have given out. Hey! the air would give out first! We don't need restaurants, showers, food or water, the air will give out! It can hold 12 million people!
I visited the underground city 7 years ago. It was a guided tour, and what we saw was much more tourist-friendly. The place was cleaner, and I could actually see myself "camping" there for a few nights without any major complaints.
But sadly, it was tourist trap. At the end of the tour they sang and praised the effect of silk drapes that kept the people warm, dry and healthy while underground. And guess what. There was a big souvenir shop selling silk products at the exit of the tour. Let me just say that they were very persistent.
@minivolt: i never went to the underground city but during my tour of china that trope was repeated over and over again. first with clay, then with jade, then with etcetera ad nauseum.
not that i regret my time there, not at all, i just regret the choice to bookend every stop on the tour with a sales pitch for yet another state run store.
It didn't help that Mao underestimated the destructive power of Soviet warheads (the Sovs compensated their less accurate warheads with bigger destructive yields) and the actual cost of building a city sized shelter on the then fragile Chinese economy.
... jeez, Dixia Cheng literally translates to "Underground City". I thought we Chinese people were supposed to have more flowery terms for these kinds of things? Like Prosperous Subterranean Utopia or something.
@crashedpc - Haifisch: Maybe since its a dirty, wet, swampy, nasty, nuclear fallout shelter intended to squeeze 6 million people into it, they just said ehh fuck the silly name, just call the kettle black..
@burlybax: Never underestimate the Chinese tendency to completely euphemize (made up word) something that's utterly shite. Oooh, believe me, I know this first hand.
This needs to be a horror movie or video game with a horror movie made to be based off it which will be based off of the novel that will be written about it before the video game is made which might be based on real life events that never really happened.
@BadUncle: Nope - all you need is an attractive wall sconce, maybe some decorative potporri - would fit nicely in the pages of Better Homes and Bunkers.
@BadUncle: yep, and no possibility of Ghosts or weird underground dwellers, the last insane survivors of political prisoners or fringe science experiments!
11/19/09
These will make fine reference for making Fallout: Chinese version
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/19/09
Even if they packed 15 million in there, when they died they could always blame it on Western capitalism. Though, to be fair...
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
Luckily, they didn't go the Big Daddy route.
11/18/09
11/18/09
But sadly, it was tourist trap. At the end of the tour they sang and praised the effect of silk drapes that kept the people warm, dry and healthy while underground. And guess what. There was a big souvenir shop selling silk products at the exit of the tour. Let me just say that they were very persistent.
11/18/09
not that i regret my time there, not at all, i just regret the choice to bookend every stop on the tour with a sales pitch for yet another state run store.
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
And here I was thinking it was hard to depress me.
11/18/09
11/18/09
yes just like that
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
08/25/09