Living Underground in Beijing

# Stuff You Should Know Episode Summary

In this episode, Josh and Chuck dive into the fascinating history of Dixia Cheng, an enormous underground city built beneath Beijing during the Cold War when Chairman Mao feared a Soviet invasion. Starting in 1969 and continuing through the 1970s, the Chinese government mobilized hundreds of thousands of citizens to hand-dig roughly 18 miles of interconnected tunnels complete with bomb shelters, ventilation systems designed to filter nuclear fallout, and even recreational facilities like movie theaters and roller skating rinks. What's truly captivating is that while this massive undertaking was never actually used as intended, today about a million people—mostly rural migrants working in the city—have moved into various sections of these tunnels illegally, living in cramped underground rooms for as little as fifty to seventy dollars a month because they can't afford housing above ground.