WEBVTT - Living Underground in Beijing 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:03.920 Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:12.840 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.800 Josh Clark, There's Charles T. W Chuck Bryant, There's Jerry 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:21.480 So it's Stuff you should know. The Chinese Edition, right, 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:25.720 which probably isn't even hurt in China. Yeah, we say that, 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:27.560 and then we always hear from people like, no, you're 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:29.520 not banned. I get to hear you guys all the 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.720 time actually promote you for being such communist lackeys. They're like, 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:35.800 they send a guy to my house to read your 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:41.240 transcripts right at gunpoint. Uh, yeah, this is the China edition. 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:43.600 And you wrote this too, didn't you. Yep, just an 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:45.800 old one. Yep, you just dug it out from the 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.159 old memory banks. Yeah. It was on the list. I 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.920 think I just ran across it randomly and I was like, oh, yeah, 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:56.040 this one pretty interesting and think yeah, I think so too. 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.920 So um. One of the things that interested me was 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.240 I did it. I got to do like some historical 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:07.520 research on it. Initially, Are you familiar with the Sino 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:13.920 Russian conflicts along the border starting in the mid seventeenth century, 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.960 the uh roman Off Czars versus the Manchu in later 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.160 Ming dynasties. I'm more familiar now than I ever have 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.320 been before in my life, let's put it that way. 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.800 So but it did surprise me. I just kind of thought, 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:32.480 I don't know, I didn't know much about Comy Heart Commy, right, Yeah, yeah, 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.160 I mean that's what I would have thought too, UM, 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.920 And apparently I did at some point. But now once 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.880 I started researching, turns out those guys didn't like each 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:43.399 other so much, and it it actually did go back 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.880 to the six hundreds for sure, where UM China apparently 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:54.840 didn't trade outside of China and UM didn't have any diplomats. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.640 The emperor controlled all trade with with other countries, and 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.960 it was through a system of trip you where like 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.160 you give the emperor the best stuff you got and 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:06.920 he'll see what he wants to give you back. UM. 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.799 And the Russians didn't like that very much, so they 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.280 just kind of we're a little more tense, a little 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.519 more tense, not the best of neighbors. But then yeah, 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:18.960 after World War Two when UM Russia starts taking over 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.880 Eurasia and China follows of the Union rather right, thank you, 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:31.600 And then China follow suit with Mause Dun's Communist Revolution. Um. Then, Yeah, 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.480 basically this whole area was red, and that's how we 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:37.240 were taught to view it. Right, it's all red, so 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.120 it's all the same. But that's that's very much an 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.520 oversimplification of the geopolitics of that area. Yeah, like you said, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:46.880 Commy Hart, Commy, that's kind of what I always thought 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.600 was that they were neighbors. They were politically aligned in 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.240 the broadest sense, so they what what issues would they have? 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.480 But as usual, it's like Nancy Reagan said, kill all 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.760 the commie He's like, God, sort them out. You remember 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:09.720 that Saturday Morning cartoons. Um, as usual, the beef is 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:17.160 in the land and neighbors. Oftentimes, whether it's a Georgia 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:22.799 and Tennessee fighting over a river it's water, or it's 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.320 um Israel and Palestine, there are a lot of neighbors 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.960 that say no, that that stuff is ours, not yours. 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.480 And that seems like to be the the heart of 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.920 the beef between China and Russia. So I think that 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:43.080 the the border disputes were actually a symptom of a 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:48.279 larger thing, which was which was so MAW Chairman Mao 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:53.040 used to publicly deride the Soviets as revisionists, that they'd 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:59.400 abandoned the roots of revolutionary communism and it were basically sellouts. Interesting, yeah, 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.480 and he used to publicly say this stuff about him, 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.120 and the Russians would be like, we're sticky you now, 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.600 you're you're you talk too much trash, shut up, uh, 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:12.200 and he would talk more trash, Like he criticized um 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.560 Khrushchev for backing down from the human missile crisis stuff 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:18.800 like that, Right, it's really like poking them a lot, 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:24.200 and the Soviets, in retaliation withdrew all military and economic support, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.400 and then they recalled all of like the scientists that 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.560 were over there working on joint projects, and the scientists 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.600 all left with the blueprints to whatever they were working on, 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.599 even if it was Chinese technology. So there was like 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:38.839 a lot of tensions, and it seemed to erupt in 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.480 the border disputes rather than it was over the border distructions, 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.919 you know what I mean. So what we when we 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:52.119 say erupt, we mean erupt with gunfire. And then uh, 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.880 the spring of nineteen sixty nine, some bad stuff went 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:59.279 down and marched. Specifically, there was an attack on a 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.680 patrol boat. Um what was the name of the river, 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.400 the Usuri River, and that's in the eastern border of China, 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:10.560 of course, and twenty four Soviets were left dead and 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.599 stuff got real after that. Yeah, the Soviets were like, okay, 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.640 it's like that, yea. So they rolled into the area 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:22.320 with tanks, they used missiles, aircraft and took out like 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.040 eight hundred Chinese and retaliation that same year, yes, only 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.040 losing about sixty of their own, which was a big victory. 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.840 And so they said, you see that there's more where 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.320 that came from, if you don't mind your peas and cues. Yeah, 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.360 And they were saying this to using the New York 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:43.280 Times as this like international mouthpiece, basically threatening one another 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.200 through the international press. China said, what are peas and cues? 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.559 We we don't have those letters. Well, they have cues 0:05:53.160 --> 0:06:01.280 and peas well as you know. It's just a joke. Um. 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:06.040 So mouse Tong says, I understand that this. You're coming 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.240 after us now, Um, I think we should have a 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:12.599 plan in place because I don't want you creeping into 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.400 let's say Beijing, our capital with all your tanks like 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.040 you did along the river there. So here's what we'll do. 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.240 Six of the population, go red dawn and head for 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:27.839 the hills. Uh the other Um, here's what we'll do. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:33.120 Let's all get to work building an underground bunker, but 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:38.359 one that can house of our seven million, which is 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:43.360 quite hit that that number was that about two point 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.920 eight millions something like that. Okay, they made enough for 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.080 three thousand people. It's not even close, but it's still 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.599 a pretty neat accomplishment that they created. Right. Yeah, and 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.640 this is um what would be become known as do 0:06:57.680 --> 0:06:59.919 you know how to pronounce it? It's exactly like it's spelled. 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.680 I looked it up, so go ahead. Dixia Chang. Okay, 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:09.320 I thought that was Chinese for Dixie Chicks. I thought 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:11.880 it would might have been Disha Chang or something. But yeah, 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:13.720 I thought so too. That's why I was like, I'm 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.600 not getting this one wrong. I looked it up and 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.360 I couldn't find it. I found there's I don't remember 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.960 the site, but there's a site where I guess users 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.760 submit and say what what language they speak naturally? Naturally um, 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.840 So then it will have like this whole list of like, 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:36.280 you know, um Spanish from Catalonia or um like Spanish 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:41.960 spoken by Mexican person or Scandinavian or whatever. But if 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:43.280 you listen to all of them, they're all saying it 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.000 the same way. DIXIEA Chang. It's funny some people say shang, 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.360 but it's wrong in the uh in the office here, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.840 I know people think we probably never look up pronunciations, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.520 but we do. And YouTube has a lot of them. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.440 Now you know where they will that little thing will 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.440 spin and reveal the word, and then the polite lady 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.560 computer lady will say it. But here in the office 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.080 a lot because it's not worth it to get out 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.840 the headphones for just that. So like I'll hear strickling 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.800 to the left or Holly over there the right or me, 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:16.680 and you'll just hear random computers all day long with 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:21.720 like Dixia Chang or manarchy. Can you just hearr words 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.560 kind of popping up and everyone's like, sorry, sorry, but 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.200 I think we all get it. Yeah, alright, so Dixia Chang, 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.760 And I mean we should say, we'll get to the 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:36.280 to the meat of this stuff. But an underground bunker 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:41.520 capable of housing three hundred thousand of Beijing's residence was 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:46.360 built because Chairman Mao got paranoid that the Soviets were 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.839 going to invade. Also, to a lesser extent, he was 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:53.800 worried about American imperialism extending to China. But really he 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.079 was worried the Soviets were going to either invade or 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.080 launch some nukes on his people. Um. It was like 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.600 my dad when we saw the day after exactly, except 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.280 he just put my brother and I to work, whereas 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.800 the chairman put I think it was three hundred thousand people. 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:13.080 I found that somewhere. Three thousand was how many people 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.280 it could it could house. I thought I was three 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:18.520 hundred thousand working. Maybe it was more than that even No, 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.720 I see what you're talking about. There's three hundred thousand 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:25.040 right there. But um, you know, women, children, men, all 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:27.400 kinds of people digging by hand. Yeah, we found this 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.040 really cool um blog posts from like two thousand and 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.640 ten by a guy named Anthony Tao Um or Dow, 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:39.319 depending on uh, I guess how you say it, um, 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.960 And he said that it was basically like an urban 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:48.280 exploration posts. There's a lot of pictures of this abandoned stuff. 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.720 It's really cool. But it turns out his relatives, including 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.840 his mother, helped build this, so that he includes some 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.400 of their recollections in it where they're like, um, like yeah, 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:00.800 we used to go to school. Then you'd come home 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.320 from school and you'd work like several hours building this, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.280 like making bricks or digging or something like that. And 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.760 so this excavation was being carried out by the very 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.480 people who were going to use it as part of 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:18.160 this um this cultural revolution, this great communist experiment that 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.240 Chairman Mau was carrying out, like, everybody, just get to 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:27.320 work because the Russians might invade. And he said, very famously, um, 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:33.160 shen madong changji li yang, I'm not saying this correctly, 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:38.280 and then boo chang bah, which means it means dig 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:43.040 deep tunnels, store food, and prepare for war. He told 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.240 his population that, and that's what kicked off this thing 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.520 in nineteen sixty nine. He really like to get to 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.200 the point. Yeah, uh yeah, nineteen sixty nine to nineteen 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.320 seventy nine is when this was going on. And uh, 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.880 we'll take a little break here and tell you a 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:05.720 little bit about Dixie Chang. You know, everybody, if you're 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:07.959 starting your own business, you will find that it can 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.480 be difficult. But developing your online presence doesn't have to 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.600 be that's because Google and Squarespace have teamed up to 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.440 give small business owners what they need to succeed online. 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:21.560 Accustom domain, a business email, and a beautiful website all 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.160 in one place. That's right. With Google and square Space, 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.679 you can stand out, look professional, and increase your team's productivity. 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.920 When you create your squar space business website or online store, 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.200 you can receive a free year of business email and 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.600 professional tools from Google. It is just that simple. Yep, 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.880 go ahead and visit squarespace dot com slash Google to 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.959 start your free trial and use our offer code works 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.959 for ten percent off your first purchase Google in Squarespace. 0:11:48.240 --> 0:12:02.720 Make it professional, make it beautiful. Yeah. I think it 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.040 sounds like I'm saying chang with an A, but it's 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.360 ching chang with an E. I'm just not good at 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.199 It's a Southerner. I'm not going to pronounce in the 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:15.520 E in words like pen. I say pen pen like 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:21.520 P P I N E N chang. Yeah, we got 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.680 it alright. So this you say Dixie, I'll say chang. 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:32.559 You say Dixie, I'll say chang DIXIEA chang terrible? So, 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.640 uh what lies underground beneath? About twenty six to sixty 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.040 feet depending on where you are. There are eighteen miles 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:46.680 roughly of tunnels. Supposedly it connects every district in the city. Yeah, 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:48.760 and for those of us who don't live in the 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:54.040 US or Liberia, that's thirty kilometers of basically underground living 0:12:54.040 --> 0:13:01.600 space fifty two square miles five kilometers squared. And um, 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:06.160 it was calling an undertaking. Was as an understatement. It 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:12.040 was a big deal, requiring lots of hands. Yeah. So 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.280 they used a lot of the old city gates, um, 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.960 the city walls as construction material. But again they were 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.720 also making their own bricks and they weren't using like 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.240 back hose or anything like that. They were using shovels 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.160 and removing dirt with bamboo baskets and making their own 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:32.640 bricks on site. Um. And they constructed this this is 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.959 just amazing labyrinth of of not just tunnels, but also 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:41.040 they had bomb shelters. In the bomb shelter, they had 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:45.120 ventilation shafts that were designed to keep out um fallout 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:49.280 and contamination from nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons. 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:51.880 I guess they built a great wall. They're like, yeah, 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:56.240 this is nothing exactly. Um. They had recreational stuff too, 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.880 like a movie theater. I think a roller skating rink, 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:03.960 basketball courts. Yeah, they had a barber shop, they had restaurants, um, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.680 they had if you wanted to get down in here. 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:08.720 This is kind of the coolest part to me is 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.840 there were about ninety different entrances um around the city 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.240 that were sometimes in parks, sometimes in a private home, 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.320 sometimes in a shop that you needed a black light 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.400 to read a special map on the wall. It's like 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:24.000 kind of neat when you think about it like that. 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:26.640 Oh yeah it is. It's like all the residents of 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:31.480 Beijing or clued into this this big secret, you know, 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.600 this official secret. Yeah, it is like a speakeasy, except 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.360 those places. Come on, didn't that kind of hadn't that 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:44.040 run its course? Uh? Yeah, Like they just opened one 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.840 in Atlanta right here next door to us. Where at 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:51.160 the City Winery. Oh really there's a speakeasy day? Yeah, 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.760 now there's a speakeasy downstairs. If you know the code word, 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.400 you say it at the unmarked door. What's the co Man? 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.480 New York did this twenty years ago? What's the cod 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.880 this week? Actually wrote it down. So I'm going to 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.160 a show there tomorrow night. They have shows at the 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.680 Speak even will know. At the City Winery. Um, I'm 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:14.480 going to see Blitz and Trapper my boys. Wow. Yeah, 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.360 they're doing like this acoustic storyteller tour. It's neat. Yeah. 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:19.800 Apparently if you go there and you say you know 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.760 Miss Violet this week, they'll let you in. It's I'm 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.040 gonna go down there and make fun of them and 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.760 probably get a drink and leave a big tip. Yeah, 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.000 that's what you gotta do. That's right. You're gonna go 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.720 there and it's gonna be overrun with people. I just 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:36.720 wonder if you go to one of these places, especially 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:38.280 in Atlanta, like I get it. In New York when 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.600 they're supplying demand, they can literally say no, turn around 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.440 and go home. But in Atlanta, I would be like, dude, 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.720 come on, I don't know the password. Just let me 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.680 in the freaking building. And if they literally say no, 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.760 then they're dead to me. In fact, on the I'm 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.240 not gonna say I know Miss Violet. Oh yeah, you're 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.360 gonna test them, huh. I'm gonna say no, Miss Scarlett. 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.080 Let me know how that pans out. Well, Ms Scarlett, 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.360 I'll send you a text of either me sitting on 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:12.760 the sidewalk drink drinking. Yes, this, it's a substitute. I 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.280 used to drink the occasional forty in college, back when 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:17.880 you thought you were cool to do so because the 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:22.280 Beastie boys did it. Yeah, like, drink this swill and 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.280 it's totally hot after about the first like ten minutes. Well, 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:27.760 you have to hold it up around the neck. Oh, 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.040 is that the deal? Like Champagne I was. I never 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:32.920 got to the bomb because I was pouring some out 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:38.280 for my homies. That's pretty thoughtful of you. So where 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:43.240 were we speakeasies? That's right? Uh no, even further back 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:47.200 than that. Well, yeah, that this the complex. And by 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.600 the way, Dixie Ching literally means underground city. Yeah, like 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.080 that's it. You don't even capitalize it. Yeah, it was 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:58.480 never used because, um, the Big Apocalypse never happened. Well 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.880 not only that chair amount and apparently I didn't know this, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:06.680 but shortly after he died, I think in the seventies, Um, 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.280 his cultural revolution seems to have died with him, which 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.800 was news to me because I thought that China was 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.240 communists to the core up until a couple of years ago. 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:24.240 But apparently there was a real opening of their culture, um, 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:30.160 like starting pretty much and slowly and incrementally right after 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.440 Chairman Mao's death, um and so I saw a bunch 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.119 of different stuff. This is part of the problem with 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:42.679 researching China without ever going to China, because like the 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.120 dispatches you read from the place where you know, they 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.440 just very wildly in the the accounts. And this is 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:55.080 a good example that I saw somewhere that um uh 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:00.280 they so Chairman MoU died nineteen six as saw that 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:05.320 by one they had the place open for tours and 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.399 it costs like ten Chinese cents a ticket, and that 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:11.879 you if you were Chinese, you could not even get in. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.200 It was only for tourists. I saw in my own 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.679 article that they boarded up and forgot about it, and 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.479 it wasn't until like two thousand that people like started 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.400 to find their way in. I had the same problem. 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.000 I was trying to find out like literally the current state, 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.280 because I saw that in two thousand eight uh, in 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.600 preparation for the Olympics they closed it for renovations and 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:36.360 it's still not open um And I've tried to find 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:38.800 out like the most recent information. I couldn't. So I'm 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:42.520 going with not even myself. I'm not even going with 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:46.000 my own article, the article where they recounted that it 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:50.520 was ten Chinese cents a ticket to get in back 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.600 in one. I'm thinking that's probably right. So you're going 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.320 with that because it has numbers in it, right, this 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.960 thing is legitimate. All right, Well, let's take our final 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:00.960 break here and we'll come back and talk a little 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:21.600 bit about the rat tribe of Beijing. So Chuck um. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:23.280 One of the first things that happened, whether it was 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:27.720 in or two thousand, was people started to move into 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.320 this area illegally. And at first I get the impression 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.760 that they opened up businesses and there was actually like 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:38.399 an official stretch like about a one kilometer stretch of 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:43.720 dixiea Chang that was open for tours like underground Atlanta. Yes, 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.720 But then the other like twenty nine kilometers were closed 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.720 off permanently and frozen in time. Right. Well, that kind 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.640 of stuff attracts people like moths to a flame, especially 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:56.720 like urban explorers. Um. And again, go check out Anthony 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.200 Tao's post last visit to Beijing's underground City. It's got 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:04.000 some great photos of this abandoned stuff. But over the 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.120 years there are people who have you know, worked their 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.560 way into like the other shut off twenty nine kilometers 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.840 and have reported back that it's just like eerie a 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.720 time capsulers like posters of Chairman Mao on the walls 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:22.040 with um slogans like dig the tunnels deep, accumulate grain 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.800 opposed to geminy. Yeah, pictures of it. It's pretty neat, right, 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.959 And then get this if you were let's say, like um, 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.120 Ronald Reagan had told us all this when we were 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.000 kids for the people prepare for war, prepare for famine. 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.919 It's kind of unsettling when they keep you on your toes. Um. 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:45.000 So there's a lot of it that's like just this 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:48.640 kind of rotting time capsule. Because again, like you said, 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.360 it was never used, but then plenty of it has 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:55.120 been used. Yeah, And that that's I couldn't even figure 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.440 out for sure. These are definitely parts of that complex 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.679 where people are living. Yes, okay, I didn't know if 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:06.320 it was other shelters. It's both, Okay, it's both got 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.200 You're right, all right, So what we're talking about or 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:12.199 is the rat tribe or the sho zoo uh. And 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:17.119 it's basically about a million people. They don't know exact numbers, 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:20.720 but about a million people in Beijing have moved underground, 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.840 um about a million of the one million people who 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.080 lived there. Yeah, and if if you talk about a 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:31.080 population boom in there were about nine million people in Beijing, 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.040 now there's twenty one million. UM. That's a lot of 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:38.280 people and not a very long span of time. So uh, 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:43.720 it's expensive to I really don't know that like median 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:47.320 incomes compared to housing. But this article made it seem 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.399 like the only reason these people were doing it is 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.159 because they can't afford to live above ground, or that 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:57.360 there's just such a shortage, Like your your choice is this. 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.359 You can live above ground in a door rom like 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:03.560 room with six to ten people in the suburbs and 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:06.359 pay about what you would pay for your own room 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:10.400 below ground, which is about fifty to seventy American dollars 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:13.880 a month. Right, So you want to go a little 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:16.000 with six to ten people in a dorm mountain suburbs, 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.320 or you want your own cozy, little eight ft by 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:23.000 eight foot concrete room underground. A lot of people are 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:26.400 saying I'd rather be underground, and they're normal people, they're 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:31.880 not Um, it's not like a situation like, uh, I'm 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.480 trying to think of something comfarable. But this woman interviewed 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:37.800 a lot of these people. Uh and net Kim from 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:43.520 USC southern California. Go Trojans for our friend Brian Bishop. 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:48.240 Oh yeah, congratulations to Brian on the birth of his child. 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:51.080 Yeah that too. So what she found out was that 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:57.119 as she suspected, these are computer programmers and waiters and 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:04.600 waitresses and uh barbaras and they are literally just mainly 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:07.800 migrants that have come there from the countryside to work. 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:11.280 And they're not weirdos. They just they're like, you know, 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:13.520 this is what I can afford. I have a job 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:17.639 above ground, and h this is just what I how 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:19.320 I choose to live because we don't have a lot 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:22.720 of options. So there's like the specter of MAO is 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:27.760 still around because apparently part of the UM the housing 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:32.119 code in China or in Beijing at least, requires that 0:23:32.160 --> 0:23:35.680 if you are going to build like a building, you 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:39.800 have to build something between one to three stories of 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:46.080 basement or um bomb shelter below ground. That's still the thing. Yeah, 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:50.560 so um in addition to people squatting in dixia Chang, 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:55.360 which does happen, these people are going to the owners 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:58.200 of the building and saying can I please stay here. 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:01.160 I'll give you seventy bucks a month. Yeah, they like sure, 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:04.679 and even though it's illegal. Yeah, the owners are like, yeah, 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:08.800 just leave it, leave it under the trash can out 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:11.359 front and I'll come find Yeah, like I'm not using 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:15.720 that tiny room, right because these are you know, small spaces. 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:19.119 They're communal toilets uh and showers. You gotta pay like 0:24:19.160 --> 0:24:22.200 fifty cents for a shower for five minutes, is that right? Yeah, 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:25.880 I didn't see that. Yeah. There's this um photographer Sim 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:30.120 Chi Yen based in Beijing and he has a collection 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:33.040 called China's Rat Tribe if you want to look at pictures, 0:24:33.080 --> 0:24:37.119 and um, you know it's not there's a stigma to it. 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:39.479 First of all, a because it's illegal. They call him 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:41.960 the rat Tribe and be yeah, because you know, they 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:44.760 interviewed some of these people and the guy was like yeah, 0:24:44.800 --> 0:24:47.640 my dad was like, son, no, you can't. You can't 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:50.159 live down here. And he's like, Dad, this is what 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:52.600 I can afford. I've got a job and I don't 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:55.080 want to live with ten people in a room and 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.840 there's no windows, it's dark. Apparently there's signs in some 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:02.160 of these tunnels. It advised people to go up and 0:25:02.280 --> 0:25:06.560 get fun stuff like that. It's thoughtful, sure. Um. I 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:08.760