As Nanjingers, and indeed people throughout much of China, battle with the heat this summer, one wonders just what public cooling options are available? Malls, parks, pools and… air-raid shelters.
Emergency workers remain on high alert, as a reported 60 people this summer have been crippled by heatstroke, due to the city’s extreme temperatures. Furthermore, the Central Meteorological Observatory has issued warnings for the city to brace for ever-rising temperatures coupled with rainstorms.
Air-raid shelters. It does make sense, doesn’t it? And why not make use of such a large cool space? While the city hides many shelters throughout its underground network, only a handful get dulled up each year and opened to the public.
Renovated and equipped with free tea, wifi, newspapers and medical services, residents can be seen taking in a little history while wandering around the shelter, playing mahjong or catching up on the news.
While this modern-day use for what was indeed originally built to save lives is bringing people together and keeping them cool, these time tunnels are not alone in their quest for citizen safety. Modern underground car parks are also built to withstand attacks, with their construction including bomb-proof doors.
Fun fact: Air-raid shelters and old parking lots in Shanghai and Nanjing, and perhaps other cities around the country too, are sometimes converted into underground dance clubs; The Basement, 61 House and the now-defunct, but legendary, Castle Bar, for example.
So while China may be up-cycling its war-time relics in order to keep its people safe from the world’s latest threat, that of global warming, just what is the rest of the world doing with its collection of man-made caves?
A secret second world war air-raid shelter tunnel in London, built in 1940, was put up for sale for £5 million in 2008. While an old shelter in Zurich, Switzerland has been converted into a budget hotel, equipped with old military blankets as towels.
With much luck, Nanjing will continue to renovate its air-raid shelters, and open up more of their doors to its some 8 million swelteringly sweaty citizens of 2019.
