A Cool Wet Market Hidden Inside a Tunnel

"A farmers' market in a tunnel of Chongqing" has become a popular hashtag on the internet. The tunnel is called "Yingshanhong" and is located in the Shapingba District of Chongqing. In the tunnel, a dozen stalls are put in a row. Temporary areas for meat, vegetables, and fruits are well planned. As stallholders hawk their wares, the place is filled with otherworldly air.

How does it feel to shop for food in a tunnel? People give it an enthusiastic "cool!" The temperature outside the tunnel was 31°C, while inside, it was a comfortable 26°C, like a natural air conditioner.

On the benches at the tunnel entrance, the elders enjoying the cool are fanning themselves with cattail leaf fans, recapturing the past and feeling at ease. The 150-meter-long tunnel was built in the 1960s and is part of the Dedicated Railway Line of Chongqing Special Steel Factory.

After the factory went bankrupt, the once busy tunnel became a lonely place. The railroad tracks were removed and replaced by tiled floors, making them a perfect location for leisure and keeping cool. Today, the grass poking out of the tunnel wall seems to be recounting the vicissitudes of history. As a result, a fantastic connection is produced when it transforms into a hustling and bustling market.

In order to provide convenient parking services for tourists and nearby residents, the place where the market used to be located was demolished and rebuilt into a parking lot. The local community moved the market into the tunnel as a makeshift solution. Now that the new market and the handover process have been completed, the stallholders will be moving out of the tunnel soon, spelling the end of this trendy, wonderful tunnel market.