By Xinyi Li, EDITOR

From the 1st day of the lunar year to today, The Wandering Earth still enjoys widespread popularity. It has now ranked at the second place of the Chinese box office. At the meet-and-greet conference of The Wandering Earth in Chongqing, Frant Gwo, the director, introduced a change in this film. He said that originally “the underground city of Beijing” was the “underground city of Chongqing”.

In fact, Chongqing not only has marvels such as “the train passing through a residential building” and the Hongyadong complex. People’s lives here are connected to the “underground city”. As a city of mountains, Chongqing features unique terrains with many hills, ridges, and cliffs. During the War of Resistance, there were many air-raid shelters for keeping the people from the air strikes. And some properly-preserved ones now become the witnesses to that history. 

Later, people started private businesses in these air-raid shelters of different sizes for “reusing the wastes”. Now, there are hot pot restaurants, museums, and underground vital traffic roads on their basis.

What in the film is real in life: Many hot pot restaurants are in caves of Chongqing

In The Wandering Earth, after returning to earth, astronauts finally enjoyed hot pot in Chongqing. This scene cheered many netizens up, and they said, “It is very cool, and that is Chongqing.”

We should not only attribute the popularity of Chongqing hot pot to the city’s regional customs and straightforward people. Besides, the form of serving the hot pot is also unique and irreplaceable—enjoying hot pot in caves.

Chongqing Hot Pot, a film that has won considerable welcome several years ago, has shown a special hot pot restaurant. And this “Old Classmate Cave Hot Pot” is from real scenes of one shop in Nan’an District.

Attracted by this film, people come to this store. From the feedbacks, the hot pot here is really spicy and you may feel like choking at the first bite. So those who cannot stand spicy flavor have no chance to enjoy it.

Address: No.1 Haitangyanyu Road, Nan’an District

Transportation: Taking CRT Line 6 to the Shangxinjie Station (Exit 2) and Taking No. 354/318/376/321 Bus to Haitangxiaoyue Bus Station

Interweaving air-raid shelters become a museum

Air-raid shelters in Chongqing not only provide places for hot pot restaurants. In this city, these shelters, connecting one by one, form an “underground city” and finally become a museum. Chongqing Jianchuan Museum is the first cluster exhibiting the history of the War of Resistance in China. Moreover, it now tells brilliant stories of the “underground city” in this new era.

People rebuild this museum from an arsenal in a cave. During the War of Resistance in China, the No.1 Arsenal under Weapons Manufacture Bureau of National Government was here. We can trace its history back to the Self-Strengthening Movement during the late of the Qing Dynasty. Its original base is Hanyang Arsenal.

Address: Under the Egongyan Flyover of Jiulongpo District

Transportation: Taking CRT Line 3 to the Lianglukou Station (Exit 3), and taking No.412 Bus to Huangjiamatou Station.

A well-received idea to transform air-raid shelters into red wine cellars

According to the staff from Chongqing Civil Air Defence Office, Chongqing saw the transformation of street-front air-raid shelters. Some of them have been transformed into red wine cellars in the last years.

The storage of red wine requires a stable temperature range from 16°C to 20°C and a constant humidity level. These underground shelters, cool in summer and warm in winter, provide a constant temperature environment for storing red wines. Wine lovers always like to pick up and taste red wines and experience the wine culture here.

Among them, the cellars which are most distinctive are located at Eling Park, Liziba Park, and Jiubin Road.

Traffic function of Chongqing’s “underground city”

In addition to hot pot restaurants and museums, Chongqing’s “underground city” further shoulders another critical mission—alleviating traffic pressure.

“It is easier to climb to Heaven than parking a car in Chongqing.” When driving to People’s Liberation Monument, many netizens might complain about the parking problem. It was very common to take a very roundabout way of searching for a parking bay. Along with the operation of the underground loop road here recently, we have managed to improve the parking problem significantly.

The criss-cross roads interconnect all parts of the “underground city” with each other to form a huge transportation hub. Therefore, the experienced drivers will not have to worry about the traffic problem of “going downtown”.

Source: Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development