Secret "Project 816": such a grand bunker could be built only in China

Huge underground bunkers in case of a nuclear strike were built not only in the USA and the USSR, but also in China. After the deterioration of relations between the USSR and China, the country decided to prepare for a possible military confrontation, and since the enemy possessed nuclear weapons, the defense should have been appropriate. Thus appeared the longest underground bunker on the planet, the construction program of which was codenamed "Project 816".

The construction of an artificial cave in Mount Shanshan in a suburb of Chongqing was carried out in the strictest secrecy, as far as possible, given the fact that it was built by about 60,000 soldiers and engineers. The bunker in which the shelter for the party leadership was to be located, as well as an underground nuclear weapons plant, began to be built in the 1960s. But, as often happens, large-scale construction was delayed. By 1984, when the Chinese leadership decided that there was no longer any need for such a grand refuge, the bunker was only 85% ready. For this reason, visitors to the artificial cave will not see the comfort that American congressmen or British ministers have prepared for themselves in their bunkers - signs of unfinished work are visible everywhere. Nevertheless, the scale of the shelter is simply amazing.

The room in the mountain consists of 9 levels and includes 18 caves, connected to each other by passages and roads on which cars can even ride. The largest cave of all hollowed out in Shenshan Mountain has a height of 80 meters, and the total length of the galleries and passages inside is 21 kilometers. Since the southwestern part of China is considered a seismic hazardous region, the bunker was designed not only for an enemy nuclear strike, but also for a major earthquake. For this reason, no internal structures were damaged as a result of natural disasters that occurred during this time.

This huge bunker, considered the largest of all known in the world, was declassified only in 2002. Today anyone can take a guided tour of it, you just have to get to the place of Batao near Chongqing, in the southwestern part of China.