![]() ![]() “You could call it urban archaeology,” he says. In each abandoned building he chanced upon “artefacts” offering tiny windows into the past: faded family photographs, notepads filled with the anonymous calligraphy of strangers, a yellowing newspaper containing a decades-old speech by former Communist party leader Deng Xiaoping. Urbex, or ‘recreational trespass’, has around 20,000 adherents. Everyone likes different things – I like this sense of solitude,” he says.Ĭonnal, a fan of the British archeology television series Time Team, says his forays into this unseen world have given him a glimpse of Chinese history. “When I’m at abandoned sites, I feel I’m the only person in the world. These days, Zhao lives in Beijing and his trips to vacant factories offer an escape from traffic-clogged mega-city whose population last year hit 21 million. “Some said the shelters were haunted by the ghosts of children,” he remembers. Zhao, who grew up in China’s north-eastern rust belt, says his fascination with urbex began when, aged nine, he began roaming the Mao-era bomb shelters near his home in the city of Jinzhou. “Inside, there was the body of a toddler,” he recalls, adding: “I closed the box.” While touring the mortuary of an abandoned hospital in north-east China, Zhao encountered an adult’s mummified corpse and a small wooden box. Sometimes, China’s urbexers bite off more than they can chew. You might not be able to find it – but somebody knows the way in.” “I’m quite imaginative about getting into places,” he boasts. He uses a mix of online research and detective work to pinpoint new locations and then find ways to sneak in.Ĭonnal, 35, is from Norfolk and runs the blog Burbex. His uniform rarely changes: black fingerless gloves for scaling walls and a black hoody and trousers to help him blend into the shadows. As well as a first aid kit, Connal carries water, cheap Zhongnanhai cigarettes to placate irate security guards, a selection of torches, and a smartphone to record his discoveries. Urban explorers travel light as they roam China’s hidden periphery. Zhao, who is a professional photographer, says his edgiest find had been a deactivated field hospital built to treat victims of the 2003 Sars outbreak.Ĭonnal, whose website receives thousands of visits each month, says a growing number of western tourists are choosing to spend their holidays hiking not up the Great Wall but through the concrete carcasses of white elephant construction projects. You might not be able to find it – but somebody knows the way in Brendan ConnalĬonnal’s urbexing has taken him into derelict science museums, “haunted” pre-Revolution hotels, ghostly amusement parks, and a half-finished shopping centre that he calls the Great Mall of China. In China the answers to that question are rarely dull. “My instinct every time I see a wall is: ‘what’s on the other side?’” says the Briton, whose day job is as an English-language examiner. Now based in Beijing, he has been chronicling his adventures on a blog called Burbex since late 2013. ![]() Worldwide, the pursuit – which some describe as “recreational trespass” – is estimated to have about 20,000 adherents, the majority in Europe and the United States.Ĭonnal cut his teeth while living in London – for decades a hub for urbex collectives – hoisting himself into abandoned multi-storey car parks in Whitechapel and a Victorian psychiatric hospital in Mile End, both in the East End. ![]() Photograph: James Wasserman/The GuardianĬonnal, who was raised in North Walsham, a small English market town, is one of the most active members of China’s approximately 200-strong urbex community. All of these parks provide thrills and chills, just for different reasons.A room in the Shougang Steel Plant outside Beijjing. We’ve picked 10 of the eeriest abandoned theme parks for all you urban explorers out there, and we’ve matched them up with 10 epically successful theme parks that beat the odds. At any rate, these abandoned parks become haunting echoes of themselves, a reminder of how time and nature slowly reclaim everything. Sometimes it’s a lack of funds, while other times, legal issues keep redevelopment at bay. ![]() Most parks are simply abandoned after they close. The remnants of many entrepreneurial theme park owners’ dreams are strewn across the continents. People will travel for a theme park experience, but not too far off the beaten path. You have to have the best rides, and you need to continuously impress your guests. It’s not cheap to run one of these parks, and competition is fierce. Of course, for every successful amusement park, there is a dozen that didn’t do so well. They’re something of a staple of summertime adventure, and as people try to squeeze in the last bits of summer fun, amusement parks are going strong. Although summer’s drawing to a close in the Northern Hemisphere, people are still flocking to amusement parks. ![]()
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