The Chinese city of Shicheng was flooded in 1959, then forgotten. With its recent rediscovery, divers can explore a 600-year-old city that is both underwater – and unseen for decades.
Unlike the mythical Atlantis, Shicheng – which means Lion City in Mandarin – was purposely flooded in 1959 to make way for the Xin’an Dam and its adjoining hydroelectric station. Nearly 300,000 people were relocated for the project, some of whom had families that had lived in the city for centuries.
The city was “rediscovered” in 2001 when the Chinese government organized an expedition to see what might remain of the lost metropolis. Interest and exploration increased further in 2011, when the Chinese National Geography published some never-before-seen photographs and illustrations hypothesising what the small city, which measured about half a square kilometre, might have looked like in its heyday. (Source)
This is way cool. Underwater cities make me shiver.
