Eerie Fengdu – The real Chinese Ghost City – A man-made quake

Today our hotel-boat stopped at yet another Chinese tourist attraction along the Yangtze – Fengdu Ghost City. The moment I set my foot on the ground I kept asking myself – to which ghost city do they refer? Is it the 2000 years old collection of pagodas and bizarre statues depicting scenes from the afterlife?

Or the present life collection of what used to be the real city of Fengdu?

Seems that the Chinese tourists do not care much about the real Fengdu, dismantled by hand, brick by brick, only to be built higher on the other side of the Yangtze.

They rush up the mountain in guided groups to get a glimpse of afterlife, something that the Chinese don’t do usually – they are mainly busy cultivating their current life.

For me, the real story takes place right on the banks of the Yangtze, where water level gradually go up due to the construction of the “Three Gorges Dam”. Seen from above, a new river bank is already being built, while the remains of the city are still there

I spend the rest of the time left till the boat leaves wandering around, in a place that seems as if it was hit by earth-quake. People seem lost. Dead Men Living.I was told that some of Fengdu residents were relocated to the new city across the river, but others were relocated thousands of kilometers away to East China.

Those who are still here try to make a living from the tourists that still bring life to the place.

Looking at this symbolic sight I could, for a moment, imagine that these people are planting, rather than uprooting this tree…

So there’s a city which is a tribute to the afterlife, that survives the colossal dam project, while the present life city and its people are forced to get their afterlife in another place.