One of Faccilongo’s photographs pictures 4-year-old Jing Jing, who lives with her grandmother, father and younger brother in a room so tiny that only a bed can fit. Local laws require a minimal living space of 4 square meters (43 square feet) per tenant, which, in many cases, go ignored. Residents share kitchens and restrooms that are often cramped and unsanitary.

Although they were built with electricity, plumbing and a sewage system in order to shelter people for months in wartime or fallout, the lack of proper ventilation makes the air stagnant and moldy. The living conditions in the bunkers are indeed harsh. “Some of them are afraid because they told their families that they have good jobs and are living in good apartments.” “I met around 150 people, and only 50 gave me permissions ,” Faccilongo says. Finally, Faccilongo slipped by when guards were off-site for lunch.īut even after Faccilongo attained access, he found many residents wary, in some cases embarrassed, of being photographed. Dismayed, he submitted an official request with the local government, which was rejected. It seemed everywhere Faccilongo went, a neighborhood security guard would turn him away, citing a law barring foreigners from entering such nuclear refuges. Although the bunkers are not hard to find-they are located in virtually all parts of the city-getting access proved to be difficult. RELATED: China's Dead Sea Transforms Into Rainbow - Here's Whyįascinated by the phenomenon, Italian photographer Antonio Faccilongo arrived in Beijing to document it in December 2015.

Nuclear bomb fallout shelter locations