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A HISTORIC city that was completely flooded to create a fake lake has been found in perfect condition even though it’s been completely untouched for years.
Shī Chéng – which translates to Lion City – is an ancient underwater wonder dubbed the Atlantis of the East that disappeared for decades when it was abandoned and plunged down to low watery depths.
A city dubbed the Atlantis of the East has managed to stay in perfect condition despite it being flooded decades ago and first built almost 1,400 years ago[/caption] The city is 131ft underwater but still looks beautiful with stone streets, towers and endless highly detailed statues[/caption] The city of Shī Chéng sits under Qiandao Lake after the Chinese government decided to flood the ancient land[/caption] An artist’s impression of what Shī Chéng would look like today if it wasn’t turned into a lake[/caption]The mysterious city bathed in secrets has long been coined a “time capsule of Imperial China” dating back almost 1,400 years.
Looking like a movie set, the beautiful streets of stone, huge towers and endless statues all sit 131ft underwater looking as magnificent as they did all those years ago.
Shī Chéng is still seen as one of the most prominent Chinese cities ever to have existed due to its expert preservation.
Houses, temples and paved roads were all kept almost spotless because of their place underwater.
This method helped the buildings avoid any wear and tear from wind, rain or sun damage that have previously plagued abandoned places.
Most eerie spots left untouched for decades end up crumbling as the walls decay, plants and weeds invade and graffiti artists gather to send the places into turmoil.
But Shī Chéng has miraculously survived.
Hidden under China’s Qiandao Lake in the Zhejiang Province, the city was purposely sent packing under the water by the Chinese government to help with industrialisation in the country back in 1959.
Zhejiang in particular needed a hydroelectric dam, so the idea to drown Shī Chéng was declared to make room for a giant artificial lake and the Xin’an dam.
After decades of looking into evidence, investigators discovered that the lost city once had a whole host of residents for centuries.
As 300,000 people were forced to leave their homes and find a new place to live unless they wanted an extremely wet lifestyle.
Records suggest that the city was built during the Tang Dynasty way back in 621 AD, making it nearly 1,400 years old.
Most places during that period were massive and Shī Chéng is thought to be no different.
It could’ve possibly been bigger than 60 football fields and featured a whopping 265 arches throughout the ancient spot.
Detailed stonework including perfectly preserved Chinese guardian lions dates back to 1777 and the walls lining the place are from the 16th Century.
The city was once known as the centre of politics, economics and architecture unparalleled from anywhere else across the globe.
Qiandao Lake – dubbed Thousand Island Lake – is a massive body of freshwater that covers 573sq km and is made up of over a thousand islands in the lake – hence the name.
The city was rediscovered in 2001 after the Chinese government sent a team of experienced divers to investigate the place they assumed would be left in ruins as a fish hotel.
But the lost metropolis became a fascinating find and in 2011 the Chinese National Geography revealed never-before-seen photographs alongside pictures of what the small city under the water could’ve actually looked like.
Nowadays Shī Chéng is used as a major tourist attraction for the area as divers take trips underwater to catch a glimpse of a once bustling city and imagine it back in its heyday under Tang leadership.
Like the legend of Atlantis and story of Shī Chéng, many cities have been lost to the seas.
From a city as big as 62 football pitches completely sunk to an ancient Egyptian city that sank in the 8th century AD and was found as recently as 2000.
It’s not just China and Egypt that has remarkable worlds underwater as Europe has their own mini Atlantis.
An abandoned underwater town in France sits 100ft under the sea and has become a hotspot for divers after it was built 58 years ago for a movie but never ended up being used.
The bizarre, secret town has a hairdresser, supermarket, church, town square, an amphitheatre and even a lawyer’s office but not all is as it seems as the place hasn’t sunken overtime or been flooded but was purposely built to be a water world.
It was flooded in 1959 and nearly 300,000 people had to move out of their homes[/caption] The spot is now a thriving tourist destination[/caption]