IN> The Underground City of Beijing

[William Keith]

It's real -- dozens if not hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, dug out 
during the Cold War at the order of Mao, meant to house hundreds of 
thousands of Beijing citizens in case of a bombing.  At least that many 
"volunteers" -- that is to say, people who didn't want to be singled 
out as unenthusiastic about digging a giant tunnel network -- hewed the 
complex from the foundations of the city over the course of several 
years in the 1960s.  The upper levels include a hospital, classrooms, 
and business places ranging from restaurants and mushroom farms to a 
barbershop to a silk textile factory.  There are lower levels as well, 
but if you've arrived with a minder you won't be allowed down into the 
unmaintained, dark, rubble-strewn tunnels.  You'll pretty much be 
restricted to a very small part of the network, in fact.

The main publically known entrance is 62 Damochang Road, just south of 
Tienanmen Square.  This one is open to tourists, who will be watched 
over carefully by their English-speaking guide (who will happen to be a 
trained soldier of the People's Liberation Army, and hopefully will not 
have occasion to demonstrate just exactly what the rather specialized 
training is in).  Oddly enough, though, locals aren't let in.  I 
emphasize: tourists yes, locals no.  The Army doesn't want to risk 
having one of the permanent residents of the tunnels recognize someone.

Those permanent residents are ghosts -- thousands of them.  If there's 
one thing China has in abundance, it's manpower, and if there was one 
thing the Great Leap Forward produced in abundance, it was dead 
manpower.  Dying in a time of fear, famine and war, doing backbreaking 
labor in dark underground tunnels, in the name of a personality cult... 
yes, that will produce an unsettled spirit here and there.  It was 
looking fair to produce a Tether to Fate, too, which the brighter of 
those ghosts realized.  As none of them wished to exist next to a 
staircase to Hell, a desperate plot was hatched.  Some of the building 
materials for the project had been scavenged from ancient 
archaeological sites in the city, destroying a Tether to Penglai in the 
process.  By hook and by crook, several key stones were distributed to 
significant points throughout the network, and the ghosts anchored not 
only to them but, somehow, to each other.  The Essence flow from the 
project was halted and reflected back in to the population.  The 
forming Tether was instantly disrupted.

However, the barrier had a side effect: deaths that might not 
ordinarily have produced a ghost now did so more frequently.  Deaths 
not just in the project, but in the city above, resulted in more and 
more trapped spirits.  Dig out your Liber Umbrarum -- there are all 
types of restless dead down here.  It's all that the modern Army can do 
to keep them contained in the lower levels, away from casual inspection 
by locals.

However, the human citizens aren't the main travelers in the labyrinth. 
  The intent of the labyrinth was to be accessible quickly to residents 
all over central Beijing, so entrances can be found, mostly unwatched 
around odd nooks and crannies within a few minutes'  walk of anywhere 
in the central city. Of course these days most entrances are kept 
locked, if not particularly well-guarded.  Another is in the Great Hall 
of the People; another is in a carpet factory in the Chongwen District. 
  The tunnels are known to go at least as far as the International 
Airport (20 km NE), northwest to the Summer Palace, and west to the 
hills west of the city.  Rumor has it, though, that spurs go as far as 
the city of Tianjin, 100 km to the southeast.  An underground labyrinth 
of nearly-deserted tunnels, giving access (especially for someone that 
can pass through a locked door easily) to almost anywhere in a major 
city, is an express-lane highway for celestials, who regularly use the 
tunnel network to get from Point A to Point B in the region.  
Valeforians particularly love the place, and demons of Fear and Death 
find the atmosphere quite homey.  Angels in need can also use the 
network, though they will be more likely to encounter foes, not to 
mention disturbed spirits that are consciously or unconsciously drawn 
to someone they don't need to hide from.  The main reason they might 
descend into the labyrinth is hot pursuit, but if doing so they will 
more than likely find themselves working in enemy territory.

Very... dungeon-like... enemy territory, at that.

William