More than half a century ago, the Chinese
flooded Lion City, also called Shi Cheng. Recently Shi Cheng was
explored by archaeologists who dubbed ‘Lion City’ as China’s ‘Atlantis
rediscovered.’ Photo #1 by Chinese National Geography via Cheer All
Thousand Island Lake (Qiandao Lake) is a gorgeous man-made lake located in Zhejiang, China. Photo #2 by trasyy
The valley was flooded in 1959 to create the lake for the Xin’an River Dam project. This is Xinanjiang Hydroelectric Station. Photo #3 by Dragon Moon Bay Hotel
The first underwater exploration attempt of
the drowned city was in 2001 when it was discovered there were 265
arches in the preserved ruins. Lion City is about the size of 62
football fields. Photo (Drawing) #4 by Chinese National Geography
Diving in China, Qiandao Lake, posted in 2009. Video #1 by Lukas H
According to Our World,
“It was decided to make an underwater city accessible to tourists.
Special submarine height of 3.8 meters and a length of 23 meters with a
capacity of 48 passengers, was built over six million U.S. dollars to
bring everyone in the underwater kingdom.” The proof-of-concept
archimedes bridge, a submerged floating tunnel, was not finished and
was “banned” to avoid damaging the “delicate undersea structures.” This
image was captured in January 2011 as an underwater film crew tagged
along with archaeologists to explore Qiandao Lake and the ancient Lion
City. Photo #5 by Chinese National Geography via Animal World
This aerial shot of Thousand Island Lake is
interesting, but even more interesting is what lies underneath in the
Lost Lion City. Photo #6 by fotki
According to National Geography,
as the dive depth increased beneath Qiandao Lake, ever darkening, it
was almost all black by 28 meters underwater. The diving lights gave
only about two meters of visibility and the submerged city is at a depth
of 26-40 meters (85 – 131 feet). But they found out that even wooden
beams and stairs were intact. Photo #7 by Our World
Intricate carvings engraved on buildings as
seen when Chinese National Geography released images taken by
archaeologists/divers rediscovering the the underwater ‘lost’ city. Photo #8 by Chinese National Geography
There is a chain of over 1,078 man-made large islands and a few thousand smaller ones at Qiandao Lake. Photo #9 by Oksana Lyutova
According to Chinese National Geography,
“This is a restoration picture of Shicheng city in east China’s
Zhejiang Province. The city has been submerged under Qiandao Lake since
1959 and the construction of the Xin’an River Hydropower Station.” Photo #10 by Chinese National Geography
Massive amount of fish on Yule Bridge, as seen while crossing one of the Thousand Lake Islands. Photo #11 by lenhz
International archeologists said Lion City was an underwater ‘time capsule’. Wikipedia states,
“At the foot of the Wu Shi mountain (Five Lion Mountain) lays an
ancient city known as Shi Cheng (Lions City), built in Dong Han period
(25 – 200), first was set up as county in 208, it was named ‘Lion City’
because of the Five Lion Mountain that sits just behind the city. The
city remains undisturbed from the surface at a depth of 26-40m, Big Blue
dive operator based in Shanghai, runs weekend trips twice a month
throughout the year to the city and has started to uncover parts of the
lost city.” Photo #14 by Chinese National Geography via1-4all
Lion City had five city gates, each with a
tower. Before it was buried beneath the water, Shicheng City had six
main stone streets that were used to connect every corner of the city. Photo #16 by Chinese National Geography via 1-4all
Cable cars over lush forests, another mode of transportation on Qiandaohu. Photo #18 by Daniel Hjort
Deep beneath Thousand Island Lake used to be a political and economic hub of the region. Photo #20 by trasyy
Before Shi Cheng was submerged, 290,000
people had to be relocated from a city where their ancestors had lived
in for over 1,300 years. Photo #21 by Daniel Hjort
Video: CCTV Travels Underwater to Ancient City. Video #2 by CNTV
Aerial shot of Quiando Lake. This is a
tourist hotspot with ‘theme’ islands including Bird Island, Snake
Island, Monkey Island, Lock Island and Island to Remind You of Your
Childhood. Photo #23 by Our Planet
