China has turned a 50-year-old flooding event into a money-making venture, opening the underwater Shi Cheng City, which lies at a depth of 85 feet to 131 feet (26-40 meters) beneath the Qiandao Lake, to tourists.
Shi Cheng, Mandarin for "Lion City," is a sunken underwater city that was flooded to accommodate the Xin'an River Dam project. As a result, the entire infrastructure of the city was forced into the depths of the manmade lake, displacing about 290,000 people, reports Architizer.
At the time, the communist government of China wanted to build a reservoir in the area in order to commission a dam on the Xin'an River. However, the reservoir would flood any area that was 108 meters below sea level and therefore put the city, named for the Lion Mountains surrounding it, under water, according to Blue Dive.
The manmade Qiandao now boasts roughly 1,000 small islands, with about 81 percent of the island territory covered with exotic forests home to 90 bird species and 61 animal species, reports Live Journal.
The Lion City lies undisturbed at the bottom of the lake, where it's remained "immaculately preserved" for 53 years. The city has five gates and five towers, and is about the size of 62 football fields. Six streets, made of pebbles and flagstone, connected the whole city, reports Property Guru.
"A city as massive as Shi Cheng deserves a place in history," Christopher Chitty writes for Property Guru. "While the western nations clamour for Atlantis - a city mentioned briefly by Pluto - here lays a true ancient and submerged city in the very real Qiandao Lake."
Check out some stunning pictures of the city here.
Shi Cheng isn't the only underwater world slowly being recovered. Over the last few years, technology has helped unearth some of these lost wonders, including Alexandria in Egypt, Kwan Phayao in Thailand, and the Bay of Cambay - or "Dwarka" - in India.
