Hidden in Jinzi Mountain in the province of Fuling is a military infrastructure considered one of China's most ambitious: the 816 nuclear plant. But its days as a nuclear site is over; it has now been transformed into a tourist attraction, according to an article by The New York Times.
The 816 nuclear plant was built in the 1960s when tensions between China and the Soviet Union ran high. Its original purpose was to serve as a production site for weapons-grade plutonium, and today, its remnants serve as a chilling reminder of the Cold War.
To lessen the risk of it being attacked by enemies, the officials and engineers of the 816 nuclear plant decided to have it constructed inside the hollowed-out Jinzi Mountain.
"This cave represents not only the efforts of the 816 workers but also an important part of history in China's national defense and nuclear development," a guide, Qi Hong, told his group during a guided tour of the plant.
The challenging construction project took the lives of over 60,000 workers over the course of 18 years, The New York Times reported. The project was left unfinished, however, as civilian defense conversions occupied the Chinese agenda in the early 1980s.
Instead of serving as a plant to produce weapons-grade plutonium, the 816 nuclear plant operated as a chemical fertilizer for 26 years. It was closed down and, on 2010, opened to the public as a tourist attraction.
It's just in time with China's plans to construct more nuclear plants, but once-important plants like the 816 nuclear site serve as a bitter reminder, a museum of regret for the people who once worked in such projects.
"Back then, the project took so much from these young men, including our livelihoods," 69-year-old Chen Huaiwen, one of the workers who excavated Jinzi Mountain from 1969 to 1974, told The New York Times.
"We need to make this clear to the public. Otherwise, it will have been a huge waste of our efforts and manpower," said Chen.
Before its reopening for tourism in Sept. 2016, the 816 nuclear plant underwent major renovations, which opened one-third of the cave open to visitors.