Haunted House
In every city there are local tales of unexplained circumstances and “haunted houses”. Beijing, being such a large city still covered by much ancient architecture has inevitably gained its own reputation for being home to many haunted houses and accompanying ghost stories.
Chaonei Dajie No.81 building is one of the most famous haunted places in Beijing. On the bustling strip of Chaoyangmen Neidajie; No.81 is a rundown multi-leveled building with an ominous appearance. This particular western structure looks quite obtrusive and unique among the flourishing Chinese architectures that surround it.
It was built in the Colonial Period around 1900 and was supposed to be a church presented as a gift to the British colonists. Due to on-going wars and the collapse of the Qing dynasty it was shutdown. Inside the building was a strange tunnel which travelled from the crypt, underground all the way to Tuan Jiehu Lake, which was destroyed due to the construction of Beijing’s line 2 subway.
During the Republic of China period, a high-ranking National Party official took up residence in this building. At the time that the Communist party began taking power, the official abandoned his family and took refuge in Taiwan.
One of his concubines couldn’t stand the heartache of losing the official from her life and as a tragic result she hung herself in that very building. Since this day, weird and abnormal things keep occurring; apparently people can still hear someone crying during storms or nights that coincided with a full moon.
In the 1980s, for some unknown reason, the government added an additional floor on the top of No.81. Logic tells us that top floors cannot simply be added to ordinary buildings unless they have sufficient supporting foundations beneath the ground. Rumors have it that this decrepit building still holds something significant and suspect beneath the ground on which it stands.
The Chinese government attempted to pull this building down but extraordinarily, the entire project was halted due to the mysterious disappearances of several construction workers. Following these events, No.81 has gained an infamous reputation and completely plagued.
Lately No. 81 has become one of the most popular mysterious targets for a group of young people named Urban Exploration. The famous TV show 永不瞑目/ Under a False Name was also shot here as the scary atmosphere suits perfectly with the storyline.
People on our forum are fansinated by this building and other ghost stories of Beijing, see their posts here and here.