Vine castle in Beibei (Photo provided by the interviewee)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Unlike other young bloggers keen to go to popular trendy places, three young people in Chongqing have chosen to visit old buildings and even formed an “urban archaeological team”, in their words, even a dusty window contains history. The short video shot by the three young people has gone viral on the Internet, with millions of netizens watching it, setting off a wave of urban nostalgia.

Teaming up to excavate “Treasure Memory”

Chongqing Evening News reporter met the three post-80s young people, Lao Hu, Mao’er and Kang Kang, who were born and raised in Chongqing, in Beicheng Paradise Walk, Jiangbei District. They are engaged in different occupations, Lao Hu is a professional photographer, Mao’er is a hospital worker, and Kang Kang is a corporate employee.

As the team leader and the host of the video, Lao Hu is the most talkative. He told reporter that the formation of the team was accidental. Lao Hu and Mao’er are old friends for more than a decade. One day at the end of last year, when they went to Nanshan for a trip, they found an old building with a full sense of age and filmed the exploration process into a short video. Later, Lao Hu posted it on a video account called “Lao Hu’s Dreaming Travels” （老胡梦游记）. Unexpectedly, the video became popular and received tens of thousands of hits, and many netizens said they liked the retro buildings in the video so much.

Kang Kang is one of the viewers of the video. “I have always liked the old building very much, and the process of exploring it is very interesting, which can bring us to touch the texture of the city and the hidden culture.” Kang Kang said that after watching the video, he had the feeling of finding a bosom friend, so he contacted Lao Hu through private messages. The same interests and hobbies make the two feel that it should have been earlier for them two to meet each other. After several calculations, Lao Hu, Mao’er, and Kang Kang decided to set up this “urban archaeological team” to use their spare time to explore the old buildings hidden in the city and excavate the city’s “Treasure Memory.”

These old buildings are worth visiting 

Vine Castle（藤蔓城堡）

Near the Jingangbei in Beibei District, there was a sanatorium, which is now a barren castle. The walls and roofs of the castle are covered with Parthenocissus, which are tightly wrapped up. Lao Hu said that when he saw the house wrapped in green vines for the first time, he was immediately shocked. After they inquired and approached the nearby residents, they learned that the castle group was built in the 1990s. Residents revealed that even the interior decoration of the building was all the most popular in that era.

Tour tips:

You can wear red clothes, which is in sharp contrast to green, to visit there. Don’t take a close-up of the character when taking a picture. You can take a smaller picture of the character and blend it into the scene. Only in this way can you have a sense of visual shock.

Huangjiaxiang Architectural Complex（黄家巷建筑群）

Speaking of Huangjiaxiang, you may feel strange, but you must have seen the old-fashioned houses behind Ciyun Temple on Nanbin Road. This used to be the place where Huang Xizi, a merchant tycoon, lived in the 1920s. Huangjiaxiang was once known as “Chinese Hollywood” for bringing together a number of domestic film studios and movie stars at that time.

Tour tips:

When you go to Huangjiaxiang to take pictures, don’t ignore an old yellow house here. Seen from its side, it is the tall and fashionable Raffles City on the other side of the river, which can show a sense of prosperity and retro impact.

Yang’s Watchtower Group（杨氏碉楼群）

This Watchtower Group is located in Shilong Town, Banan District. Lao Hu said that local residents call it Yang’s Watchtower, a building of the Republic of China, and now some of the towers are still inhabited by residents. The tallest building in the building group is 17 meters high, with windows on all sides and a number of trumpet-shaped shooting holes cut from the whole stone. Under the leadership of the residents, Lao Hu and his team walked into the towers and could still see the old stove and old-fashioned desks of the past.

Tour tip:

The residents here are very simple and enthusiastic, and you must get their permission to enter there. If you take pictures, it is recommended to take pictures of only buildings, while photographing characters can be placed in some interesting small scenes, such as in front of the blackboard, next to the old stove, and so on. (Translated by Wang Junli, Fathom Language Limited)