Portuguese 
Spanish 
In Chongqing, China, The Ground Floor Can Be The 1st Or The 20th Floor, With Trains Crossing Buildings And Overlapping Streets.
Chongqing, in China, is a city that challenges traditional urban planning logic. Visitors often find themselves unsure of which floor they are actually on. It is a place where trains pass through buildings, and street levels can vary by dozens of meters in just a few steps.
Engineering Shaped By The Terrain
The reason for this unusual configuration lies in the city’s very topography. Chongqing was built between steep hills, cliffs, and river valleys.
In many areas, the ground can change height suddenly, reaching hundreds of meters of difference. Therefore, buildings have entrances on different floors, depending on where the roads were constructed.
-
At a depth of 750 meters, scientists find real gold trapped in the so-called “fool’s gold,” with a content of up to 1.9% in microscopic grains, but the record concentration still does not confirm a deposit ready for commercial exploitation.
-
Mother discovers she may have won £12 million in the lottery but faces an agonizing wait after the shopkeeper threw the ticket in the trash.
-
A couple bought a house in Sheffield and, when removing the carpet from the hallway, found a trapdoor leading to a secret 23 m² basement with a 2-meter ceiling height, a discovery that eliminated the need for an expensive extension and, according to them, added £70,000 to the property’s value.
-
A nurse bought for 20,000 a 1955 house abandoned by a hoarder in Texas, and months later, rain revealed a buried pool in the backyard valued at $160,000, which he restored himself for about $10,000, a fraction of the cost of building a new one.
Rather than expanding horizontally like most cities, Chongqing has developed a layered urban system. Roads, transportation networks, and sidewalks have been built one on top of the other, as a resident describes: “like a lasagna.” The city is approximately the size of Austria and is home to about 32 million people.
Interconnected Buildings And Unexpected Access
In Chongqing, skyscrapers are connected by suspended bridges, terrace parks, and cultural centers located on higher levels.
Schools also occupy these elevated spaces. Depending on the entry point, the ground floor of a building can be the 1st, 5th, 10th, or even the 20th floor.
To illustrate this complexity, resident Hugh, known as @hughchongqing on TikTok, decided to showcase the city in a video that has already surpassed 27 million views. He begins the tour in a seemingly ordinary square. However, upon crossing the area, he reaches a bridge 22 floors above the ground.
The Confusing Walk Through The Buildings
During the recording, Hugh uses an elevator in the square, which indicates that it is on the 12th floor. He then goes down to the 8th, returns to the ground floor, and heads to the neighboring building. There, the elevator shows the 13th floor. He crosses an aerial bridge and, on the other side, returns to street level. In another building, he goes up to the 4th floor and once again finds himself at ground level.
The video also showcases impressive footage of a train crossing a building suspended in the air, one of the city’s trademarks.
Repercussions On Social Media
Hugh’s virtual tour generated significant buzz. The video has accumulated over 3.2 million likes and 20 thousand comments. Users expressed their surprise: “How is this possible?,” asked one. Another questioned: “How does navigation work there?” A third joked: “Imagine using Google Maps in this place!”
Chongqing continues to amaze the world with its unique engineering and its unconventional urban logic.
