Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
3 min of reading 
0 comments 
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.
-
Archaeologists reveal in Amphipolis the Kasta Tomb with a diameter of 140 meters and 497 meters of white marble from Mount Pangeon, the largest tomb ever discovered in ancient Macedonia.
-
Russia launches Soyuz-5 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with 65 meters, 530 tons, and the world’s most powerful liquid-fueled engine, 65 years after Gagarin.
-
Saint-Nazaire christens the world’s largest sailing cruise ship with 220 meters, 3 carbon masts, and SolidSail sails that cut 9,000 tons of CO2 per year.
-
While 46% of the BRICS Bank’s operations are already conducted outside the dollar, Dilma Rousseff warns in Moscow that unilateral sanctions create costs even for the countries that impose them, and economist Jeffrey Sachs argues that multipolarity is a fact and that the world needs an independent payment system.
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.
-
-
-
-
-
7 people reacted to this.