Let's move our whole town somehwere else...

May 5, 2011 6:24 AM

Looking for an article with photos where a town in China moved itself to a new location.

It was an article in English about a small (rural?) town in China where there was a disaster? (if it was a disaster, then I don't remember if it was a natural one or not) and the whole town decided to move everything (West?) x amount of miles over and start anew.

I think I read the article 3 to 5 years ago and there were photos of the families doing the move/carrying their belongings.

I just want to find out what the name of this town is, maybe see the photos and read the article again.
 

posted by querty to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

It was probably moved due to the Three Gorges Dam. There were many towns moved but maybe Dachang?
posted by JJ86 at 6:32 AM on May 5, 2011

I agree with the above answer.

lots of historical relics and locations lost,
posted by zombieApoc at 9:16 AM on May 5, 2011

Not in China, but maybe still interesting for you:

Sweden's northernmost town of Kiruna, 145 kilometres into the Artic Circle has decided to move itself 4km in order to save itself from sinking into cracks created by the worlds largest iron ore mine.
posted by three blind mice at 10:56 AM on May 5, 2011

could it be peter hessler's underwater?
posted by mlo at 1:58 PM on May 5, 2011

If it were a natural disaster, such as earthquake, maybe it was 汶川 Wenchuan?
posted by easilyconfused at 5:39 PM on May 5, 2011

I bet this was written by Peter Hessler, and I bet he mentions it in his newest book Country Driving (which I read a few weeks ago and really loved--it was a library book, otherwise I'd sift through, but you might try Amazon's Look Inside; his books are usually well-indexed).
posted by soviet sleepover at 1:37 PM on May 6, 2011