Help This Man Find Shanghai's Remaining WWII Bunkers

By Ned Kelly

Belgian Maxime Tondeur is the founder of Explore Beyond, a tour company that does just that – skips the commercialized aspects of China travel and tired old 'holiday destinations' to go off the beaten path and take a deeper dive into traditional Chinese culture. 

We met up with him to talk about that a couple of years ago...

READ MORE: Maxime Tondeur on Helping Travelers Explore Beyond in China

Suffice to say, being stuck in Shanghai for a prolonged period of time is not an ideal situation for a man with such itchy feet. No matter for Maxime, who found some exploring to do in his own backyard – a 'Bunker Hunt' of Shanghai's remaining WWII bunkers. And now he is inviting you, the curious people of Shanghai, to join his search.

Being curious people of Shanghai ourselves, we wanted to know more. So we sought Maxime out for a 'Totally Bunkers' briefing.

How did the 'Bunker Hunt' come about?

While researching our Canals, Forts & Foreign Intrusion day trip, we came upon a list with the locations of remaining bunkers in Shanghai. Thousands of these fortified positions had been built in and around the city between 1932 and 1949, predominantly by the armed forces of the Kuomintang (KMT) and of Imperial Japan (IJA).

While most of these fortifications have been demolished in recent decades, quite a few can still be seen in Shanghai today. Their conditions vary greatly: some are left to be forgotten; some have been repurposed or integrated into their surroundings; while others are now part of China’s official historical narrative.

Our list contains 90+ locations of remaining bunkers which were still around in 2021.

Every month we release approximately a dozen bunker locations scattered across one or multiple city districts. It is then up to you to pinpoint the bunkers and share their exact location in the Totally Bunkers WeChat group.

A picture of each found bunker, along with credits and a location QR is then added to our list – for those who prefer to have all the hard work done by someone else – which is regularly published.

*Note on abbreviations: National Revolutionary Army (NRA), KMT armed forces from 1925-1947; Chinese National Armed Forces (CNAF), KMT armed forces from 1947-1949; Imperial Japanese Army (IJA).

What is the purpose of it all?

No purpose. It is just for fun and to explore parts of Shanghai one normally wouldn’t go to. 

That said, we will give away a little something to the person who finds the most bunkers and to the person whose picture is voted everyone’s favorite.

Easy. Just scan the QR code below to add me, and I'll add you to the Totally Bunkers WeChat group, which gives you access to hidden bunker locations, allows you to interact with others and enables you to win one of our two giveaways. 

We'll keep going until the list is completed or until August 31 – whichever one comes first!

Oh, and please behave upon entering residential areas when looking for bunkers, so as not to offend anyone and so others after you are still welcome. Happy hunting!

Explore Beyond also offer Urban Explorations, taking you to some of Shanghai's least visited districts or to destinations just outside the city limits, still relatively untouched by mass tourism, and the origins of little-known stories worth telling.

Scan the QR code to follow Explore Beyond and find our more:

[Cover image via Maxime Tondeur/Explore Beyond]

Got something you would like to promote? Contact Christy via email at christycai@thatsmags.com and on WeChat by scanning the QR code below:

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