Former Sino-French University / 原中法大学

This report is about the exploration of a historical building located on the ancient city walls of Beijing. This is the former Sino-French University, established in 1920, which I visited a few days ago with my dear and brave friend Martin. I have to thank him as he is always able to follow me in […]

The ruins of a coal mining village / 废弃的煤矿村庄

I currently conduct research in the mining district in Datong. Yesterday, as I was coming back from a day of fieldwork in a coal mine area in the mountain, I decided to go down the hill by foot. I followed the main road along the ruins of a major village and there were two interesting […]

Bataizi Bell Tower / 八台子大单巴

Being a foreigner living in Datong is not as difficult as one would think. Not only is the city (sometimes) less polluted than Beijing, but it is also very sunny. More over, it is quite easy to ride the bicycle around in the countryside to discover interesting ruins like the yaodong cave dwelling or to […]

Gare Juste Lisch / Juste Lisch Railway Station / Juste Lisch 火车站

While spending a few days in France, I enjoyed going to famous abandoned places around where I live. During a train trip to an abandoned sanatorium in the suburbs, I saw this interesting building. It was a former train station from the 19th century1. This place is very famous: it is not any ordinary train station. This […]

Tsinghua Yuan Old Railway Station / 原清华园火车站

I discovered this place when I was studying at Tsinghua University in 2007-2008. Wudaokou area is essentially composed of multistorey department stores and modern residential compounds. And yet, at the time, there were still some one-storey village houses and… one real hutong! The hutong still exists today. Hidden in the big city, one can be […]