Movie fans flock to 'haunted mansion'

By Zhang Rui
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, July 24, 2014
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The legendary mansion at No. 81 Chaoyangmennei Street in Beijing. [news.163.com]


As the 3D thriller "The House That Never Dies" passed the 220 million yuan (US$35.22 million) mark at the box office on Tuesday, the inspiration behind the movie has also attracted crowds of unexpected visitors.

The movie, directed by Raymond Yip and starring Francis Ng and Ruby Lin, tells a ghost story that reportedly took place at the legendary mansion at No. 81 Chaoyangmennei Street in Beijing.

According to the estate's security, thousands of people went to visit the mansion recently due to the reignited interest after the movie returned to popularity. There were continuous crowds outside the closed gate. Some even carried luggage to the house, which indicated that they just came to see the place before they left Beijing. In the evening, when security refused to let anyone come in, some climbed the wall to trespass in the property.

There has been an urban legend circulating for a long time on the Internet that a wife of a former Kuomintang military officer hung herself at the mansion and continues to haunt this deserted and creepy building.

When some visitors were allowed inside, they took pictures and made noises to amuse themselves. "It is actually dangerous for visitors since the wooden floors are rotten and so many people stepped on them, which is not good," a security guard said.

A poster of the movie "The House That Never Dies." [China.org.cn] 


Most of the curious visitors were eventually disappointed because there is really nothing there except dust-covered and broken wooden stairs and dirty old walls, occasionally with horrible graffiti left by previous explorers or intruders.

However, the Catholic Diocese of Beijing, the owner of the property, said none of the superstitious legends and rumors are true, and this so-called "haunted" building originally was a language school built by American missionaries in 1910. It was renamed California College in 1930 when the missionaries stopped the financial support and then diplomats, businessmen and scholars started to be trained there. After the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the building was used by multiple government departments. In the late 1990s, the government gave it to the Diocese of Beijing.

However, real estate administers surveyed and evaluated the building and found it could not be used any more, as it has not been repaired and renovated for a long time. But the building is also in the list of Beijing's outstanding buildings, so it cannot be demolished, but only reconstructed. But it would cost so much that many clients didn't think it was worth the money. Without funding, it has been left to fall into disrepair for more than ten years.

"The House That Never Dies" debuted on July 18 and has become the top grossing horror movie ever in China.

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