A Chinese start - up , Digua Shequ , is turning a former nuclear bomb shelter in Beijing into a community centre , with co - working spaces , a 3-D printing station , a cinema , a hair salon , cafe and gym . Renovating the basement that now houses the Digua Shequ center cost nearly 3 million renminbi, most of which was covered by Feng Lun, the founder of Vantone Holdings and its real estate subsidiary, Vantone Real Estate. While their usage is controversial , its founder hopes to replicate the model in other neighbourhoods , creating a new sense of community . More than 10k concrete spaces , built as part of Mao 's Cold War defence strategy , have been transformed into shops , restaurants and apartments ; rented out to migrant or low - paid workers at rates that are a third less than for homes above ground . While the government has declared the residential spaces will become illegal by 2017 , given estimates of between 150k to 1 m residents with no provision for re - location , some believe the policy may be quietly dropped .
A Chinese start - up , Digua Shequ , is turning a former nuclear bomb shelter in Beijing into a community centre , with co - working spaces , a 3-D printing station , a cinema , a hair salon , cafe and gym . While their usage is controversial , its founder hopes to replicate the model in other neighbourhoods , creating a new sense of community . More than 10k concrete spaces , built as part of Mao 's Cold War defence strategy , have been transformed into shops , restaurants and apartments ; rented out to migrant or low - paid workers at rates that are a third less than for homes above ground . While the government has declared the residential spaces will become illegal by 2017 , given estimates of between 150k to 1 m residents with no provision for re - location , some believe the policy may be quietly dropped .