The Chongqing Novel House

Often people find writings left by previous tenants, etched into the surfaces of their home. Normally nothing more than a few words, a list, a number or two.

Rarely does someone find an entire novel, including illustrations, covering every wall, such as was found in this abandoned house in China.

It is not unusual for writing to be found in old homes, left by the previous tenants. Door frames containing lines measuring the heights of children each year, maybe a teenager’s angst filled scrawlings of a crushes name, or even telephone numbers inscribed directly onto a wall near where the phone resided.

However, finding an entire novel written neatly onto every wall of an abandoned house is pretty much unheard of.

What would such a novel be about?



There are movies where someone who had lost their sanity, wrote demonic texts on the walls of their asylum cell, or a mad detective laid out his case against the criminal he had been chasing down obsessively.

But neither is the case with the writings on the walls of this abandoned house in Chongqing, Southwest China.

“I was 17… I have reactions like lightning, hearing like a bat, my vision is like a hawk, and I am as strong as a general.”

So reads one of the passages of this novel, unsigned and mysterious.

The photos date from about 2009, and it is believed that the novelist may have been a vagrant shacking up in the slowly crumbling building. The Chinese writing covers every wall, and flows around holes and gaps where the plaster work has fallen away. The novel was obviously written when the building was already in its decrepit state.

The text also includes drawings that illustrate the adventures of the stories Kung-fu super hero.

Although it would be great to know who created the work, I think there is something special about it remaining a mystery.

What happened to the author?

Were they living there alone?

Do they have other works?

It's these questions, not so much the work itself, that drives the intrigue. The work itself is beautiful but it’s the unknowns that create a certain romance to this mystery.

What do you think?

Have you ever found mysterious writings on your walls?

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