Inside mysterious radioactive city '404' where China built its first atomic bomb and carried out nuclear experiments

The abandoned city has derelict apartment buildings, a shuttered park and a zoo with empty cages
By CHRIS KITCHING

Haunting footage shows the decaying remains of a deserted city which was built to develop nuclear bombs during the Cold War.
The mysterious Chinese city, called 404, has been abandoned for years, with derelict buildings falling into ruin, public squares left eerily desolate and vegetation overgrown.
Buildings once used in the early stages of China's nuclear weapons programme still contain equipment.
Set in the Gobi Desert, the ghost town was once home to the country's top nuclear experts and was named after a company owned by the China National Nuclear Corporation.

A Statue of Mao Zedong.
Equipment left behind in one of the buildings.
Apartments that were once home to thousands of workers are scattered throughout the city in China's Gansu province.
It has become a favourite stop for urban explorers and photographers.
There is an abandoned park and children's playground in the centre of 404, a zoo with empty cages and a rail line that ferried employees between their homes and work.
A public square is home to a statue of Mao Zedong and the city contains empty hotels, post offices, hospitals, police stations, supermarkets and old power plant cooling towers.

The population dwindled over the decades.

The City was once a thriving settlement.
It isn't listed on public maps and its location was a secret when it was used for nuclear experiments and the building of China's first atomic bomb.
But it is still home to hundreds of residents and businesses.
In 1958 China's government approved the construction of the country's first nuclear production factory, coded 404, and a flourishing city grew around it, CRI reported.
Abandoned 404 once had everything you could want in a city.

Some buildings have fallen into ruin.

But the city started to fail in the 1970s as other cities grew.
It became virtually deserted after China announced the end of nuclear experiments in 1996, with only about 1,000 people remaining.
In a blog post, Li Yang, who grew up in 404, said the city covers an area of four square kilometres and was home to a court, government, media, school, theatre, park "and anything else you want from a city."

The city is still home to around 1,000 people.

He wrote: "It also used to have the first military nuclear reactor of China. Today, it is basically deserted. It is said that there is an underground nuclear base. But I have never seen it.
"But the air-raid shelter in 404 is like a large labyrinth. In the 1980s, the underground project was deserted and become a children's secret amusement park."
He added: "Today, only some old people live in that town, and they have decided to die there. I am afraid my hometown will disappear forever together with its last senior residents."