Where home is an old air raid shelter.docx

Where home is an old air raid shelter
By Martin Patience
BBC News, Beijing
Millions of people have poured into the Chinese capital Beijing from the countryside, but with not enough homes to go around, some end up living underground in old air-raid shelters, basements and tunnels.
Even by Beijing's standards, a sprawling city of almost 20 million, it was not the easiest of addresses to find.
We arrived at a 20-storey apartment building on the outskirts of town, where the subway lines stopped and huge cauldron-like power stations reared into view.
But instead of taking the lift up into the apartments, we entered an easy-to-miss doorway, and descended a dark flight of stairs. The echoes of our footsteps flooded our ears.
Then, in front of us, was a thick steel door with two bolts across it. It was the only clue that this was an air raid shelter. It was also a place that dozens of people called home.
Walking along the dark and dingy corridors, you could hear the muffled sounds of life.
We had arranged to meet two young women living in the shelter. One was Jong Li Na, a tough 18-year-old who was trying to make it in the big city.
She had found work in a restaurant as a waitress, but had quit her job and now was trying to find something better.
An old colleague, Peng Jing, was her room-mate. She was from southern China, and had a loud, throaty voice which boomed off the