Beijing's underground 'parallel universe'

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Walking through a maze of narrow streets south of Tiananmen Square, Nick Frisch appeared unfazed by the sight of drastic changes -- traditional courtyard houses that once lined up these hutongs, or alleys, now in different stages of being knocked down.

While the Qianmen area is going through an extreme makeover -- a restoration of its Qing dynasty flavor ahead of the Olympics -- Frisch's destination is safe from the city's ubiquitous wrecking balls. Upon reaching the entrance to the Underground City, however, he was told it was closed for "renovation," just like the surrounding neighborhood.

"It's like they're trying to literally bury this place before the Games," said Frisch, a recent graduate of Columbia University in the United States, with a major in history and Chinese language.

This place is a vast network of tunnels built beneath Beijing's city center during the 1970s in anticipation of a nuclear war with the Soviets. Covering an area of 85 square kilometers and containing 1,000 anti-air raid structures, the subterranean complex was said to have been mostly hand-dug by 300,000 local residents.

"The plan was to move half of Beijing's population underground and the other half to western hills in the event of a nuclear attack," Frisch explained.

The 22-year-old New York native has lived in China on and off for a year and is fascinated by the bomb shelter and its history. After the authorities opened part of the Underground City as a tourist attraction to woo foreigners, he turned a routine visit to an adventure in 2006.

Armed with a flashlight, Frisch veered off from the mandatory guided tour. Moving sandbags and unchaining doors, he explored the off-limit area and found rooms with bunk beds and decayed cardboard boxes of water purifiers.

"It's more than just propaganda posters down there -- it really is a parallel universe, with street signs stenciled on the wall," Frisch said.

Since then, Frisch has discovered other shelters linked to the network -- many of them turned to cheap hostels -- on busy streets. Not surprisingly, the time-warped part of the Underground City remains his favorite.

"I sometimes wish I was born earlier to witness the Cold War unfold -- and the tunnels have given me a unique vantage point to look into that period of history," Frisch said.

"While Beijing is transforming itself for the Olympics, it's just amazing to see this space in such a sharp contrast to the city aboveground."

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Rich and powerful openly flaunt China's one-child policy

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A growing number of rich and powerful people in central China are brazenly flouting the country's one-child policy, a newspaper said recently.

The violations in Hubei province are leaving local family planning officials powerless, the Beijing Morning Post reported. Even when fined by authorities, many rich that have openly ignored the rules are slow to provide the money, the newspaper said.

In one case, a person was fined $106,000 for having a second child, the highest amount ever in Hubei, but has only paid $14,000, the paper said.

The report said 1,678 people, including government officials, were punished in 2007 for not adhering to the policy, which has been in place for almost 30 years. There were no details about the punishments.

Telephone calls to the Hubei provincial family planning office went unanswered.

Under the mandate, most urban couples are limited to one child and rural families to two in an attempt to control population growth and conserve natural resources in the world's most populous country.

In order to have another child people also remarry, keep a second wife in the house, or fake a divorce, the paper said.

One primary school teacher in the capital of Wuhan pretended that her child was handicapped so she could have another, as is allowed under the rules.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chinese leader Mao Zedong made what U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States.

"You know, China is a very poor country," Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department's historian office.

"We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."

A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. "Do you want our Chinese women?" he asked. "We can give you 10 million."

After Kissinger noted Mao was "improving his offer," the chairman said, "We have too many women. ... They give birth to children and our children are too many."

"It is such a novel proposition," Kissinger replied in his discussion with Mao in Beijing. "We will have to study it."

Beijing mayor vows pollution curbs

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Beijing will use the strictest standards to control emissions and curb pollution for the Summer Olympics but it will be an uphill task, the host city's mayor was quoted as saying Sunday.

Guo Jinlong vowed to finish preparations for the August 8-24 Games and provide services in "high-level and high-caliber ways," the official Xinhua News Agency cited him as saying.

That meant dealing with crippling gridlock and widespread pollution that have been major concerns, he said. So far, Beijing has begun shutting down blast furnaces in the city's biggest steel company to improve air quality.

It is expected to enact temporary traffic restrictions to ease bumper-to-bumper traffic and help reduce vehicle exhaust that creates the gray haze that often blankets the capital.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, told CNN last August that poor air quality could potentially lead to the postponement of certain competitions, such as track and field events.