Beijing’s North China Union School – Update

Back in January 2009 I posted about the mysterious North China Union School building on Chaoyangmanwai Dajie in Beijing. I was snot sure what the building was, just that it was in a deserted and slightly derelict state and, this being Beijing, quite possible slated for demolition. See the post here that talks about the history of the house, that it is still considered haunted by many Beijing locals apparently and many prominent Americans in China, notably “Vinegar” Joe Stilwell and others studied Chinese there. Well, here we are nearly four years later and (in a city that can apparently build shopping malls, airports and office blocks overnight) the building remains deserted. It does seem the interior has been gutted and while the exterior appears to be (at a cursory glance) in reasonably good shape the windows are all gone and so for some time the rain and weather will have been penetrating the interior with the obvious horrendous affects on the structure (is this going to be one of those let it rot and then we can demolish it as unsafe and beyond repair stories?). Well, the gate was open – like any piece of open space in Beijing they are using it as a car park – it would be a real shame to lose this treasure….