Shi Cheng, the Lion City

The account

In 1959 the valley of Shi Cheng was flooded for a dam, and a city founded under the Tang dynasty went under a lake, intact. No surf, no worm, no salt: down in the cold dark the wooden beams still stand, and the carved lions and phoenixes on the gates look freshly cut. Divers drop through black water and land in a Ming street. It is the best-preserved drowned city on earth, and it is barely lit by a torch.

Leads, where the trail points now

• A 1,300-year-old Chinese city deliberately flooded in 1959 to build the Xin'an dam, now sitting intact under Qiandao Lake, the Lion City.
• It is a controlled dive site at about 40 meters, perfectly preserved, with carved arches and walls standing.
• It is not lost but submerged on purpose, so the work here is documentation and careful diving, not a search.