Homko Olympic Village: A Tangled History of Corruption and Deceit

Urban Exploration is all about peeling back the layers of a city like a massive onion. While it is true that Beijing can often bring tears to the eyes, that’s where the onion analogy ends. If you try to unpeel Beijing, you’ll get through layer after layer only to discover nothing at its core. That’s why Beijing can often seem so mysterious. This is nowhere more noticeable than with Beijing urbex favorite Homko Olympic Village.

The official story says that The Homko Olympic Village was built to house Olympians during the 2008 Summer Olympics, however, the Olympic teams rebuked the offer to stay in the luxury villas as pollution in the capital reached hazardous levels and the athletes feared for their health. As a result, the village never reached completion and was left to rot.

READ: A Look Back at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Hype as It Happened

The more complex story goes that before the construction of Olympic Forest Park, this area of Beijing was a huge desolate wasteland home to junkies and bums. It was at that time Beijing North Star was buying up land and building luxury villa complexes. Unfortunately, the Homko Villa Complex, which was almost complete, run afoul of the dreaded Beijing Urban Planning Department, which ordered its demolition.

The demolition was supposedly suspended during the construction of the massive Olympic Forest Park, and it is said that officials lived within the villas at the time. That is highly doubtful given how rundown the villas are, and how the cement floors are prone to collapsing into the underground streams beneath (it’s happened twice to Burbex). Whatever the case, after the completion of the park, the villas still remained cordoned off and protected by solitary Beijing Baoan.

The true story, or at least the closest you’ll ever get to it, is that the whole complex was illegally owned by the notoriously corrupt Red Cross of China, who adamantly deny any connection with the village. It all got even murkier when it was revealed that none of the villas had property deeds, and that the village is now under the management of Olympic Forest Park.

Like any of the best urbex sites in Beijing, Homko Olympic Village has a tangled history of corruption and deceit, an image which is only strengthened when Beijing Baoan escort you from the site and force you to erase the photos from your phone. Also be warned, as beautiful as this site is, the interiors are extremely dangerous, please take care while exploring.

READ: Will Beijing's 2022 Sporting Venues  Also Go to Waste?

Photos: Burbex Brin