The mystery of one man’s fortress in Longgang

On the northeastern fringes of Shenzhen, standing among the low-rise tile houses of Longgang district, is a monolith that refuses to explain itself.

Erected during the late 1970s and 80s, the seven-storey building towers over the market town, a monument to something known only to its long-gone creator. Vegetation grows wild on the roof. Iron fencing and rusty cages crown its top. At night, it stands unlit; by day, its bare concrete facade looms over the narrow surrounding streets with the air of a wartime watchtower, attracting young explorers who ride Shenzhen’s Metro Line 3 to Shuanglong station, crossing the city just to see “Longgang’s Weird Building” for themselves.

A glance at the near-windowless exterior provides only hints of the man behind the Weird Building: Wen Yaoguang, a Longgang native who appears to have made his fortune in Hong Kong.

What is known of Wen’s life has been pieced together through oral accounts from neighbours, local lore passed between households and recounted to inquisitive visitors. As filmmaker Zhang Shengjia discovered while conducting research for his 2025 documentary, The Haunted Folk Fortress, Wen was, seemingly, an ordinary man driven by an extraordinary vision.

It is thought that Wen was born in Longgang and, sometime before World War II, crossed into Hong Kong, where he found work as a seafarer and later took over some farmland. He lived in Hong Kong through the Japanese occupation (1941-1945). During the city’s economic boom in the 60s, he is said to have received a sizeable land-requisition payout. After 1978, when mainland China began to open up under Deng Xiaoping, Wen returned to Longgang with his fortune and began to build.

Although it has never formally been opened to the public, the curious have found their way inside the Weird Building over the years. Their online accounts and footage – available through a virtual-reality tour – offer further understanding of its interior.