On Shengshan Island, east of Shanghai, China, only a handful of people still live in a village that was once home to more than 2,000 fishermen. Every day hundreds of tourists visit Houtouwan, making their way on narrow footpaths past crumbling houses overtaken by vegetation. The remote village, on one of more than 400 islands in the Shengsi archipelago, was abandoned in the early 1990s as residents moved away, aiming to leave problems with education and food delivery behind them. Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj recently paid a visit to Houtouwan, returning with these images.
The Abandoned Fishing Village of Houtouwan
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Read morePlants grow on houses in the abandoned fishing village of Houtouwan on the island of Shengshan, China, on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreA tourist walks between buildings completely covered with plants in the abandoned fishing village of Houtouwan on the island of Shengshan on July 26, 2015. #
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Read moreA photographer uses a large-format camera to take pictures of Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
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Read moreA building covered with leaves is seen through broken windows of an empty house at the abandoned village of Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreA bed and other furniture are left inside a room of a small abandoned apartment in Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreObjects lie in an empty house in Houtouwan on July 25, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreTourists photograph the abandoned fishing village of Houtouwan as its former residents, now visiting, have lunch on July 25, 2015. Xu Yueding and his wife Tang Yaxue, who left the village over 20 years ago, come back every day to their former house to welcome visiting tourists and sell them bottles of water, the only thing available to buy in the village. #
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Read moreVegetation grows through the open door of a house in Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreSun Ayue, one of the very few remaining residents of Houtouwan, is seen from inside the room where he lives on July 25, 2015. Sun, a 59-year-old former fisherman who doesn’t often leave the village except for an occasional game of mahjong in the town across the hill, lives alone in a house with no running water or electricity. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreSun Ayue prepares dinner in the room where he lives in Houtouwan on July 25, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreSun Ayue stands in his home in Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreA woman takes pictures as morning mist covers Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreA tourist poses for photos in Houtouwan on July 25, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreA house covered with vines in Houtouwan, photographed on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreA tourist looks inside an abandoned house in Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreTourists walk between buildings covered with vines on a path in Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
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Read moreA picture of a Chinese God of Fortune is stuck to a wall in an empty house in Houtouwan on July 26, 2015. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters -
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Read moreA former resident, engaged by the local government to assist visiting tourists, waves as mist rises early on July 26, 2015 in the abandoned fishing village of Houtouwan. #
Damir Sagolj / Reuters
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