A Chinese Man Builds His Noah's Ark to Escape the End of the World
Fearing the end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar for December 21, 2012, Lu Zenghai, a Chinese man from Hunan, embarked on the construction of a grand vessel worthy of Noah's Ark.
Fearing the end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar for December 21, 2012, Lu Zenghai, a Chinese man from Hunan, embarked on the construction of a grand vessel worthy of Noah's Ark.
It's no secret that the end of the world was supposed to arrive that year, and the topic would continue to dominate conversations for some time... In Chine, too, the Mayan calendar sparked considerable discussion and triggered its share of unusual reactions.
Numerous Chinese media outlets reported on the subject, and this collective anxiety even spread to social networks like Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter. To prepare for this ultimate date, some were willing to leave nothing to chance. This is how Lu Zenghai spent his entire savings—a million yuan, roughly €125,000—to build his own shelter. What better way to save his family in the manner of Noah than with an ark?
The Beast
Nothing was left to chance: generator, air conditioning, storage room, lounge, kitchen, bedroom... Everything was there to accommodate around twenty people in reasonable comfort. The ark measures 21.2 meters long, 15.5 meters wide, 5.6 meters high, and could displace nearly 140 tons of water. Lu Zenghai was genuinely convinced that his construction, however basic, could save him from the end of the world approaching on the horizon. But that would only help if the catastrophe came in the form of rising waters! He had two weeks left to think about an alternative...
Frequently asked questions
Lu Zenghai is a Chinese man from Hunan Province. Convinced by the Mayan calendar predictions announcing the end of the world for December 21, 2012, he invested all his savings—roughly €125,000—in the construction of a large vessel capable of accommodating around twenty people in the event of a catastrophe.
Lu Zenghai's ark measures 21.2 meters long, 15.5 meters wide, and 5.6 meters high. It can displace nearly 140 tons of water. On board, it has a generator, air conditioning, a storage room, a lounge, a kitchen, and a bedroom, to accommodate around twenty people in reasonable comfort.
Lu Zenghai spent a million yuan, or roughly €125,000, to fully finance the construction of his survival vessel.
No, December 21, 2012 passed without any catastrophe occurring. The popular interpretation of the Mayan calendar as an apocalypse prediction proved to be unfounded, and archaeologists and researchers had contested this reading from the start.
