Basejumper.com - archive

So this post is a lot of me just thinking out loud and looking for comments

I am currently in southern China on a business trip and I am looking at the large number of tall objects in the urban areas wondering if anyone is jumping these or if it would even be practical to do so

I am not a BASE jumper, only done ground crew a few times but still find it interesting trying to determine if something is a jumpable object.


Basically this city, Shenzhen, has many tall buildings which have been recently built and are either occupied, partially unoccupied , still under construction with cranes along side or under construction with cranes on top. The last 2 being most promising objects unless you have a helpful local I suppose. There are many of these between 30 and 60 floors. Being a new city, there are minimal things like wires across the road and the buildings are pretty far apart. So good so far

Problems I can see
1) Police - loads of bike cops, practically 1 per a block but pretty sure late at night the number present is much lower and they don’t really patrol much that I have seen. You would need a getaway driver and hopefully no one gets the licence plate cause anyone not Asian is conspicuous.

2) Legal - Anyone got info on the legal standing of BASE in China. It’s all good at the WWL but urban jumping is different from a nationally televised event. I am not sure anyone wants to end up in a jail cell when the cops don't speak the same language as you

3) Landing areas - With the number of objects I am pretty sure you can find a bunch with landing areas that would be alright for a good opening but most would get sketchy if you have a 180 because most streets have trees or light poles along the pavements. Backup plan is going to be landing in the road

4) Security - No idea how tightly they monitor building sites here. I doubt it as tight as the US though when looking for BASE jumpers.

In summary: Is BASE legal in China, anyone actively jumping in this country, what else besides weather should you think of when looking at a crane left pointing over the side of a 40 floor building every night.

Base jumping is not legal in China unless you first get a permit to do so. China is a cool country and building owners and government officials will give permits to jump if you ask the right way. They do not like people jumping without permission and the WWL has been told by the government that anyone who jumps in the country without getting proper approval for doing so by the state is to be banned from all legally permitted events permanently.