Chinese ghost towns why. Apparat - A magazine about the new society. Solvency of managers in China

A truly phenomenal construction boom that swept China at the beginning of the 21st century gave rise to an amazing phenomenon in the real estate market - ghost towns built "in reserve".

Empty blocks of high-rise buildings and huge complexes of office skyscrapers, deserted streets with blinking traffic lights, hypermarkets without goods and customers, kindergartens without children, universities without students, wide avenues without cars, abandoned amusement parks, theaters and museums without visitors - no, this is not the entourage of another post-apocalyptic blockbuster. These are the realities of modern China - ghost towns, the number of which has exceeded two dozen, millions of comfortable square meters, where no one lives.

At one time, China set itself a number of strategic tasks, the solution of which is the key to the existence of the state: maintaining high rates of economic growth; providing the population with work; large-scale urbanization; industrialization and multifaceted modernization of the economy; utilization of the free finance flooding the country with trade surplus, undervalued yuan and foreign investment.

Construction turned out to be the panacea that allows you to simultaneously solve all these problems. At one time, John Maynard Keynes suggested "digging holes and then filling them in again" as a cure for a recession. China developed this idea a little and, in addition to digging holes, began to build cities, bridges, roads, factories, turning the construction industry into one of the main locomotives of the economy.

However, the generous “pumping up” of construction investments, gigantic volumes of free financial resources eventually led to the fact that a huge oversupply of real estate formed in the Chinese market. In 2011, the State Grid Company of the People's Republic of China released data for 660 cities. And it turned out that no one used electricity in 65 million apartments, in other words, they are empty. This amount of housing would be enough to relocate at least 200 million people there - all residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, France and the UK combined.

New areas of the Suzhou metropolis in the east of the country in the lower reaches of the Yangtze. Even Soviet architects who knew a lot about the construction of new cities would envy the scope of the urban plan, but pay attention to the number of cars on these wide and completely deserted avenues.

Xinyang city in Henan province. The central square with the city administration building. The territory is completely landscaped, but there is no one to use it.

Dongguan city in southern China. In 2005, the New South China Mall opened here, the second largest shopping and entertainment complex in the world after the famous Dubai Mall. The huge building, designed for 2,350 stores, has been virtually empty since its opening. However, the complex is not closed and continues to be maintained in working order.

Qianduchen city near Shanghai. Erected in 2007, it is a miniature copy of Paris, even with its own Eiffel Tower. Despite the picturesque architectural environment, which is so unusual for the inhabitants of the country, the district, designed for 100,000 inhabitants, is popular only among newlyweds who are greedy for a beautiful picture for wedding photos. Most of the apartments in the "Parisian" residential buildings of the Shanghai suburbs did not find their owners.

Chenggong, a satellite city of 6 million Kunming. It is considered as the main reserve for the expansion of the neighboring metropolis. Gigantic funds have been successfully used here, but residential skyscrapers gaping with window openings have not yet found their “beneficiaries”.

Kanbashi, district of the city of Ordos. The most famous of China's ghost towns. It grew up in 6-7 years right in the middle of the desert in Inner Mongolia, stands on very large deposits of coal and natural gas. Capable of accommodating up to 1 million inhabitants, but is now barely 20% populated.

Of course, in China, with its countless population, there are many who want to improve their living conditions. So why are ghost towns empty? Firstly, many of them were built far from busy trade routes and large enterprises, far from civilization. Secondly, not every Chinese is able to "raise" a loan to buy an apartment. Thirdly, decisions on construction projects are often made to the detriment of economic as well as environmental feasibility. One such example is Qingshuihe, a village near the administrative center of Inner Mongolia. The construction of Qingshuihe was started in 1998 and finally abandoned in 2008 due to lack of funds. Local officials were prosecuted, and the village remained unfinished and completely uninhabitable. There are also examples of cities built in close proximity to mountains of phosphogypsum - highly toxic waste.

Some experts suggest that the presence of such a frightening amount of empty square meters is a most dangerous anomaly, the soap bubble that is bound to burst, leading to a severe economic crisis. However, in China, where the annual growth of the urban population is 10-12 million people, they are firmly convinced that ghost towns will sooner or later be populated, even if in some places they will stand empty for several years. “After all, this is a huge loss!” - you say. Yes, but the Celestial Empire has so much money today that it can afford it. In addition, there are already examples in China of how insane spending, it would seem, “to nowhere” brought impressive returns after a while. In particular, Shanghai's Pundong district 10 years ago resembled a lifeless desert studded with skyscrapers, and today it is a flourishing and prestigious corner of the metropolis, accommodating 5.5 million people.

An ear on the patient's hand - in order to then transplant the organ where it should be.

Cities for the future

French photographer Raphael Olivier has returned from China's largest ghost town, Kanbashi. And he brought with him disturbing and hypnotic photographs of a sterile, modern, but deserted million-plus city.

Photo by Raphael Olivier from the Failed Utopia series

For the first time, information about the mass construction of such cities appeared in the press in 2010. The Chinese authorities do not give the exact number, but according to various estimates, they are from 20 to 50. In search of "ghosts", enthusiasts examine satellite images, Google Earth photos, Internet activity on the Chinese search engine Baidu and reports on electricity consumption.

One could only speculate about the reasons for and the impressive pace of mass development that began about ten years ago. Among fans of conspiracies, there is an opinion that China is preparing for the Third World War, and empty cities are needed in order to settle there the remaining inhabitants from bombed-out megacities. No less popular versions: China, in anticipation of the collapse of the United States, is creating housing for a multi-million diaspora in the States - or is preparing for mass migration from regions that are threatened.

Whatever the real reasons, the construction of new cities is fueling the fire of Chinese urbanization and fueling economic growth. In 2014, China published a report with a plan for new cities of about 250 million inhabitants (!) Until 2026.

Please note that the grandiose construction began at the dawn of the Chinese miracle - the technological and economic breakthrough of the Celestial Empire, when the country turned from a cheap copy machine into a technology creator. These cities were built in dreams of change. Throw in a fantastic medley of architectural styles, imitations that are as good as the originals, and incredible budgets that have gone into the void of these streets, and you have China's ghost towns.

Cities whose future is unknown, and the past simply does not exist.

“Being in a metropolis, you can easily tell its approximate age based on architectural styles, landscape conditions and other details,” says American photographer Kai Kaemmerer, who also returned from China with a “ghostly” photo series. “But the Chinese cities built in the last five or six years are completely devoid of these clues.”

Photo by Kai Kaemmerer from The Unborn Cities series

The words we deserve

Previously, Collins British Dictionary also chose the leaders of 2016. The word “brexit” topped the list, with 3,400% more usage than the previous year. Plus: "trumpism" (meaning Trump's glib polemic), "hugge" again, and "uberization" (derived from Uber; implies a business model based on mobile technology and the elimination of intermediaries).

tumbleweed garden

In the meantime, we dream about flying cars and, students of the London Barletta School of Architecture William Victor Camilleri and Danilo Sampaio are trying to rethink the role of plants in the conditions of the city. This is how the Hortum Machina B robotic garden project was born.

The creators call the garden "the nervous system of plants." In the center of the sphere are twelve modules attached to cables. The design is equipped with solar panels, water tanks and sensors that monitor the condition of plants - their reaction to light and moisture. If the performance deteriorates, the system moves the modules, the center of gravity shifts, and the ball goes unaided in search of a new habitat.

“In the near future, we will live in an environment of unmanned electric vehicles, aircraft and many other robotic forms. Among them, there will certainly be a place for the Hortum Machina B cyber-gardener.”

The shell of Hortum Machina B is built from aluminum tubes on the principle of a geodesic dome. In architecture, this structure of simple triangles was first used by an American engineer.

They say that high property taxes and not the best quality of construction deter people from moving to Ordos. About 100,000 people live in the city, but most of it is empty.

“The whole city looks like a post-apocalyptic space station from a sci-fi movie,” says photographer Raphael Olivier, who visited the city and took a series of shots titled “Ordos – Unfulfilled Utopia.” We suggest you familiarize yourself with the frames of this author below.

Ordos is located in the province of Inner Mongolia. One sixth of China's coal reserves are located in this area.

Google Maps

In the late 90s and early 2000s, private mining companies obtained the rights to develop these deposits. The development of the extractive industry has led to large tax revenues.

Coal mining near Ordos in November 2015. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

“The local authorities decided to build this extremely ambitious city from scratch,” says Olivier. In 2005, hundreds of millions were invested in infrastructure and real estate.

But by 2010, it turned out that there was no demand in the newly appeared housing market. According to Olivier, high property taxes are deterring families from moving to Ordos.

In addition, the "New City" of Ordos is only a few kilometers from the prosperous provincial "Old City". “People just don't see the point in moving,” says Olivier.

“In the end, only government officials and migrant construction workers saw fit to settle here, and most of the city is uninhabited,” says Olivier.

In 2010, 90% of apartments were empty.

Ordos resembles a futuristic city.

Tourists and journalists come here to capture its mesmerizing architecture and creepiness.

Two equestrian statues in the center. Horses are considered the symbol of the city, they represent the nomadic culture.

The city's art museum "looks like an object that has landed," according to MAD Architects.

The Dongsheng Stadium in Ordos has a capacity of 35,000 spectators, but there have never been so many people here.

This abandoned villa is part of the Ordos 100 project, which brought in 100 architects to design a village with 1,000 square meters of living space.

They tried to build quickly and cheaply, so a number of structures fell into disrepair shortly after construction. Many buildings are unfinished.

Over the past few years, the local government has been making efforts to attract residents. Peasants are bribed with "generous compensation and free apartments", just to be resettled.

State institutions from the district 32 km were moved to Ordos in order to attract civil servants to relocate closer to their place of work.

Branches of good universities appeared in Ordos. Empty apartment buildings were converted into dormitories where students were settled.

As a result of such efforts, the population of Ordos grew to 100,000 people. However, it is difficult to give an exact number of inhabitants. Some believe the government is hiding the numbers so as not to expose the urban disaster.

Yet the Ordos is far from being fully populated.

The government believed that it was enough to "build a city, and people themselves would come." It's a widespread problem in China, where officials hope to more than double the urban population by 2020.

The vision of China's territorial policy towards neighboring countries is difficult to understand at first glance. Over the past decade, the country has outstripped many competitors in the development of the industrial industry and economic potential. Introduced the latest developments in scientific, technical and engineering thought in all spheres of her life. What is confusing, however, is the fact that, despite the apparent success of development, over time, dead cities of china. Having been studying this issue for many years, the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences asks the question: why does China want to expand its territories? After all, he has already received some islands for the free economic zone, the so-called "resettlement programs" and has a prolongation of the development of backward regions of Russia.

What empty cities in China are known about?

The "Celestial Empire" itself has in reserve over 60 million newly built apartments and houses with all amenities and "state-of-the-art" infrastructure (parks, stadiums), which, if necessary, can accommodate half of the inhabitants of the post-Soviet space. They are distributed among more than 15 uninhabited cities, among which are the main ones:

• Xishuan;
• Ordos;
• Kangbashi;
• Tianducheng;
• Thames Town.

Xishuan city built in one of the harshest weather conditions in the middle of the desert in Inner Mongolia. It has external similarities with the tragically famous city of Pripyat. With rare exceptions, in any apartment you can see the light - there are only a few people here. But the abandoned dwellings were not looted - in many respects this is the merit of the law on the death penalty in force in the country.

highly developed ghost town of Ordos built in 2001 on land rich in minerals. This is not a previously abandoned village, but huge areas of empty square meters of completely livable housing. Most of this real estate is sold out even at the start of construction, however, the Chinese themselves are not eager to settle there. They know better places to live, such as the village of Bama in southern China, where the natural and climatic conditions, together with the most intense ultra-red rays of the sun on the planet, make it possible to live over 100 years without disease, spending their time in the way they want.

Kangbashi - a large city, which, if there was a population, would have numbered over a million people. It is located near Ordos and was supposed to serve as a zone of urbanization for peasants, however, due to the lack of prospects, the inhabitants were forced to move to more profitable regions. The time after which the city will be at least half populated is unknown.

Tianducheng . The suburb of Guangzhou is famous for its copy of the Eiffel Tower, but attempts to make the region look like Paris have not been successful. Housing prices here are quite high, and the lack of infrastructure completely excludes the possibility of people settling here. A few local residents are trying to survive on a small scale, so vegetable plantations can be seen even near the city's architectural monuments.

Thames Town . Due to the city built in 2006, it was planned to expand the scale of Shanghai, but the designer made a mistake. As a result, the predominant number of buildings were one-story houses, which contradicted the original idea of ​​settling a large number of inhabitants in a new territory. At present, the area is only 10% populated: the Chinese use the erected dwellings only for out-of-town recreation.

China is one of the most densely populated countries and the largest in the world. This gives him a lot of problems, forcing him to resort even to the legislative level. Therefore, even more paradoxical is the fact of the construction of such a number empty cities in China, some of which claim to be metropolitan areas.

Possible reasons for the creation of dead cities

Why do the Chinese allow huge territories to be empty? Are there really no people among the millions who want to fill these cities? There are several explanations for this phenomenon:

• Most local residents, especially the younger generation, do not have the financial resources to purchase their own homes. In terms of the ratio of the cost of an apartment to the average salary, it will take an ordinary Chinese about 60 years of work to make such a desired purchase. And those wealthy owners who are able to purchase such objects already have enough real estate to afford living in elite regions. Many refute this opinion, saying that the “heavenly empire” (and now also the construction one) has impressive cash reserves, allowing them to wait for full settlement in abandoned cities in china not to the detriment of the country's capital, even if they are empty for 5-10 years. Maybe so, but here we are talking about the predominant part of the population.
• The policy of the authorities who instructed not to settle anyone in these cities. Millions of tourists will bring new buildings and streets to the state of everyday Beijing and Shanghai, further worsening the sanitary conditions of the metropolis. Indeed, it is precisely because of the misunderstanding of culture, way of life and the manner of behavior inherent only to the Chinese that representatives of the Caucasian race prefer to limit themselves to traveling to this country, and not to live here permanently.
• Some of the cities in the future may be intended for people of non-traditional sexual orientation. The crux of the problem lies in the birth control law. Using methods of early pregnancy detection, the Chinese began to perform abortions in case of a potential birth of a girl. As a result, there was a shortage of women, and then an overflow of the population with men. Therefore, a large number of homosexuals has become commonplace in the country. It is possible that abandoned cities in the future may be intended for just such a territory of people.
• The construction of these cities is an investment of the money supply that has accumulated recently due to the rapid growth of the economy for the subsequent resettlement of their own citizens there: workers of factories, factories and workshops, who will also not neglect mortgage lending.
• And finally, the theory of the military concept, which characterizes the true face of the “eastern friend” and returns to understanding the motivation for building the Great Wall of China. Tenements and private houses, as well as infrastructure with underground bunkers for shelter, designed for hundreds of thousands of people. Together with the broad-lane concrete roads heading towards Russia, bearing the load of heavy equipment, they suggest a possible attack from China, and the devastated cities, then, suggest the creation of backup housing for the surviving soldiers after a nuclear counterattack. It is likely that such "threatening" buildings could serve as a lesson on someone else's mistake - the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Summing up this topic, you need to learn one thing: all these cities are multi-billion dollar investments, so they are abandoned only for a while. It is difficult to predict an event that will precede the global settlement of empty territories.

China is the country with the largest population in the world. In 2015, the number of inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom amounted to 1.371 billion people. Despite such indicators, over the past couple of decades, the economy of the People's Republic of China has made a giant leap, overtaking many of the leading countries in the world. This spurred the Chinese government to new reforms and the creation of bold projects, many of which turned out to be failures and did not bring the desired revenue. However, the Chinese are not embarrassed.

In the early 2000s, the Chinese government launched a program to expand the real estate market. On the vast territory of the country there were a large number of empty plots of land, which they decided to master by building new cities. Considering the growth rate of the Chinese population, such a decision looks quite logical, but in fact, the implementation ran into a dead end.

After the program went into effect, a huge number of construction companies began to build new residential areas in existing cities, as well as the construction of entire settlements. The developers assumed that the Chinese would be happy to leave the noisy metropolises for new cities. In fact, things did not go as planned, and the dead ghost towns remain virtually empty to this day.

It is noteworthy that the construction of such dead cities is underway to this day and the program continues to work, so every year huge residential complexes appear in China that no one needs.

We have prepared for you a selection of such cities where life has practically stopped, and rare passers-by on the street cause more surprise and some feeling of alienation.

1. Thames Town

Copying other cities and their styles has been popular with mankind for a long time. For example, in the USA there are a number of settlements with the name Moscow, and St. Petersburg in Florida can be compared in beauty with the largest cities in the world.

In 2001, as part of a project to expand the country's residential area, the metropolis of Shanghai came under distribution. Developers have begun building up the nearby areas of the city with new, smaller settlements. In one of these towns, it was decided to use the classic London style with all the details, including low-rise residential buildings, the famous red telephone boxes, fire hydrants and even night lights were copied.

The construction of the city, which was named Thames Town (City of the Thames), was completed in 2006. The government planned that such a town, designed for 10,000 people, would be able to divert residents from the center of Shanghai in order to relieve the overcrowded metropolis, but in reality everything did not go as expected. The cunning and rich Chinese began to buy property in Thames Town solely as an investment of their money in the future, but did not plan to live there at all. Housing sold out very quickly, but only a few settled in this city, and now Thames Town has turned into an almost dead city, where you can meet rare residents, married young people and tourists.
This city is not saved even by the fact that it is located only 4 kilometers from the main Shanghai metro line.

2. Tianducheng

The dead city of Tianducheng is part of Zhejiang province. Not far from it is the capital of the province, one of the largest tourist cities in China - Hangzhou.
Welcome to Paris! More precisely, in the Chinese Paris, the construction of which was started in 2007, but the local media are already saying that this is an almost dead ghost town.
In Tianducheng, the same situation occurred as with Thames Town. The town, which was also designed for 10 thousand people, became a victim of investments by Chinese families who simply bought cheap housing for their children, but do not plan to move there.

If you are going to visit Tianducheng, then the first thing you will encounter is most likely a 108-meter copy of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The whole city is also made in the style inherent in the capital of France. Here, there are characteristic stucco moldings on residential buildings, and clearly defined lawns with walking paths. Even the trees that grow on the roadsides have been carefully chosen to match those that grow in Paris.

There are few pedestrians on the street, even fewer cars on the roads. According to some media reports, the city is only one-fifth full, and no new residents are expected to move in in the near future. No one wants to break away from their homes in a town where the infrastructure is not as developed as in their favorite metropolis.

Despite insulting claims that Tianducheng is a dead city, the Chinese government does not leave hope that someday it will become a huge metropolis that will attract residents of the country and tourists from all over the world with its beauties. Meanwhile, Chinese urbanization continues.

3. Yingkou, Liaoning Province

Yingkou differs from its fellow dead cities in that it does not try to copy anyone's architecture or style. The buildings here are made in the traditional style inherent in the socialist state. Only there is no one to populate them yet.

Nearly 10 years ago, the Liaoning provincial government and its chairman, Li Keqiang in particular, launched a massive project to rebuild the region's economy so that it was less dependent on mining and metal production. The mines gradually used up their resources, but the region had to be fed somehow. To do this, it was decided to attract other actively developing industries to the region, which would compensate for the financial failure.

For workers of the new infrastructure, they decided to build new housing at reduced rates, so the construction of new cities and the extension of districts to existing ones began.
Yingkou became one of the cities where the initial investment in construction poured in especially vigorously, so in a matter of years a whole forest of high-rise new buildings grew up there, which later turned out to be of no use to anyone. As a result, some of the construction projects have been frozen to this day, while others have been completely abandoned.

In fact, Yingkou is home to more than 2 million people, but the area of ​​this city is 5402 km2, which is a lot for such a large number of inhabitants. For comparison, the area of ​​Moscow is 2511 km2. If there is any life in the center of Yingkou, then on its outskirts, when looking at the deserted streets, goosebumps run down the spine from the post-apocalyptic view.

4. Ordos

The history of Ordos is also connected with the Great Chinese Urbanization. When large deposits of coal were discovered in the Mongolian steppes, hundreds of Chinese mining companies rushed there. The government began buying up land from farmers who, in turn, became workers in the mines. Large and far-reaching plans to develop the local territory led China to design a huge city, which was planned to be populated by workers from nearby enterprises, and later attract other companies to expand their sphere of influence.

The improvement of the territory of the Ordos was in full swing. The industrious Chinese built many museums, whimsical sculptures, theaters and a huge stadium. But all this remained untouched, only one and a half million people settled in the city of 86,752 km². The main reason for this was the error in calculating the profitability of coal enterprises, which began to work at a loss.

The streets of the dead ghost town of Ordos are deserted and evoke unpleasant thoughts of a worldwide apocalypse. There are practically no passers-by on the street, but there are a lot of public utilities workers. It is thanks to them that the territory of this huge city is very clean, and this amazes the few tourists who have added this city to their tourist route. Many really purposefully go to look at the empty city.

On the streets of Ordos you will not encounter traffic jams. Despite the fact that public transport is organized very well here, all buses run almost empty. Many locals prefer to get to work by bikes and mopeds, especially since here you can ride directly on the highway.

The plans of the Chinese government to move to such cities most of the rural population. This is due not only to the care of their citizens, but also to the orientation of the country's economy. Villagers practically do not buy locally produced goods as unnecessary. They provide themselves with everything themselves, including housing and food. If a villager needs something once a year, it is some kind of spare part for a tractor or tools for cultivating the land. This position does not suit the PRC authorities, therefore, it is planned to spend almost 7 trillion dollars on the resettlement of 100 million rural residents in stone massifs.

To force the peasants to move to Ordos, the officials had to resort to tricks. For example, schools and hospitals in rural areas began to close in order to move them to the city. Thus, the poor Chinese had no choice but to collect their belongings and go to live in the stone forest.

Another problem that the authorities faced when relocating rural residents to a big city is the issue of education. You can take a man out of a village, but never a village out of a man. The migrants do not follow the basic rules of personal hygiene, relieve themselves on the side of the sidewalk, throw cigarette butts on the ground and spit there, and they can wash themselves in the most unexpected places. For example, in the public toilets of a museum. Patient city workers are working hard to re-educate the uncultured peasants of the dead city and give a chance to develop life in this testament to the failure of urbanization.

So far, Ordos is the largest dead ghost town in the world, which does not give up in its attempts to become the next metropolis and evidence of the developed economy of the Middle Kingdom.

5. New Hebi

Another practically dead city in China, which has suffered due to the country's planned economy and general urbanization. Here, as in Ordos, massive coal mining is carried out. Due to the enterprises of the coal mining industry, New Hebi lives.

When the Chinese government wanted to develop new coal deposits, it was decided to lay a new city next to the old Hebi. Almost 20 years ago, 40 kilometers from the old city, the construction of a settlement called New Hebi began.

The profitability of new coal mines was again in question, and no one wanted to populate the fast-growing city. For two decades, a large area of ​​several hundred square kilometers has remained empty. Unlike other ghost towns, Chinese residents here did not even begin to buy real estate as an investment. If in Thames Town and Tianduchen the initial cost of housing was very small, but after a few years it increased several times, then in New Hebi the situation is rather deplorable and no increase in cost is expected.

Despite the fact that people refuse to settle in this city, there is still a plan for expansion and urbanization. Construction companies will continue to build new buildings and other infrastructure in the hope that China's resettlement program will work.

6. Chenggong

Despite the fact that the Chinese authorities avoid such language, many journalists and residents of the country call Chenggong another dead ghost city on the map of China.

In 2003, the government decided to use the sparsely populated Chenggong County to expand the territory of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. In just a few years, development companies built a huge area on this site with thousands of houses, in which it was planned to populate almost 1.5 million people. A large number of schools and even two universities were built in the city, as well as government buildings. But urbanization in Chenggong did not go according to plan, and the Chinese refuse to settle in this city, preferring to stay in their native places. This is largely due to poor transport links, as well as the lack of infrastructure, although there are all the prerequisites for its existence.

However, investments in the purchase of housing in the city of Chenggong are active. Wealthy Chinese families are not averse to buying housing as a reserve for their descendants, or simply to earn money in view of the future rise in prices per square meter of housing in the area.
In 2010, publications began to appear in the press that Chenggong had become one of the largest ghost towns in Asia. Perhaps this was the impetus for the authorities to radically reconsider their decisions on the urbanization of this area.

The dissatisfaction of the Chinese with the lack of a normal transport connection is planned to be satisfied. Railway construction is underway in the region, and a high-speed road connecting the center of the capital Kunming with Chenggong was recently put into operation.

The government also suggests that the proximity to the campus of the new Yunnan University and other public facilities will force residents to move in.
Another bad news awaits the Chinese, who have already bought apartments in Chenggong as investments. The local municipal government believes that lowering housing prices in Chenggong by several times compared to Kunming will force residents to move to the area, so buyers' investment could be seriously affected.
Building such ghost towns as Chenggong, China does not care about design and architecture at all. Many residents express dissatisfaction with the same type and dull block houses, which will scare away anyone with their gray color.

***
Chinese officials are very reluctant to talk about the existence of dead ghost towns. China's planned economy is suffering significant losses due to the fact that the Chinese do not behave as the government intended.

Recently, the media reported that almost 65 million apartments are empty across China. This was found out with the help of the energy company, which checked the readings of electricity meters. It is estimated that this number of apartments would be enough to accommodate almost 200 million people.

Rural residents are very reluctant to move to urban areas. They are not ready to give up their usual way of life in favor of the government. In addition, Chinese businessmen are an obstacle to the settlement of new cities, who during the crisis began to buy up real estate in ghost towns with entire skyscrapers, trying to avoid bankruptcy. Formally, the apartments belong to the owner, but in reality they are empty.

Until China develops a new plan to prevent home buying as an investment, you have a chance to visit real dead cities, where life is barely glimmering on deserted streets.

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