China building Ghost cities

[Gnnr]

This is creepy and cool at the same time.

China building eerie ghost cities? | Earth-issues.com (http://www.earth-issues.com/2011/02/07/china-building-eerie-ghost-cities/)

[MikeisNissan]

nuketown???

[soreballz]

Wow... Street drifters paradise...

[lawrenceyang]

what a waste

[MisawaJason]

Wow... Street drifters paradise...
Seriously, and nobody would be there to give a fuck

[turboeic]

Big team paintball!!!

[Taniguchi_Is_#1]

^^more like big team post-apocalyptic roving killing squad

[LimeLite Racing]

Big team paintball!!!

Hahaha! I'm in for this!

[Matej]

^^more like big team post-apocalyptic roving killing squad
Fallout LARP.

[4DOOR_LIFE]

Could be preparing for something? either way that would be a cool yet creepy place to walk through.

they could probably film a lot of movies there though.

[kingkilburn]

LOL @ Communism.

[RiversideS13]

my guess is that the government official took rebates from builders and therefore there are many random unnecessary constructions.

[ESmorz]

If populated centers get turned to glass, the rich will be moved to these rural cities.

/tinfoil

[kingkilburn]

It's more like to perpetuate the artificial bubble they have to keep the construction up.

That work force must also remain employed or the economy will suffer horribly. Think Roosevelt's answer to the depression made even worse by Communism's lack of realistic valuation and the folly of fiat currency all rolled into one.

When their bubble does burst it will either be great for us(cheap labor gets cheaper) or horrible(no one to back our currency through massive bond buying).

[Sneaky Sims]

28 Months Later?

[kingkilburn]

I am Legend?

[Slammed Assassin]

I am Legend?

lol i was thinking the same thing!!

this stuff is crazy!!

[BC S14]

Most likely real estate bubble. Unless somebody is planning a huge migration. lol. I dam sure wouldn't be waiting in that line.

[NismoDriverS13]

fuck!!! we could be doing drift airsoft!!! im on the red team.....hahaha

in all seriousness, who is down to move? we could be the first settlers.

[exitspeed]

Very eerie.

[BURSTspeed]

this is crazy are people allowed to drive and roam the towns?

[axiomatik]

So, how can they tell that the cities are empty? Most of the photos show places that are under construction. Obviously people won't be living in a building that is still being built. One picture of a giant hotel said it had never been used, though it looks like it is still under construction in the picture.

Another picture showed big public buildings and the caption said that they've never been used, yet all of the parking lots in the picture are full.

You can't judge the population of a Chinese city based on the number of cars on the road. A lot of cars may be sold each year, but the number of cars/1000 people is still tiny, especially outside of the major cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

[[email protected]]

^^^pictures are old on google maps. maybe building are completed now. last time i checked my address, there was pictures of my old accord sitting in my driveway and an old plum tree we had. both were gone 2 years ago.

[kingkilburn]

Most likely real estate bubble. Unless somebody is planning a huge migration. lol. I dam sure wouldn't be waiting in that line.



The government is paying people to keep building. There will be no migration.

[Gnnr]

So, how can they tell that the cities are empty? Most of the photos show places that are under construction. Obviously people won't be living in a building that is still being built. One picture of a giant hotel said it had never been used, though it looks like it is still under construction in the picture.

Another picture showed big public buildings and the caption said that they've never been used, yet all of the parking lots in the picture are full.

You can't judge the population of a Chinese city based on the number of cars on the road. A lot of cars may be sold each year, but the number of cars/1000 people is still tiny, especially outside of the major cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

This is coming from a Chinese government think tank (CASS) that has reported their findings to the government. They are known ghost towns, they're not basing it off of Google maps, lol.

[h2v7]

DRRRRRRRRRRRRRIFT!

http://www.earth-issues.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/article-1339536-0C8593D5000005DC-997_634x475.jpg

[SRS BZNS]

I wonder if the same real estate rules apply over there as here.

If you recieve mail at and have proof of occupany at a residence for 10 years that nobody physically removes you from or asks you to leave the residence can legally be fought for in a court of law

[Teddy]

I want to go there and explore.

It's funny that this topic came up because yesterday I spent the afternoon researching the Chernobyl disaster and reading up about the ghost city of Pripyat that was evacuated in under a day. Super creepy.

[ronmcdon]

It's more like to perpetuate the artificial bubble they have to keep the construction up.

That work force must also remain employed or the economy will suffer horribly. Think Roosevelt's answer to the depression made even worse by Communism's lack of realistic valuation and the folly of fiat currency all rolled into one.

When their bubble does burst it will either be great for us(cheap labor gets cheaper) or horrible(no one to back our currency through massive bond buying).

That's probably the most plausible explanation.

Still, it's difficult to imagine there isn't a better way to improve infrastructure.
Such a large country always needs more roads/rail etc.
They could link the entire country up with bullet trains.

My guess is that it's used to evacuate ppl in areas that get hit hard by earthquakes.
China has had quakes pretty bad in most of it's history.

Another guess is that it could be another state sponsored industrial zone.
Price of factory wages in southern China have been rising steadily,
so maybe this is done in some of the more remote regions of China to drive down costs.

Either way it's hard to justify this as being anything more than a waste of resources.

[kingkilburn]

Either way it's hard to justify this as being anything more than a waste of resources.



...Communism's lack of realistic valuation...

[HyperTek]

from the pictures, actually looks like a nice place.

[BustedS13]

china scary, china so big, big scary red china.

[axiomatik]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/nbrindley/ghosttownlolz.jpg

[Bobafreak]

Lol good eye captain ^

[stockbee]

Rise of the Chinese Ghost Town | safe, clean, affordable... (http://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/rise-of-the-chinese-ghost-town)

There are more links on the internet with other more realistic pictures of this phenomenon. Just FYI. Check them out. It's completely mind boggling to think about and try to comprehend. I would love to take a vacation and just check it out, although it'd be quite expensive to take a S14 with me and that many paintball/airsoft guns....

[Gnnr]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/nbrindley/ghosttownlolz.jpg

Did you read the blog or not? They are not completely empty, there are government officials there, but the city is like 99% empty.

[axiomatik]

Did you read the blog or not? They are not completely empty, there are government officials there, but the city is like 99% empty.

Yes I did. The caption for that very picture reads: "Property bubble: Zhengzhou New District features vast public buildings that have never been used."

Those buildings are obviously being used.


http://www.earth-issues.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/article-1339536-0C859E0C000005DC-204_634x475.jpg

Caption: Now here’s Kangbashi, a new city with capacity for 300,000 — that houses 30,000

I don't know what that is a picture of, but it certainly couldn't house 300,000 people. That is a 2-lane road on the left hand side. Those buildings are not that large. Whatever those diagonal structures are, they aren't houses. Maybe pig pens or chicken coops?


http://www.earth-issues.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/article-1339536-0C85961B000005DC-52_634x475.jpg

Caption: A giant empty hotel sits in the city of Erenhot

The hotel is obviously still under construction in this photo.



http://www.earth-issues.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/article-1339536-0C859448000005DC-53_634x475.jpg

Caption: This city was built in the middle of a desert: Erenhot, Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia

I looked up this city. It is on the Chinese/Mongolian border, where a train track crosses the border. The railway gauge changes at the border, so every train passing through here has to stop and transfer/change gauge. This is not some random city built for no reason. It does have some useless roads built, but not that many. Maybe 5 extra roads with some other existing roads extended to cross the new ones.


http://www.earth-issues.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/article-1339536-0C859393000005DC-319_634x475.jpg

Caption: This $19 billion development is packed with blocks of empty houses

This one at least does have a lot of buildings, but I also see a lot of cars on the roads too.

[sw20>>s14]

When their bubble does burst it will either be great for us(cheap labor gets cheaper) or horrible(no one to back our currency through massive bond buying).

dont hold your breath, it would most likely be the latter...

[Koukimonsta18]

^^more like big team post-apocalyptic roving killing squad

:werd: fucking epic

[Imarvin240]

thats crazy! hah would be fun to drive around for a day in some of these places

[Ceepo]

Pripyat is way cool to read about, the chernobyl disaster is way interesting, they offer tours of it now...

[BustedS13]

Pripyat is way cool to read about, the chernobyl disaster is way interesting, they offer tours of it now...

i don't think i'd be willing to go on that tour unless i already had cancer.

[h2v7]

still wanna drift ghost town