China is actively building up its territories with factories, houses and roads. The pace of construction is simply amazing: the Chinese build more highways in a week than we do in a year!
But the Celestial Empire has gone further and is building entire empty cities! Almost no one lives in them, although there is all the necessary infrastructure for housing. What for? And why do the Chinese continue to build uninhabited cities? Let's talk about this!
The most famous empty cities
In China, there are over 60 million new apartment buildings that are built with the latest technology and have a developed infrastructure. Residents of several countries can be accommodated in these living quarters! And here is just a small list of famous empty cities:
Ordos
The most famous ghost town in the world. There are a lot of minerals in the vicinity of the city. This city has not been inhabited. However, real estate here is being sold out already at the construction stage. But the Chinese are not particularly eager to move there.
In a city that was supposed to accommodate hundreds of thousands and millions of people, very, very few people live. Several cars on a huge house - the city is not inhabited even by 10%!
Promotional video:
Kangbashi
Quite a large city that can accommodate over a million inhabitants. It was assumed that the city would become a zone intended for urbanization of peasants from nearby villages. However, something went wrong: only 30 thousand people live there, and Kangbashi looks threateningly empty …
Tanducheng
Located in the suburbs of Guangzhou, but not known for this: in Tanducheng there are copies of many Parisian landmarks, including a copy of the Eiffel Tower! And although the city was designed for 10 thousand people, it is populated only by 20%. But at least it attracts tourists.
On the right - Would you notice the difference if you didn't know this?
New Nanhuen
This city, located near Shanghai, one of the largest metropolitan areas in China, was to become the "new Hong Kong", a major commercial port and tourist destination. But he turns out it poorly: until recently, the city was practically uninhabited.
The Chinese leadership, deciding to populate the city at all costs, created many universities there. More than 100,000 students now live and study in New Nanhuen. Whether the city will become prosperous or will remain a large university campus - we'll find out in a few years.
Thames Town
Another tourist city, but now made in the style of England: beautiful houses no higher than 3 floors.
10 thousand residents were supposed to live here, but you can only find tourists: Thames Town has become a favorite place for photo shoots among the Chinese, Europeans and Americans.
So why is China building empty cities?
The most obvious reason (who would have thought!) Is to settle people there:) But there are other, much more hidden reasons and goals.
For example, this is how wealthy Chinese invest their savings. You can't buy all the gold in the world, but building houses is quite.
However, the question is: why? No one is going to give apartments for free in China, and buying and renting in such cities is too expensive, which is why many Chinese come, live for a couple of years and leave.
Most likely, the Chinese government is also artificially supporting GDP growth by creating such cities. But these cities are looked after; janitors, street washers, and numerous equipment work there every day.
What happens when local authorities are unable to support their work? And again: is it worth spending so much money on maintaining something that may never come in handy?
In ghost towns, construction continues, streets are cleaned, traffic is regulated. Why, if almost no one lives there?
Also, ghost cities can be built for the army, so that in the event of war the soldiers have somewhere to settle, as well as to supply them directly from these cities.
Well, and one of the "long-lasting" ideas: because of global warming, strong climate changes can begin, which will affect many people. China will graciously accept these refugees and place them in ready-made cities. Economic growth and a heap of labor are guaranteed!
For what the empty cities are actually created, we do not yet know. But do not forget that huge amounts of money were spent for their construction. This means that the fact that they are empty is just a matter of time.