Chinese cities where no one lives. Chinese ghost towns: why does no one live in them? Possible reasons for the creation of dead cities

Why does China build large, well-designed ghost cities that sit completely empty?
Photos from Google Earth of city after city show huge complexes consisting of office skyscrapers, government buildings, residential buildings, residential towers and houses, all connected by a network of empty roads, and some of the cities are located in some of the most inhospitable places in China.

Images of these ghost towns (after countless billions of dollars spent on design and construction) show that no one lives in them.

The photos look like a giant film set, set up for the filming of some apocalyptic film in which a neutron strike or unknown natural disaster has wiped out people, leaving skyscrapers, sports stadiums, parks and roads completely untouched. One of these cities was actually built in the middle of the desert, in inner Monogolia."

Business Insider published a series of photos of these Chinese ghost towns. None of them show cars, with the exception of about 100 parked in a large vacant lot near the government building, and another one, which depicts a beautiful park, and people added in a photo editor.

According to some estimates, there are now about 64 million empty houses in China. China is building up to 20 new ghost towns a year in its “vast areas of free land.”

Everything would be fine, but then I came across some kind of crazy explanation for this circumstance. Listen here!

At the moment, there are about 100 million-plus cities in China. And these newly built ghost towns are a reserve fund for the population. In case of war. There is no point in bombing them; there are many more important targets. And existing residential cities will definitely be struck, and most likely nuclear. It is expensive to restore them during the war, and such gigantic masses of people cannot be shoved through the cracks. It is much more profitable and easier to rebuild entire cities with ready-made infrastructure in advance, and at the right time to evacuate the remaining population and surviving equipment from factories and factories.
But there is one very unpleasant moment here. Keep in order.
Let's still read the real version.
Dai District, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, covers an area of more than 20 square meters. km. Over the course of several years, it has been actively developed and has a fully formed infrastructure. However, for several years now about 70% of the living space there has been empty, which has turned it into a real “ghost town.”
According to the Chinese newspaper Daily Economic Bulletin, the new Dai district is located 70 km from the Shenzhen metropolis; literally in a matter of years it was completely built up with both residential, administrative and business buildings. However, on the wide streets between high-rise buildings it is very rare to see passers-by.
Since real estate prices in this area are 4-5 times lower than in neighboring Shenzhen, residents of the metropolis bought apartments here. But they did this solely as an investment, hoping that over time the prices for this property would rise. They themselves do not live there, they only visit occasionally.
Their assumptions turned out to be correct; over the past few years, property prices in the area have more than doubled. On average, a square meter now costs 5,000 yuan ($714).

The new city is like an area after an epidemic in which a small part of the population has survived. You can rarely see light in the windows of high-rise buildings.

“All the apartments here have been sold a long time ago, but most of the owners do not live in them. Less than 20% of the residents live here permanently,” says a security guard at one of the neighborhoods.
Local residents joke: “Nothing grows here except empty houses.”
Forensic Asia Limited in its report points out the existence of numerous empty areas in China, the so-called “ghost towns”.
The Zhengdong New Area of Shenzhou, Henan Province has been named the largest "ghost town" and a landmark area of the real estate bubble in China. The area began to be built in 2003, it covers an area of 150 square meters. km. For several years now it has been less than 40% occupied.
After this information was widely publicized in the media, a local official completely rejected it in an interview with the Chinese Business newspaper. In turn, he stated that the current occupancy rate of new buildings is 90%, and the number of residents of the Zhengdong region has already exceeded 300 thousand people.
However, according to the same authorities, more than 30% of the planned development of the area has already been built, and the population level given by the official is only 7.5% of the planned number of residents, which by 2020, according to the project, should be 4 million people .

Last year, Chinese media reported that the State Grid Company of China conducted a study in 660 cities. As a result, it was discovered that the electric meters of 65.4 million apartments had zero readings for six months. This suggests that no one lives in the apartments. These apartments are enough to accommodate 200 million people.

Chinese economist Xie Guozhong believes that 25% - 30% of new buildings in China remain empty. According to him, the area of residential premises in Chinese cities is 17 billion square meters. m, which is enough to accommodate all the residents of China.
When the financial crisis began, many Chinese businessmen began to transfer their capital from production to real estate in order to somehow avoid bankruptcy. Thus, many houses and apartments in the country were bought just for the sake of investing money. But this was also the main reason for the sharp increase in real estate prices, which the authorities still cannot bring under control.
The fact is that for some time, due to the construction boom and the global economic crisis, which reduced the appetites and opportunities of developers, a hitherto unprecedented type of ghost towns arose in China. This is a comfortable residential property, with all the infrastructure necessary for a modern person, in which no one lives. And if we don’t settle in it, everything will be overgrown with weeds, like in Pripyat.

China's vision of territorial policy towards neighboring countries is difficult to understand at first glance. Over the past decade, the country has been ahead of many competitors in the development of industrial industry and economic potential. She has introduced the latest developments in scientific, technical and engineering thought in all spheres of her life. However, it is disconcerting that, despite the obvious success of development, over time, dead cities of china. Having been studying this issue for many years, the Institute of Far Eastern Studies 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 a 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 kingdom” itself has in reserve over 60 million newly built apartments and houses with all the amenities and infrastructure “with the latest technology” (parks, stadiums), which, if necessary, can accommodate half of the residents of the post-Soviet space. They are distributed among more than 15 uninhabited cities, among which the main ones are:

Xishuan;
Ordos;
Kangbashi;
Tianducheng;
Thames Town.

Xishuan City erected in one of the most severe 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, you can see the light in any apartment - there are only a few people here. But the abandoned homes have not been looted - this is largely due to the death penalty law in force in the country.

Highly developed ghost town of Ordos built in 2001 on land rich in mineral resources. 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 move in there. They know better places to live, for example, the village of Bama in southern China, where natural and climatic conditions, together with the infrared rays of the sun, the highest activity on the planet, allow you to live over 100 years without disease, spending your time in the desired way.

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

Tianducheng . The Guangzhou suburb is famous for its replica of the Eiffel Tower, but attempts to make the region look like Paris have failed. Housing prices here are quite high, and the lack of infrastructure completely eliminates the possibility of people settling here. A few local residents are trying to survive on little, 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 residents into the new territory. Currently, only 10% of the area is populated: the Chinese use the constructed dwellings only for country holidays.

China is one of the most densely populated countries and the first largest on the globe. This gives him a lot of problems, forcing him to resort even to the legislative level. Therefore, the fact of building such a number of empty cities in China, some of which claim to be megacities.

Possible reasons for the creation of dead cities

Why do the Chinese allow vast areas to remain 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 home. In terms of the ratio of the cost of an apartment to the average salary, an ordinary Chinese will need about 60 years of work to make such a desired purchase. And those wealthy owners who are able to purchase such properties 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 of China not to the detriment of the country's capital, even if they remain empty for 5-10 years. This may be so, but here we are talking about the predominant part of the population.
The policy of the authorities who gave instructions not to settle anyone in these cities. Millions of tourists will bring new buildings and streets to the level of everyday Beijing and Shanghai, further worsening the sanitary conditions of the metropolis. After all, it is precisely because of a misunderstanding of culture, life and the manner of behavior inherent only to the Chinese that representatives of the Caucasian race prefer to limit themselves only to traveling to this country, and not to live here permanently.
Some of the cities may in the future be intended for people of non-traditional sexual orientation. The crux of the problem lies in the birth control law. Using early pregnancy detection methods, the Chinese began performing abortions in cases of potential female births. 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 specifically for such human territory.
The construction of the listed cities is an investment of the money supply that has accumulated recently due to the rapid growth of the economy for the subsequent resettlement there of their own citizens: workers of factories, factories and workshops, who will not neglect mortgage lending.
And finally, the theory of the military concept, which characterizes the true face of the “Eastern friend” and returns to the understanding of the motivation for the construction of the Great Wall of China. Apartment and private buildings, as well as infrastructure facilities with basement bunkers for shelter, designed for hundreds of thousands of people. Together with wide concrete roads towards Russia that can withstand the load of heavy equipment, they suggest a possible attack from China, and the devastated cities, in this case, suggest the creation of backup housing for surviving soldiers after a nuclear counterattack. It is likely that such “threatening” buildings could have learned from someone else’s mistake - the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To summarize this topic, one thing you need to understand is that 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.

Endless blocks of high-rise buildings in which no one ever lived, abandoned amusement parks in which no one had fun, empty giant shopping malls where nothing was ever bought, deserted avant-garde theaters and museums in which there were no spectators, wide avenues along which cars are driving.

In the Google Earth photo - huge EMPTY CITIES are connected by a network of EMPTY roads. Some cities are built in the harshest weather areas of China (Sishuan was built IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT in Inner Mongolia)!

What is this? A strategic mistake by the country’s authorities, who inflated a huge “bubble” in the real estate market, or secret plans calculated several years in advance, known only to China.

It all looks like a giant film set for a science fiction movie in which a neutron bomb explosion or a virus COMPLETELY DESTROYED PEOPLE! But skyscrapers, stadiums, parks and roads remained completely untouched.

Since 2000, China has been building more than 20 new modern cities EVERY YEAR, but they remain UNPOPULATED!

Today that is more than 64 million EMPTY HOUSES (not apartments)!

In 2010, Chinese media reported that the State Electric Network of the People's Republic of China monitored electricity consumption in 660 cities over six months and found ZERO READINGS on the electricity meters of 65.4 million apartments - which means NO ONE LIVES HERE!

These apartments are enough to accommodate more than 200 million people.

Every year, China is increasing its military budget; now it is equal to 78 billion dollars, and “the hidden part of it may be another 30-40 percent of this amount.” The Chinese army and navy are equipped with the most modern weapons.

In the direction of the Russian borders, China has been building broadband roads on a concrete basis for several years; they can withstand the load of heavy military equipment,

According to military experts, when hostilities begin, the Chinese army will be in Khabarovsk in two to three hours.

“The start of large-scale offensive operations along the entire land border and the landing of troops in the north of Russia will end with a complete, quick victory for China and the seizure of Russian territory up to the Urals. After the entire territory up to the Urals is captured, the Russians will be deported beyond the Urals or exterminated. The winners are not judged,” prophesies Alexander Aladdin.

The People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) has 2.25 million soldiers; in the event of hostilities, it can put up to 208.1 million soldiers, well armed and trained, under arms.

So what are empty cities for - thus Beijing is openly demonstrating that it is not afraid of nuclear war. Nuclear warheads are the only weapons modern Russia has left over from the USSR, which can somehow deter China’s aggression.

Under all these cities, underground shelters have been built, designed to accommodate hundreds of millions of people. Beijing is making it clear to both Moscow and Washington that it is fully prepared for a nuclear war. Underground shelters are known to be the most effective protection against nuclear explosions and their damaging factors (shock wave, penetrating radiation, light radiation, radioactive contamination).

Today China is the only country seriously ready to wage any war, both conventional and nuclear, and we pretend that this does not concern us.

Endless blocks of high-rise buildings in which no one has ever lived, abandoned amusement parks, empty giant shopping malls, deserted avant-garde theaters and museums, wide avenues without cars - over the past decade, several new cities and areas have appeared in China, where, it seems, , no human foot has stepped on it. We tried to understand the phenomenon of Chinese “ghost towns” and understand why they exist.

In the Google Earth photo, huge empty cities are connected by a network of empty roads. Some cities are built in some of the harshest weather areas in China (Sishuan is built in the middle of the desert in Inner Mongolia)!

What is this? A strategic mistake by the country’s authorities, who inflated a huge “bubble” in the real estate market, or secret plans calculated several years in advance, known only to China.

It all looks like a giant film set for a science fiction movie in which a neutron bomb or a virus has completely destroyed people! but skyscrapers, stadiums, parks and roads remained completely untouched.

Since 2000, China has been building more than 20 new modern cities every year, but they remain unpopulated! Today that's more than 64 million empty houses (not apartments)!

In 2010, Chinese media reported that the State Electric Network of the People's Republic of China monitored electricity consumption in 660 cities over six months and found zero readings on the electricity meters of 65.4 million apartments - which means no one lives here!

These apartments are enough to accommodate more than 200 million people.

Under all these cities, underground shelters have been built, designed to accommodate hundreds of millions of people. Beijing is making it clear to the world that it is fully prepared for nuclear war. Underground shelters are known to be the most effective protection against nuclear explosions and their damaging factors (shock wave, penetrating radiation, light radiation, radioactive contamination).

In Soviet times, starting from the fifties, a lot of housing was built in the USSR, and at the same time there was a chronic shortage of it. A country with a population of a quarter of a billion people needed new houses, districts and even cities. At the same time and a little later, the famous “Khrushchev buildings” appeared, built using block or panel technology, modest, but giving millions of citizens the opportunity to move to a separate area and forget the hateful communal apartments, not to mention the basements. In the last decade, mass construction has been launched in the PRC, but its results are strikingly different from those in the Soviet Union. Chinese citizens do not joyfully celebrate receiving warrants, do not dance at housewarming parties, but continue to live in the same conditions as before. New houses, neighborhoods and cities are empty. Why?

Housing in China is expensive. It would be more accurate to note that it is not commensurate with the income of the average Chinese. However, this concept as such is meaningless, since the stratification of society is very great. In large cities, a highly qualified worker can receive a salary of four hundred or even five hundred dollars, but in order to get a job like this, you need to try hard. The level of education, knowledge (there is an incentive not to limit yourself to an educational institute or university program, but to comprehend science and languages on your own) and experience is important. In Shanghai (this city leads in terms of average salary in China) or Guangzhou (they also value specialists well), getting a good position, for example an export sales manager, requires knowledge of technology, two or three languages, communication skills and many other professional skills. This is what they will pay.

Income of the general public

There is no famine in China. There are enough products, and this is a huge achievement of the reform policy of the leadership of the Communist Party, which moved away from Maoism and proclaimed a course towards market development. However, peasants in China live poorly. From time to time they are invited to work in the city, where they are offered to perform simple operations at industrial enterprises for a very modest fee of literally a couple of dollars a day. This tedious and monotonous work is episodic in nature and provides an opportunity to earn “real money” and not just food. Arriving in his native village after two or three weeks, such a “shabashnik” is considered a wealthy person for some time (until the money runs out) and can even get married successfully. A Chinese coolie cannot count on buying a city apartment. This dream is unattainable.

Solvency of managers in China

Now about the mentioned middle managers. It is also unlikely that he will be able to save ten to fifteen thousand dollars for a separate, most modest apartment. In Shanghai or Guangzhou, food costs money, although it can be called moderate. In addition, housing has to be rented, and this also cuts the budget. Mortgage programs and, in general, lending programs exist, but they are no more favorable than Russian ones; the interest rates “bite”. And yet, with a lot of effort, you can realize this dream and achieve your goal, especially if you make a successful career and become a top manager. This is difficult, especially since trade and exports have fallen significantly in recent years, and earnings, like ours, are highly dependent on the volume of personal sales. Such young men and women work very diligently, they fight for every client, but it is not yet possible to see them as mass buyers of real estate.

Ghost towns

Foreigners who accidentally visit “ghost towns” are struck by many oddities here. China is a crowded country, all the cities are packed with people, but here there is silence, peace and the almost complete absence of not only residents, but also traces of their presence. Beautiful new residential high-rise buildings stand empty, with the heating on in winter (obviously to avoid damaging temperature changes) and the elevators turned on. The infrastructure has also been created, the roads are smoothly paved, or the process of fine-tuning this work is underway. Another question is that all these wonders of urban civilization are located in remote northern regions, where population density has always been low, and sometimes even surrounded by desert. For example, in Inner Mongolia. There are even parks and sports facilities designed for mass visitors. Who will live here?

Defense version

The huge number of empty residential apartment buildings (in total, according to various estimates, up to 64 million) and their maintenance do not raise doubts that the government, which is investing a lot of money in all this, has some plans for numerous objects, but is in no hurry share them with the public, both Chinese and foreign. Because of this mystery, there was even an assumption that the PRC was preparing for a nuclear war, as a result of which it was ready to sacrifice large cities, but the population could be resettled here in the North. This assumption, of course, has a right to exist, but it does not seem very logical. Firstly, many millions of people need to be evacuated here, and there may not be time left for this. Secondly: what, exactly, will they do here? Sew down jackets or assemble computers? And for whom? And thirdly, it turns out that war is already very close. Why is the Chinese army so poorly prepared for it? Otherwise, houses deteriorate from standing idle for a long time...

Solution

Most likely, in this case there is a feature of Chinese national psychology, expressed, in particular, in the manner of doing business. This is how the state approach of the PRC leaders differs from the American and, alas, the Russian one. This is called the ability to see perspective. Real estate prices in China are growing quite quickly, the economic development strategy is changing in favor of increasing domestic solvency, and sooner or later all these apartments will become someone else's property. Today, one meter already costs up to five thousand yuan (more than $700), having increased by 50% in recent years. Mass construction is a forward-thinking way to invest money, rather than storing it in green American paper, with which it remains to be seen what will happen. And in the very near future.

Every year two new cities appear in China. Already now, these megacities can accommodate the entire population of Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus combined. The Chinese probably know what they are doing...