China's Empty Cities

Zhengzhou

It is estimated that there are 64 million empty apartments in China. It has built entire cities of high rises and no one has come. They closed down mining towns, as well. Their desire to move from rural to powerhouse cities that could run the empire has fallen on deaf ears.

In 2005, China erected the largest mall in the world. Today, there is still 99% of it not leased out.

In the Chenggong District in the Yunnan Province, less than 10% of buildings are occupied.

Then, there's cities like Beichuan that are destroyed by one of the many natural disasters of China, an earthquake in 2008 and now it's basically a memorial park.

How about an entire upper class subdivision that was never lived in?

Several places were built to replicate famous places like Italy and France. The little French replica town is made to house 100,000 people but only about 2000 live there.

This Tudor British-knockoff village - abandoned.

They started to build a huge amusement park but, ah....

In Mongolia, the town of Ordos is the single largest ghost town. During a gold rush in Mongolia about 20 years ago, they rushed to build a boomtown to support it and today it is empty and largely unfinished. The farmers who sold their land to the builders for the boomtown, made a lot of cash, but the industry went and so did any potential residents. 

It is estimated that China spent 2 trillion dollars on this China most ostentatious building boom that has now burst. 

As an urban explorer, I can't help thinking about how amazing it would be to photograph whole towns with no life in them. 

MORE INFO:
Empty skyscrapers
More abandoned China 
Aerial Views