Chinese neighborhoods turn into ‘ghost towns’ following rapid urbanization

World Today

Urbanization represents a “huge engine” for the country in sustaining economic expansion and driving aspirations to be a middle-income nation. Along the way, the mechanism failed for some people, with some newly built high-rises or even entire districts standing empty.

CCTV’s reporter Han Peng filed this report from Ordos, Inner Mongolia.

Highlights:

  • The city of Kangbashi  in Ordos witnessed a construction boom from 2004 to 2009. Over 50 office buildings, schools and shopping malls mushroomed from the ground of the once uninhabited desert.
  • One of the very few jobs still available is cleaning up of what is left in town.
  • The story had a prosperous start over a decade ago, when a coal rush began in Inner Mongolia. Local farmers sold their land to the miners, and became instantly rich.
  • Encouraged by the boom, the local government also placed big bets. It invested 5.5 billion RMB (about $900 million) to build a huge new town. That was meant to be housing for over one million residents.
  • Over the past few decades, China’s urbanization, billed as the greatest in human history, has been driven by government-led investment.
  • In Kangbashi, urbanization came to a standstill with the unexpected slump in coal prices. Apartments were built, but people never came.