Ghost towns are a category of settlements that are sparsely populated or abandoned by residents for various reasons. Whether it is a decline in economic activity, war, natural and man-made disasters, or other factors that make living in a given area uncomfortable or impossible. Unlike the disappeared cities, they sometimes retain their architectural appearance and infrastructure. Here are three examples of such ghosts.

Large-scale development of residential real estate in China began about 17 years ago, after the introduction of a bill that allowed citizens to buy houses and apartments in the property. The population density in China is 139 people per square kilometer. For comparison, in Russia this figure is 8, and in the United States of America 33. It is not surprising that commercial and state developers, in pursuit of "easy yuan", began to build giant residential areas and entire cities, with pre-planned infrastructure, cultural facilities, public institutions and shopping centers. As a result, the supply significantly exceeded demand, and now there are a huge number of ghost towns in the country that can hardly be called alive.

chengun

Chenggong is a city in Yunan province, the construction of which began in 2003. The population of the province exceeds 46 million people, and next to the "ghost" is a city of 7 million people. On the territory of Chenggong there are buildings in which there are more than 100 thousand apartments. One of the districts of the city has a developed infrastructure: a school, hospitals, campuses of two universities, a large stadium and a cluster of shops. However, no one lives in the city to this day, except for guards and workers.

New Hebi

East of Chenggong, in Henan Province, is the coal-mining city of Hebi, which received a ghost younger brother more than twenty years ago. In ancient times, the last four emperors of the Yin Dynasty ruled in its district, and once the capital of the vassal kingdom of Wei was located near it. For unknown reasons, Russian tour companies even organize trips to the industrial city of Heby, during which you can stay in one of the three-star hotels in the city. Unlike its older brother, New Heby, which is located only forty kilometers from the historical part of the "old", is absolutely not needed by anyone. The territory of the city covers several hundred square kilometers.

Kangbashi

The city of Kangbashi in the Ordos district is a settlement that is designed for 1 million people. More than $200 billion has been invested in the construction over the past 12 years. At the moment, the city is not even a quarter populated, but government offices have been transferred to it from a neighboring settlement. The city is fully landscaped and filled with interesting architectural solutions. Genghis Khan Square in front of the administration, a convenient street layout, a city museum that looks like a giant metal potato, a national theater, shopping centers and a library that imitates a collapsing bookshelf. I just want to remind you: almost no one lives in the city.

In fact, these cities are not as abandoned as it might seem at first glance. Almost every apartment, building and house has its owner, who lives in a neighboring, overcrowded city. The problem of moving is the lack of jobs, loss of communication with family and loved ones. The building is used by Chinese citizens as an investment object. So sooner or later, ghost towns will be useful both for the state (financially) and for ordinary Chinese people who want to move from a buzzing city to a new, not particularly populated territory.

The example of the "profitability" of Kangbashi, against the background of other Chinese "ghosts", is the most transparent. The city was built near large deposits of natural resources, and the sooner they begin to develop, the sooner the city will be populated to capacity. The Shanghai area - Pudong, twenty years ago, also looked more like a scenery that was erected on the site of rice fields. Now the number of inhabitants of the city is more than 3 million people, and he himself has become the financial and business center of the country.

Empty Chinese cities are a kind of plan for the future, which has nothing to do with Pripyat, deserted after the Chernobyl accident, Detroit, which is emptying due to the closure of factories, Kadychan, which “disappeared” after the collapse of the USSR, and the ruined city on Khashima Island. They are just waiting for their inhabitants.

P.S. Finally, we suggest taking a walk around the island of Hashima, and understand that the "ghosts" are completely different everywhere. It's good that thanks to the "corporation of good" you don't have to go there.

Empty cities are a widespread phenomenon, and typical not only for third world countries, but also for economically developed countries. Old and new, big and small, with and without history, ghost towns are everywhere today, on all continents. Except maybe Antarctica.

Dead cities in China are indeed a modern phenomenon, which, however, easily lends itself to rational explanation.

You need to understand that ghost towns in China are not abandoned once prosperous centers. These are megacities built from scratch with all the necessary infrastructure. No one has ever lived in these dead cities!

Empty cities in China are located in the center of the country, just in the undeveloped territory.

Why are the Chinese building empty cities?

The phenomenon of ghost towns in China is easy to explain if you get to know the Middle Kingdom better.

So. If you look at the demographic map of China, there are significantly more Chinese living along the shores of the southern seas than in the north or in the center of the country. There is nothing surprising in this, because. all business, and, accordingly, money is concentrated in the coastal zone, which attracts workers from all over the Celestial Empire. For example, almost 300 million people live in the Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau area!

To change this situation (to attract people to the central part of the country), there are entire state programs that include the construction of cities "in reserve", various kinds of benefits for business and production, which will open in undeveloped territories. People cannot simply move to a city where there is nowhere to earn money, and production cannot be opened where there are no people. Here is such a vicious circle.

Now the empty cities in China have actually become another attraction of this country, however, very, very peculiar - today they are absolutely lifeless, all these Chinese ghost towns, which practically no human has set foot in yet.

However, we must pay tribute to Chinese urban planners - they always build on a grandiose, truly socialist scale, and, as an almost unshakable rule, simultaneously with ready-made multi-storey standard housing, they put into operation all the necessary urban infrastructure: wide avenues, kindergartens, schools and universities, hospitals , large shopping centers, stadiums for thousands of seats, theaters, museums and even administrative buildings - entire blocks of such buildings.

A typical example of Chinese "mismanagement" is the New South China Mall in Dongguan, in southern China, the second largest shopping and entertainment complex in the world after the famous Dubai Mall. Put into operation in 2005, a huge building, designed for as many as 2350 (!) Stores, is actually empty. The exceptions are several points of chain fast food restaurants and a go-kart track on the site of a useless parking lot. The reason for the local desolation is obvious - this shopping and entertainment complex is located in a remote place, on the outskirts of the city, far from busy highways. It is unlikely that this was just a mistake of a short-sighted architect or designers. Most likely, they want to unload overcrowded Guangzhou in this way, but so far the locals are not particularly willing to move further from the money.

And if at least some part of this very infrastructure, which is also very well-maintained, is still, at the very least, subsequently used by residents of adjacent areas and settlements, then new housing has been idle for decades in vain waiting for its owners, and along the deserted streets and avenues of such cities At this time, only the wind is walking.

According to some reports, the total housing stock, for one reason or another, withdrawn from circulation in China from the very beginning of its creation, today amounts to ... 60 million apartments and detached houses with all amenities and landscaped adjacent territory, not to mention the aforementioned urban infrastructure.

The most famous Chinese ghost towns

Today, at least a dozen such cities of the Celestial Empire are known, including the following abandoned cities and areas that are still waiting for their inhabitants:

• Kangbashi is a large city, the main purpose of which was to be the notorious "bow of town and country" and the further gradual urbanization of the Chinese peasantry; It is designed for a million citizens, but so far it has not even been populated by half.
• Ordos is a ghost town, located near the just mentioned Kangbashi, built back in 2001 and has the same extremely developed infrastructure; however, not being popular with the native population, it still remains abandoned.
• Xishuan - built in the extremely unfavorable conditions of the desert in Inner Mongolia and somewhat reminiscent of the notorious city of Pripyat; population - once or twice and miscalculated.
• Thames Town - an area on the outskirts of Shanghai, completed in 2006; its purpose was to expand the boundaries of the second most important Chinese metropolis - however, due to the simple fact that the basis of the local housing stock is mainly one-story mansions, this area is also not very popular among the local population. Currently, no more than 10% are populated. It is used exclusively as a vacation spot for the residents of Shanghai.
• Tianducheng is a kind of miniature "copy of Paris" with typical - according to local ideas - European architecture, a suburb or, more precisely, a satellite city of Guangzhou, is famous all over the world for its replica of the Parisian Eiffel Tower, but has not yet been inhabited solely due to the absence of any suitable infrastructure, which is rather an exception to the general rule. A few residents live "pasture", setting up vegetable gardens directly near architectural monuments.

So the conclusion from all of the above is quite obvious and very simple - all these super-modern ghost towns in China cannot be called something extraordinary, out of the ordinary, this phenomenon has been around for many years, for China it has already become something ordinary and, in each individual case, it has its own completely logical explanation.

In Soviet times, starting from the fifties, a lot of housing was built in the USSR, and at the same time it was chronically lacking. A country 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 basements. In the last decade, mass construction has been launched in the PRC, but its results are strikingly different from the Soviet ones. Chinese citizens do not joyfully celebrate the receipt of warrants, do not dance at housewarming parties, but continue to live in the same conditions as before. New houses, districts and cities are empty. Why?

Housing in China is expensive. Rather, it will be noted that it is incommensurable 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 such a job, you need to work hard. What is important is the level of education, knowledge (there is an incentive not to be limited to an educational institute or university program, but to comprehend sciences and languages ​​​​on your own) and experience. In Shanghai (the city with the highest average salary in China) or Guangzhou (they also value professionals well), getting a good position, such as an export sales manager, requires knowledge of technology, two or three languages, good communication skills, and many other professional skills. This is what they will pay.

Grassroots Income

There is no famine in China. There are enough products, and this is the great achievement of the reformist policy of the leadership of the Communist Party, which has moved away from Maoism and proclaimed a course towards the development of the market. However, peasants in the PRC live in poverty. From time to time they are invited to work in the city, where they are offered, for a very modest fee, literally a couple of dollars a day, to perform simple operations at industrial enterprises. This tedious and monotonous work is episodic and makes it possible to earn "real money" and not just food. Arriving in his native village after two or three weeks, such a “shabasnik” is considered a wealthy person for some time (until the money runs out) and can even marry 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 up ten to fifteen thousand dollars for a separate, most modest apartment. In Shanghai or Guangzhou, products cost money, although they can be called moderate. In addition, housing has to be rented, and this also cuts the budget. Mortgage programs and, in general, lending exist, but they are no more favorable than Russian ones, 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 break into the category of top managers. This is difficult, especially given that trade and exports have fallen significantly in recent years, and earnings, like ours, are highly dependent on the volume of personal sales. Such young people and girls work very diligently, they fight for each client, but so far it is not necessary to see them as mass buyers of real estate.

ghost towns

Foreigners who accidentally visit the "ghost towns" are struck by many oddities here. China is a populous country, all the cities are crammed 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, while they have heating in winter (obviously to avoid disastrous temperature changes), and elevators are on. The infrastructure has also been created, the roads are smoothly paved, or the process of fine-tuning these works is underway. Another question is that all these wonders of urban civilization are located in remote northern regions, where the 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

A huge number of empty residential multi-apartment buildings (there are, according to various estimates, up to 64 million) and their maintenance, there is no doubt 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. On the basis of this mystery, there was even an assumption that the PRC is preparing for a nuclear war, as a result of which it is ready to sacrifice large cities, but the population can be resettled here, to the North. This assumption, of course, has the 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, in fact, will they do here? Down jackets to sew or computers to collect? And for whom? And thirdly, it turns out that the war is already very close. Why is the Chinese army so poorly prepared for it? And then after all, from a long idle standing, houses deteriorate ...

clue

Most likely, in this case, there is a peculiarity of Chinese national psychology, expressed, in particular, in the manner of doing business. This state approach of the leaders of the PRC differs from the American and, alas, conceived Russian. This is called the ability to see perspective. Real estate prices in China are growing quite rapidly, the economic development strategy is changing in favor of increasing domestic solvency, and sooner or later all these apartments will become someone's property. Today, one meter already costs up to five thousand yuan (which is more than $700), having increased by 50% in recent years. Mass construction is a far-sighted way to invest money, and not store it in green American paper, with which it is not yet known what will happen. And in the very near future.

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

The vision of China's territorial policy towards neighboring countries is difficult to understand at first glance. Over the past decade, the country has outstripped many competitors in the development of the industrial industry and economic potential. Introduced the latest developments in scientific, technical and engineering thought in all spheres of her life. What is confusing, however, is the fact that, despite the apparent success of development, over time, dead cities of china. Having been studying this issue for many years, the Institute of the Far East 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 the 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 Empire” itself has in reserve over 60 million newly built apartments and houses with all amenities and “state-of-the-art” infrastructure (parks, stadiums), which, if necessary, can accommodate half of the inhabitants of the post-Soviet space. They are distributed among more than 15 uninhabited cities, among which are the main ones:

• Xishuan;
• Ordos;
• Kangbashi;
• Tianducheng;
• Thames Town.

Xishuan City built in one of the harshest 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, in any apartment you can see the light - there are only a few people here. But the abandoned dwellings were not looted - in many respects this is the merit of the law on the death penalty in force in the country.

highly developed ghost town of Ordos built in 2001 on land rich in minerals. 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 settle there. They know better places to live, such as the village of Bama in southern China, where the natural and climatic conditions, together with the most intense ultra-red rays of the sun on the planet, make it possible to live over 100 years without disease, spending their time in the way they want.

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

Tianducheng . The suburb of Guangzhou is famous for its copy of the Eiffel Tower, but attempts to make the region look like Paris have not been successful. Housing prices here are quite high, and the lack of infrastructure completely excludes the possibility of people settling here. A few local residents are trying to survive on a small scale, 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 inhabitants in a new territory. At present, the area is only 10% populated: the Chinese use the erected dwellings only for out-of-town recreation.

China is one of the most densely populated countries and the largest in the world. This gives him a lot of problems, forcing him to resort even to the legislative level. Therefore, even more paradoxical is the fact of the construction of such a number empty cities in China, some of which claim to be metropolitan areas.

Possible reasons for the creation of dead cities

Why do the Chinese allow huge territories to be 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 homes. In terms of the ratio of the cost of an apartment to the average salary, it will take an ordinary Chinese about 60 years of work to make such a desired purchase. And those wealthy owners who are able to purchase such objects 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 in china not to the detriment of the country's capital, even if they are empty for 5-10 years. Maybe so, but here we are talking about the predominant part of the population.
• The policy of the authorities who instructed not to settle anyone in these cities. Millions of tourists will bring new buildings and streets to the state of everyday Beijing and Shanghai, further worsening the sanitary conditions of the metropolis. Indeed, it is precisely because of the misunderstanding of culture, life and the manner of behavior inherent only to the Chinese that representatives of the Caucasian race prefer to limit themselves to traveling to this country, and not to live here permanently.
• Some of the cities in the future may be intended for people of non-traditional sexual orientation. The crux of the problem lies in the birth control law. Using methods of early pregnancy detection, the Chinese began to perform abortions in case of a potential birth of a girl. 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 for just such a territory of people.
• The construction of these cities is an investment of the money supply accumulated recently due to the rapid growth of the economy for the subsequent resettlement of their own citizens there: workers of factories, factories and workshops, who will also not neglect mortgage lending.
• And finally, the theory of the military concept, which characterizes the true face of the “eastern friend” and returns to understanding the motivation for building the Great Wall of China. Tenements and private houses, as well as infrastructure with underground bunkers for shelter, designed for hundreds of thousands of people. Together with wide-lane concrete roads towards Russia bearing the load of heavy equipment, they suggest a possible attack from China, and devastated cities, then, suggest the creation of backup housing for the surviving soldiers after a nuclear counterattack. It is likely that such "threatening" buildings could serve as a lesson on someone else's mistake - the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Summing up this topic, you need to learn one thing: 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.

Ordos began 20 years ago, at the same time as the great Mongolian coal rush. Private coal companies opened mines and dug coal deposits in the Mongolian steppes, farmers sold their allotments to coal tycoons, their children went to work in the mines, convoys of trucks with coal were pulled to the developed southern cities of China, a bright communist future was not far off. Ordos began to grow on coal money.

The city authorities of Ordos decided: their time had come. A large city for a million inhabitants was planned, in the center of which a statue of Genghis Khan was to appear.

They built a huge city with museums, theaters, even a race track and a large stadium. But it still stands empty. People did not go to live in Ordos.

As you know, there is an active urbanization going on in China now. In the next two decades, up to a hundred million rural residents will move to cities. This plan will require up to $7 trillion!

Of course, in such a situation one cannot do without ill-considered spending of budgetary funds. State banks issued loans at the behest, developers rebuilt a huge city, and then many mines in the Ordos region turned out to be unprofitable and closed, there was no work, and the artificial city remained empty.

Nevertheless, from the point of view of tourism, the city is really, if not "the best", then definitely not bad. At least it is the most famous among the many ghost towns in China.

What strikes in the city is its cleanliness. Instead of ordinary pedestrians, there are only municipal employees cleaning the sidewalks. An absurd picture? No, this is the ideal of Russian municipal officials: a city without a population!

01. Entering the city…

02. China entered the 21st century with an export-oriented economy. The rural population predominated in the country, most of the manufactured goods did not even enter the domestic market until recently. The 2008 crisis hit China pretty hard. At the same time, it was decided to transform the economy a little, to increase domestic consumption. But how can you increase consumption when you have 700 million rural people who, if anything, buy a new plow every 10 years? People began to move to the cities!

03. Local resident Zhang Huimin moved to Ordos from the village to enter the Ordos branch of the Beijing Institute. He says: "I like Ordos. There is a lot to do here. For example, go out with friends, go to the library, go to an empty mall."

04. There are no traffic jams in Ordos.

05. Empty buses run through the streets. There are no people at the bus stops...

06. How many people live in Ordos? There is no official data (apparently, because there is no one to count). Local authorities evade answering the question "What is your population?" They answer: "It is growing." Judging by the latest estimates, they are not lying: in a few years, the population of this area has grown from 30 to 100 thousand inhabitants.

07. Ordos has a "Mongolian Disneyland" as well as an "Ordos Wedding" theme park stuffed with endless romantic-themed statues. There is even a Marriage Longevity Square, as well as the Traditional Chinese Love Cultural Zone.

08. The building of the local party institute ...

09. Empty neighborhoods…

10. By the way, even a local travel agency operates in Ordos. “We mainly play telephone games, well, there are Angry Birds, Tetris, that’s all,” says Van Lily, an employee of the travel agency, “What a joke, we are paid on time, they don’t delay.”

11. Local resident Li Yongxiang says: “I used to live over there (points to built-up areas), cultivated fields, grew potatoes, radishes. Now I don’t have potatoes or radishes, but now I live in a six-story building with heating!”

12. A very strange place. A city without people.

13. They even made a bike rental here.

14. Some buildings are unfinished.

15. It may seem to you that it is now 5 am and therefore the streets are empty… No, it is 2 pm.

16. Empty houses, empty streets…

17. The main bridge in the city, here you can meet the first cars.

18. Beautiful.

19. Everything is very well maintained, flowers everywhere, perfect lawns, cleanliness… but no residents.

20. Luxurious villas should have stood on the shore of the lake ...

21. But they were never completed.

22. Art Museum.

23. Builder.

24. Another huge villa.

25. Houses are slowly collapsing.

26. Nobody vandals them, since there are not even vandals in the ghost town

27. Many houses were left unfinished when they realized that no one would live here.

28. Construction cranes were removed, the workers went to build other ghost towns.

There are many in China. In addition to Ordos, which has become the most famous, there is, for example, Chenggong, an empty satellite city of 6 million Kunming. Many state institutions have been moved there, including the Kunming administration, but people are still in no hurry to move to new buildings.

59. Or here is the town of Qianduchen - the Chinese tried to build a copy of Paris near Shanghai. Now this suburb, designed for 100 thousand people, is uninhabited.

There are many such points on the map of China. Qingshuihe, Dongguang, Suzhou, Xinyang... The Chinese apparently enjoy building ghost towns so much that they decided not to limit themselves to their own country.

60. Nova Cidad de Kilamba (New City of Kilamba), Angola


This city, near the capital of Angola, Luanda, was designed by China International Property Management Investment Corporation (CITIC). It is designed for half a million inhabitants, there is a ready-made infrastructure, but no one lives in these colorful houses.

61. If the Chinese are too lazy to build a whole ghost town or attach a ghost district to the metropolis, they build a huge shopping center. Also a ghost, of course. So in 2005, New South China Mall, one of the largest shopping and entertainment complexes in the world, opened in Dongguan. It is second only to the famous Dubai Mall. The building is designed for 2,350 stores, but due to mistakes made during construction (the complex is located on a remote outskirts), it is almost completely empty. It cannot be called abandoned: the complex is maintained in working condition. But there are no buyers there, as well as sellers.

29. Back to Inner Mongolia. In Ordos there is the same junkie horse as in the capital of inner Mongolia, Hohhot! The monument reports that Ordos is a major center of tourism. This is partly true. Tourists come here to see the empty city!

30. The theme of horses is popular here, as well as throughout Inner Mongolia.

31. Even the local race track is made in the shape of a horse.

32. There are few people in the mall, but most of the shops are empty. Even the lights are not on everywhere.

33. House accordion.

34. Government building

35. Opposite is a monument to Genghis Khan. Why Genghis Khan? Yes, because this great ancient commander one day rode on his horse across the endless plains somewhere in the region of Ordos, which he liked so much that he called it "a paradise for those who are old and young." Grateful descendants did not forget him. Now here, according to the precepts of Genghis Khan, posters "The best city for tourism" hang.

36. Central square

37. Mostly former peasants live in Ordos. After Ordos made headlines in Chinese and global media for its emptiness in the early 2010s, the local government took a drastic step: officials traveled to the surrounding villages to persuade local residents to move to Ordos and become city dwellers for little compensation.

Not all peasants liked this idea. Mao Shiwen says: "Here (in the village) I heat the stove with firewood, take some water from the well, and there are some towers, it is not clear how to lower a bucket into the well from such a height!"

But the authorities did not give up. Sometimes I had to go to tricks. For example, schools and hospitals began to move to cities, as a result of which living in the countryside became very inconvenient.

38. The most unusual building of the national museum.

39. Beautiful. There are a lot of people here (by Ordos standards). This is probably the most popular place among the few residents of the ghost town.

40. People spend their free time here.

41. Let's go inside!

42. Almost all halls are closed… the museum is empty.

43. In the center is a plastic dinosaur.

44. As I wrote earlier, a collective farmer lives in every Chinese. You can invite good architects, build a cool building, and then put flowers in some idiotic pots, like in a general store.

45. The administration of the museum also did not like the stylish modern elevator, they decided to add plastic grass and beautiful ashtrays.

46. ​​In order to somehow “revive” a boring modern elevator, they put a fashionable rug in it.

47. This is the whole of China.

48. Local theater where nothing happens.

49. Stadium where nothing happens.

50. The stadium building has already begun to collapse.

51. Dry grass on the field.

52. After many villagers moved to Ordos, the most stubborn collective farmers had to do the same. Now the authorities face a new problem: how to turn yesterday's rednecks into real, stylish residents of a brand new city.

Official Lu Xiaomei says: "Of course, we do not set ourselves the task of turning them into hipsters, but here is a brochure released" How not to piss on the side of the road, not to spit on the pavement and not to wash your hair in a public toilet: 10 easy ways.

Note to the snobbish residents of Russian cities: the rednecks in Ordos are taught not to park their carts on the sidewalks and not turn on the music loudly, many of you would also benefit from such courses.

53. Another place of accumulation of a few inhabitants is a giant sand dune. They ride from it like from a snow hill.

54. Ordos is becoming an experimental platform for the large-scale resettlement of peasants in the cities. The Chinese government plans to move hundreds of millions of peasants to cities over the next two decades to see how they can adapt there.

Entire films are made about Ordos. Here, for example, (approved by local propaganda) the film "Territory of Large Spaces"