Stunning Photos From China's Creepiest Modern Ghost Town

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Welcome to the most ironically-named city in China. A would-be utopia, rapidly constructed for a population of one million (that failed to materialize), the futuristic city of Ordos, which takes its name from ordo, the Mongolian word for crowd and the root for the English word 'horde', has been almost totally abandoned. The stunning landscape left behind in the following images is both disturbing and confirming of China's epic mal-investment boom...

Via Artnet News

The images, taken by Shanghai-based photographer Raphael Olivier and shared at Creative Boom, depict a strange modern ghost town. The city, in the Inner Mongolia region, was constructed under the old "if you build it, they will come" motto, but the teeming masses have never made their way to Ordos.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

The city includes dormant schools, sports complexes, hospitals, convention centers, and other major facilities, all completed between 2005 and 2010. The Chinese building boom has seen many new cities become overnight metropolises, but Ordos City failed to replicate that success.

"The city is now a surreal landscape of empty streets, decaying monuments, abandoned buildings and half-finished housing projects," writes Olivier. "It is more than anywhere the symbol of the Chinese Dream with all its challenges and contradictions, an Orwellian vision of a bright future caught up by a less flamboyant reality."

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the Ordos Museum.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the Ordos Museum.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

The city's most fantastical structures include the Ordos Museum, designed by China's MAD Archictects, which resembles a tiled metal blob overlooking the Gobi Desert.

Like the rest of the city, the museum was apparently built without much forethought: "As for the gallery spaces, we didn't know what kind of exhibitions they would hold, so they are designed to be flexible," the architecture firm told ArchDaily.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

"This plaza is now a favorite amongst the locals who gather their families and friends to explore, play or lounge in the pleasant landscape," wrote de zeen magazine upon Ordos's completion in 2011, in a rather premature judgment.

Based on reports from intrepid photojournalists and travelers, including the Bohemian Blog, the city's residents (reportedly just 20,000 souls, or two percent of the total capacity) largely consist of construction crews, maintenance workers, and random employees.

See more of Olivier's photos of Ordos below:

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the Ordos mosque.<br> Photo: Raphael Olivier.

Raphael Olivier, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the Ordos mosque.
Photo: Raphael Olivier.

 

We have nothing to add... except one chart...

 

 

This is what happens when the central planners get drunk on their own hopium-laced Kool-Aid.

 

Images: Artnet News

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Fri, 01/08/2016 - 23:58 | 7020548 techpriest
techpriest's picture

Look up the data on the amount of office space leased vs. occupied by the GSA. Something criminal is going on.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 12:55 | 7022157 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

This is the only source of that data I could find. Does not seem to include occupation rate, though.

http://www.iolp.gsa.gov/iolp/

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 20:06 | 7019782 indygo55
indygo55's picture

Tear them down and rebuild them. Then dig a bunch of holes and refill them. Pay for it with tons of cheap credit from the FED. GDP will soar. Mission accomplished.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:16 | 7019343 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

American Gitmo

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:16 | 7019345 Gunter
Gunter's picture

We had 1.5 million refugees coming to Germany in 2015, and for 2016 we are expecting 4.5 million.

They are causing all sorts of problems.

How many jumbo jets would it take to fly them from Frankfurt to that Ghost city of ordo?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:21 | 7019366 Mr. Schmilkies
Mr. Schmilkies's picture

+1 for avatar

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 19:53 | 7019712 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

+2 if you take off the glasses, and make the ears bigger, and color the skin brown......

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 20:11 | 7019809 nscholten
nscholten's picture

We know the goal is to destabilize europe.  And it is done overtly right in front of our faces.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 21:54 | 7020189 AGuy
AGuy's picture

"We know the goal is to destabilize europe. And it is done overtly right in front of our faces."

Merkel was betting on all those Syria refugee would replace aging German workers, since Germans aren't have any kids anymore. Merkel thinks a but of uneducated radical muslims can be transformed to hard workn, christ loving Germans with a twist of her magic pen!

By next year, Merkel is going to be pulling all her hair out trying to figure out a way do dump them somewhere. I am sure she hoping Sanders or Hiltary wins in 2016, since they might be stupid enough to take them. If Americans are stupid enough to pay high premium prices for subcompact cars (ie the mini-Cooper) that even Europeans didn't want, than perhaps they are dumb enough to take all these refugees too.

Every Mercedes and BWM now equiped with Syrian Refugee at no extra cost!

 For a limited time offer, new German car owners will get not one, but five refugees for free! Hurry now, while supplies last!

 

 

 

 

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:39 | 7021064 Gunter
Gunter's picture

>>By next year, Merkel is going to be pulling all her hair out trying to figure out a way do dump them somewhere.
<<

She is already there. Check her fingernails on these two photos:

http://www.blick.ch/life/kau-schau-wem-das-verraten-unsere-fingernaegel-...

Make sure to scroll down.

A child with fingernails like that would be given professional treatment.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 01:15 | 7020710 Ace006
Ace006's picture

That's right, fantastic though that is. We are all extras in a sci fi movie.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 03:33 | 7020863 researchfix
researchfix's picture

Plus the Ukrainian visitors to stay.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:20 | 7019360 Zandalf
Zandalf's picture

Since Mexicans are allegedly leaving the usa to return to Mexico, why not divert them to these places in China so that they can at least have some decent landscaping there...

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:20 | 7019362 KesselRunin12Parsecs
KesselRunin12Parsecs's picture

Looks like a place that Rothschild can start cloning inbreds.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:22 | 7019367 83_vf_1100_c
83_vf_1100_c's picture

Pic #9 looks like it is already falling over.

So wtf is the point to these cities? Someone must know.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:24 | 7019377 smacker
smacker's picture

"So wtf is the point to these cities?"

To test the upper limits of Krugman-style mal-investment?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 22:07 | 7020235 AGuy
AGuy's picture

""So wtf is the point to these cities?"

Like Sarah Winchester, the Chinese fear they'll be haunted by the ghosts of rebellious workers that have no job. So they go on building and building hoping the chinese workers don't become unemployed restless revolting people.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House

"The Winchester Mystery House... was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. In 1884 she purchased an unfinished farmhouse in the Santa Clara Valley and began building her mansion. Carpenters were hired and worked on the house day and night until it became a seven story mansion. She did not use an architect and added on to the building in a haphazard fashion, so the home contains numerous oddities such as doors and stairs that go nowhere, windows overlooking other rooms and stairs with odd-sized risers."

 

 

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 00:06 | 7020564 techpriest
techpriest's picture

Exactly. If you take a train through the country, you will also see skyscrapers in the middle of villages all over. The problem with "creating jobs" in the form of construction projects is that you need to keep building even when the buildings are no longer needed to prevent the predictable layoffs at the end.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 00:58 | 7020681 Crush the cube
Crush the cube's picture

It's the only city in China you can rent an apartment that comes fully furnished with breathable air.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 01:14 | 7020709 PT
PT's picture

83_vf... re "So wtf is the point ...":

Apologies for plugging and repeating myself so soon but:
"Liars Poker" and "The Big Short (Inside The Doomsday Machine)", two books by Michael Lewis.  If you don't trust my judgement then borrow them from the library.  The Big Short has just been made into a movie but I haven't seen it yet so I don't know if it is good or not.

As someone else said, the builders need to keep building, otherwise they don't make any money, they go broke and then they are poor and everyone hates being poor.
But why don't they build homes that people can afford to buy?  In short, because banks figured out how to sell mortgages as investments, then suddenly banks no longer cared whether or not people could afford to make repayments.  Ratings agencies rated crap investments as good investments because otherwise they wouldn't get any work rating stuff.  Now look up Collaterallized Debt Obligations, Credit Default Swaps and Synthetic CDOs (or just read the two aforementioned books).  Poor people go bankrupt, bankers get bailed out.  Read up about TARP, QE, QE2 etc - banks lend money to idiots, banks get bailed out, banks lend more money to idiots ...

So how does that translate to empty cities in China?  Apparently Chinese believe it is good luck to move into a home that has never been lived in before.  So whereas we may buy an investment property and rent it out until we feel like selling it, the Chinese will leave it empty till they feel like selling it.  I have also heard that when the Chinese buy houses, they have to put up a 50% deposit and pay off the balance within 5 years.  So how is Chinese debt a problem?  I have not investigated this paragraph thoroughly so feel free to investigate further and tell me whether I am right or wrong.

Short answer is that banks make money by lending, so the banks want to lend as much as possible.  Banks get bailed out so they no longer care if they lend to idiots.  Are the builders getting paid?  They must be, otherwise they can't build.  So who is buying the empty homes?  Must be investors.  Are they really so rich that they can afford to put up 50% deposit and pay them off in 5 years?  I don't know.  That's why I don't trust that last paragraph.  Is that what happened or have the Chinese figured a way to weasel around this law?  (Or was the law a lie?  I know I read it once, but I haven't cross-referenced to make sure it was true.)  Who are these Chinese investors who can afford to keep homes empty for so long?  When do they plan on cashing out?

Or have the homes already been bundled into "investment" paper and sold off once / several times to greater fools?  That sounds more likely:  a pyramid scheme that uses empty houses as a prop to pretend there is a transfer of value.  You can't sell to a real person who wants to live there because they cannot afford the exhorbitant prices.  But as long as the banksters are willing to lend, you can always sell to a greater fool / another investor and keep the pyramid growing.

Errr, then there is always the GovtCentralPlanning thingy where people are expected to do better than the last guy - easy to see how that could get out of hand and you only need one braincell to understand it.  Perhaps a mixture is to blame, GovtCentralPlanning meets banksters, synthetic CDOs and their ratings agencies.  People at the top of the tree are getting richer.  You don't get bailed out for the loans you don't make...

Given how long this city has been going, perhaps its about time that someone looked into the ownership trail and worked out what is going on.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 03:13 | 7020851 roddy6667
roddy6667's picture

Most people in China pay cash for a home. Even blue collar families have a lot of cash stashed away. The savings rate is 36% in China. People save, on average, 36% of their income. Americans can't understand this and refuse to believe it.

It is tradition for a family to buy a home for their son when gets married, usually around 30 years old. They are often purchased decades in advance. Homes are all in mid- and high rises made of concrete. They are not finished, just a shell. The buyer must spend another 20% to make it complete. A new home can sit vacant for many years with degrading. There is no property tax in China, so it is cheap to hold a property. All you need is to pay the common area charges, equivalent to condo fees or HOA fees. They are very small. Also, many people buy a new home as an alternative to today's low interest rates. The home ownership rate in China is 130%. Read that again. 130%. Because so many people own two or three properties.

What looks  like to an outsider (especially somebody who has never been to China) to be a mostly vacant building and a failed property is often quite the opposite. Buyers paid cash and sit on the unit for good reasons. They pay the small CAC fee. The builder got paid and has paid off his construction loan. He moved onto another project. Meanwhile, Westerners are making all kinds of noises because they are ignorant of how things work outside their little world.

You make a big deal about people not being able to afford homes in China because of the exorbitant prices. Sounds like you read articles about Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai and assumed that things are like that everywhere. It is not true. It's like pricing homes on Park Avenue in New York or the Bay area of San Francisco and assuming all of America is the same thing. Go to any second tier city in China and you will see affordable homes everywhere. The style and design is amazing. I am a retired American living in China. I own one of these homes.

You are looking at Chinese real estate in American terms. It is quite different.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:52 | 7021091 PT
PT's picture

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Yes, I have been looking at it through western eyes, in particular what I see in my own city and state. 

Also, I see an article on the Telescreen where a Chinese worker describes $50 per week as a "good" wage, I see Chinese apartments supposedly advertised for sale for $300 grand, so it all looks similar (though more extreme) to what I see on the ground in my own country.

Your contributions to this discussion are greatly appreciated.  Thanks again.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:22 | 7019369 smacker
smacker's picture

China took the mal-investment cue from Spain during its construction boom years which also has ghost cities, stuffed with unsold homes in Valencia. All topped out by the new airport built in Castello-Valencia which has never had a plane land or takeoff since completion over 7 years ago.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:23 | 7019373 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

 

 

Hmmm...   I wonder what the contrasting photo album of the U.S. would look like by comparison...?   You know, with its vastly superior 'services oriented' economy & all that.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 01:22 | 7020721 PT
PT's picture

In Communist China, the empty homes are stacked up neatly into empty cities.
In Capitalist USSA, the empty homes are spread out haphazardly all over the countryside.  (Or perhaps empty buildings / suburbs instead of whole cities.  I'm only guessing here.)

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:23 | 7019374 will ling
will ling's picture

a modern day tower of babylon - maybe? no language of common sense.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:24 | 7019375 reTARD
reTARD's picture

Just might be populated by westerners in the future. As Peter Schiff has said, "today, we have Chinese living in Chinatowns across America; but one day, they'll have Americans living in Americatowns across China." LOL. Not bad IMO.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:31 | 7019400 dchang0
dchang0's picture

That's a great idea; too bad they'd ruin it by shoving Chinese laws, taxes, and political philosophy down everyone's throats. If China were smart, they'd set up these ghost cities as "special administrative areas" like Hong Kong with protected political and economic freedoms, and those cities would fill up FAST.

But they'd never let go of control, especially if the success of such areas makes the central planners look bad.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:46 | 7019449 reTARD
reTARD's picture

What if there's a revolution in China? Wouldn't Chinese (or any kind of) individuals eventually want more freedom? I bet the future will not be how the world looks today or in the past. Life isn't static. I prefer to look through whole new lenses, not of how the world views things today.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 19:33 | 7019615 Boing_Snap
Boing_Snap's picture

They tried that 20 years ago, didn't go anywhere, in the end the need for a ruler collective in their culture outweighs the individual freedom concept. I wonder if you've never known freedom, can recognize its value? As a whole I mean.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 00:10 | 7020573 techpriest
techpriest's picture

Some of the ones I've talked to think they are free and that their army "fights for our freedom." It led me to becoming a libertarian, once I applied their cognitive dissonance to my own.

The underlying narrative is that the Europeans, US, and Japanese once had Chinese enslaved, and the Chairman ("even though he has faults" they would say) was the great hero who freed the people from overseas tyranny. The Spratly Island standoff is as much a case of the Chinese distracting their citizens as it is the US distracting its citizens from issues at home.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:25 | 7021043 4freedom78
4freedom78's picture

There won't be revolution, the population is ageing already, and the young are all focus on play stupid game on their phone. China will slowly die in their communist planned shit like the old Soviet Union.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:26 | 7021044 4freedom78
4freedom78's picture

There won't be revolution, the population is ageing already, and the young are all focus on play stupid game on their phone. China will slowly die in their communist planned shit like the old Soviet Union.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 19:33 | 7019612 Kiwi Pete
Kiwi Pete's picture

Or they could relocate .govt there. Their elites must be sick of sucking fumes and posoning their kids.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:25 | 7019383 lesterbegood
lesterbegood's picture

Chinese version of FEMA camps? Make them pretty to the eye to disguise their true nature? All for the protection of the Chinese people of course.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/nov/06/-sp-china-ghost-city-kangb...

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:27 | 7019388 thebigunit
thebigunit's picture

Artistic. Spacious. Great amenites.

Perfect for the homeless!

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 19:32 | 7019608 css1971
css1971's picture

But where do they make stuff?

It's like. And this is the bedroom city where you sleep, and this is the lounge city where you relax, and this is the kitchen city where you can make your meals.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:28 | 7019391 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Odd...twin towers.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:31 | 7019402 Hulk
Hulk's picture

Someone musta lost the key...

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:32 | 7019406 dochood
dochood's picture

In the northeastern Chinese cities of Dandong and Changchun, I saw dozens and dozens of empty, partially filled, or partially completed high-rise apartment buildings.  I heard that the apartments on the western edge of Dandong were "cheap", that you could rent one for $500 US a month, but no one wanted to live there because it was too far from the city's center.

In Changchun, at the very edge of town, I stayed at a gorgeous Sheraton hotel.  It was 45 minutes from the southeastern edge of Changchun by taxi on a weekday morning.  I got it because it was 60% off that day (usually $250 per night).  It was nearly empty.  I paid just as much for a crappy dive in the center of town.

They build so much, but because of real-estate speculation, no one can afford most of the places... and the rich party-members and their crony buddies will often own TEN APARTMENTS or HOUSES in Beijing!  That's why most of the migrant workers live in cramped, smelly spaces in the basements of other buildings.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 19:23 | 7019569 Freddie
Freddie's picture

When Asians do weird they go all out.  China buildings these empty mega cities.  Japan becoming totally radio active with destroyed demographics, men with sex robots and women weird, totally bankrupt.   I like the Japanese and Chinese but something is really off.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 22:08 | 7020236 Wild E Coyote
Wild E Coyote's picture

Totally agree on that Mate. Something is very off. 

Chinese are not famous for investing. Everyone knows that. They are sure not going to build Ghost towns expecting people to come.

Some information indicates that the Chinese officials gave unofficial guarantees and borrowed money from western sources thru Chinese Banks. And used to the money to enrich themselves thru their construction companies. 

Filling the towns was not part of their plan. Today Chinese authtorities are saying that the prices of this apartments should be reduced so that more can buy the assets. Somebody misclaulated asset sales values very badly.  

But I am sure, the profits they earned was not bad. 

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 00:12 | 7020579 techpriest
techpriest's picture

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:38 | 7019412 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Communist Art?

It looks good on the outside, but the inside is balsa wood....

 I miss the 60's and 70's... Open land and creativity.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:37 | 7019419 Tejano
Tejano's picture

Compare with Detroit.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:40 | 7019430 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Those buildings would be filled if the Chinese Government let their markets normalize?

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 03:45 | 7020876 Element
Element's picture

Is there another country on earth that would have done something so stupid Yen?

The Chinese have bigger problems, this is a symptom.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:38 | 7019422 subscriptionblocker
subscriptionblocker's picture

Logan's run?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 19:40 | 7019649 jcdenton
jcdenton's picture

You stole my thunder!

 

Okay, movie set for Logan's Run 2 .. (the dome would be an electromagnetic shield via CGI)

 

OTOH, that's some tax shelter ..

Like the mother of all .....................

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:39 | 7019426 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Do the eyes light up on those horses like the devil horse at the Denver International airport?

http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-liberal/2014/02/the-demon-stallion-of-d...

 

 

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