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 - 23:32 | 7020480 nc551
nc551's picture

What about this theory... China has no shame in copying what works around the world, yet at the same time certain aspects of their culture/government are completely controlled nearly the opposite of the rest of the world...  so you get fake fundamentals to make them feel healthier than they are...  and they look abroad and see the investment strategies of healthier growing economies and duplicate them, like realestate investments.  You end up with the built city, but no true economic support for it...   is that feasible? obvious? silly?

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 01:16 | 7020712 nidaar
nidaar's picture

Bang on, a cargo cult with steel and concrete:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 00:23 | 7020608 ambrosiac
Sat, 01/09/2016 - 00:41 | 7020635 Solomonpal
Solomonpal's picture

Well OK. That didn't work out so well. What next? I got it. Let's build some islands.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 00:52 | 7020667 Bunga Bunga
Bunga Bunga's picture

Krugmans dream: Chinese erect a giant Mao statue and destroy it immediately.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/08/giant-golden-chairman-mao-s...

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 01:20 | 7020717 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

Are these really ghost cities?

I couldn't see a single ghost in the photos.

But why ship refugees there?

I say ship the bankers, the politicians and the string pullers there.

 

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 04:17 | 7020889 Fireman
Fireman's picture

China used more concrete in 2014 than the USSA in the entire 20th century. Chinese build for the future while USSA is crumbling around its homeless cast-offs even as Pentacon Kill Industries Inc. is destroying as much of the globe as it can "afford" to using "credit" supplied by the rest of the planet. Do USSANS understand anything at all about their peculiar disease?

 

It's just the inevitable and long awaited changing of the guard, until a country becomes so corrupt it just collapses. Nothing new, same story from the Roman vomitorium to British public school sodomists and pedophiles.

http://acidcow.com/pics/57928-abandoned-malls-in-the-usa66-pics.html

 

http://www.deadmalls.com/stories.html

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 04:50 | 7020918 smacker
smacker's picture

acidcow.com and deadmalls.com = monuments to debt funded consumerism.

Then along came "peak debt".

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 05:27 | 7020944 K_BX
K_BX's picture

That is failed distribution of goods. people starving but million tons of food burned worldwide. being king of the castle for a moment - so close but so far away, like dream came true. It is just surreal.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:07 | 7021021 4freedom78
4freedom78's picture

Pripyat 2.0 after nuclear fiat meltdown.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:40 | 7021066 AbbeBrel
AbbeBrel's picture

If you ever get to Stockholm, be sure to visit the VASA museum - a MUST for ZH'ers. In the museum is the restored VASA - the ship that sank shortly into its maiden voyage. The requirements had been phoned in by the King of Sweden from afar, and in fact the ship had failed its first stability test (made by sailors running from side to side - the ship almost sank while in dock).

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

It is a tribute to the sense of humor of the Swedish that they raised the wreck and made a museum out of it.

Ordos is already sort of a museum, but a couple of orders of magnitude bigger than the VASA, but rather of the same vein. All that expensive oil went into the building of this ship of state, and now nothing is left but a museum piece and evergreened debt. So much for Peak Oil. Now how Peak Debt will play out - we will learn in time.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:47 | 7021080 AbbeBrel
AbbeBrel's picture

Oh yes, and if the Albertans ever hope for higher oil prices, keep in mind that Rudy G said "Hope is not a strategy." Peak Debt in China is likely to keep their growth dampered down from its firey pace. And there is no other large country emerging from decades of mismanagement - nope Venezuela won't cut it when (and if) they emerge. Therefore oil demand will remain repressed for some time (compared to the "Ordo Years"). And after that the Tar Sands will have to compete with CRISPR engineered bags of Solar Bugs about the lowest cost production of hydrocarbons...

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:49 | 7021086 Manipuflation
Manipuflation's picture

I think they might be bored with global finance.  I think it is interesting work. 

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 07:54 | 7021095 iClaudius
iClaudius's picture

The benefits of central planning.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 08:10 | 7021124 Last of the Mid...
Last of the Middle Class's picture

Oh hell yeah, fill it up with a couple million sheet head refugees. Let them learn how to act is a closed society for a dozen or so generations, then they'll be ready for western civilization. Go long AK's and ammo, tho.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 08:56 | 7021195 webmatex
webmatex's picture

Google Earth discounts this story, i see no cranes, buildings seem complete and there are plenty of cars parked around.

Roads look very empty towards outskirts but if you live here theres only inner mongolia outside town.

Its at least half inhabited.

Some really crazy architecture looks like Mars.

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 09:22 | 7021244 lucky and good
lucky and good's picture

This is all part of the housing market in China and its importance should not be underestimated, this is where almost 75% of the country's household wealth is stored and it is deeply interwoven with shadow banking. In China most apartments are sold with internal walls and electrical outlets in place but everything else, including doors, flooring, and bathroom fixtures need to be built-out by the owner after purchase.

Cheap housing is something you won't find in China. Its housing market is among the most expensive in the world when compared to per capita income. For example, the average price of housing in New York City is around $200 per square foot with an average family income of $72,000 per year. By comparison, the average cost of housing in Shanghai for the year 2007 was nearly $108 a sq. ft. against an average family income of $7,316. More about China's housing market in the article below.

 http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/12/china-housing-market-customs-tad-bizarre.html

Sat, 01/09/2016 - 18:02 | 7023251 alphahammer
alphahammer's picture

 

Its really too bad. The Chinese have done some beautiful work there. Not all of it, but a lot of it looks like 21st Century European architecture.

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