The serpentine dragon from the East rivals a dizzying display of decadent modernity, as the carcasses of buildings, automobiles and megaprojects slowly rust with neglect and indifference.
The stern hand of Shanghai encourages the nonsensical and vicious cycle of frenzied productivity where high ranking bureaucrats prosper in a sea of corruption, while the majority of the populace lives in fear off the scraps of an incredulous and unrecognizable form of Capitalism, which the government constantly attempts to reassure the rest of the world that a free market does in fact exist within the boundaries of the Great Wall.
One of the most dazzling and nearly incomprehensible by-products of the communist nation’s strive to make the next “great leap forward”, is the massive terraforming efforts in building cities from scratch marked by grand architecture and broad avenues of economic triumph. On the scale of the dreamland creations of the movie Inception, where characters forge metropolitan gems from nothingness, legions of skyscrapers and pure vertical infrastructure dot the landscape. However, the problem is that the feats of construction stand virtually empty in a sea of eerie silence as far away from the perceived bustle and vibrancy of a functioning entity, as the nation is to legitimately claiming first world status.
The Ghost Cities of China are a testament to a failing marketplace and the inability of government to maintain a clear distinction between public and private organizations. There is an old story that a Chinese metal scrapyard ran out of debris to process, so to keep the workers busy and the business going, the powers that be decided to build a motorcycle plant, and then of course chopped up all of the newly built transportation devices into scrap. Out of the brilliant insanity YouTube videos like this one from user Titan Top List, capture the future rust belt of a nation in desperation.
Watch The Cautionary Tale Of Ordos, China (350 Miles West of Beijing)-
