The city of Ordos in China was founded on February 26, 2001. According to plans, about one million people should live here, but the area still remains practically uninhabited, even 5 years after the start of construction. In this article I will talk about Ordos in detail.

There is a lot that is not said about this place on the Internet, and as a result, you may have confusion in the numbers, since everywhere it is indicated that the population of Ordos is one and a half million people. This is actually true, but this population lives in the old Ordos, here we are talking about a huge area called New Ordos, which began to be built after the discovery of rich mineral deposits here

Translated from Mongolian, Ordos means “Palace”. In fact, this city is richer than Beijing. The per capita GDP here is $14,500, which is one of the highest in the country. With modern, even futuristic architecture, the vast city of New Ordos nevertheless remains virtually empty. The population density here is only 17.8 people per square kilometer. For comparison, in New York the density is 10,194 inhabitants per kilometer, in San Francisco this figure is 6,688 people, and in Madrid - 5,293 people. You can read more about this in our article about the largest cities in the world by population density

The Ordos project itself was started in the Kangbashi region after huge reserves of coal and other minerals were discovered here. The area was instantly built up with office skyscrapers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters and sports facilities. Many residential areas with beautiful, cozy mansions for middle-class people were also built. The only problem is that this area was intended to be home to 1 million people, but now almost no one lives there

Investors actively began to build and purchase real estate in the city. But despite the fact that this moment almost all the houses have already been sold out, people are in no hurry to move into them, despite the active entreaties of the authorities


In the photo below, a few workers are cleaning up the public library building. As mentioned above, the city has the second highest GDP per capita after Shanghai, surpassing even Beijing

Workers carry foam panels up the steps to the Ordos Museum, which is still under construction:


A giant sculpture with two horses is installed in the central square of Kangbashi

The main streets and highways here remain empty even early in the morning and during rush hour


Despite the shortage of residents, construction in the city is progressing actively.


Kangbashi is still waiting for its inhabitants, who will sooner or later fill the city, because China’s population is the largest on planet Earth

The city of Ordos was designed to be the crowning glory of Inner Mongolia. However, this futuristic metropolis is doomed to be incomplete. It now rises majestically above the desert of northern China, but only 2 percent of the buildings are inhabited, the rest mostly falling into disrepair, abandoned mid-construction, justifying the city's nickname, Ghost City.

Last year, Dori-Darmon Richter traveled to Inner Mongolia to take a closer look at the strange, ghostly metropolis of Ordos... and was surprised that it looked much stranger than anything he had seen before.

It turned out that a huge real estate market is located in a completely unfamiliar place in China.

With a population of 1,351,000,000, the city is growing rapidly, and people's ownership of apartments has created many new millionaires and a rapidly growing elite class. At the same time, analysts fear that this real estate bubble may soon burst.

Some people are extremely surprised by the rapidity with which cities, almost unheard of in size in the West, are developing dynamically. But, against the backdrop of economic success, there are hidden problems close to dead ends and bankruptcies. However, of all the oddities of China, nothing compares to the 'Ghost Town' of Ordos.

Ordos City is a population center located in the Ordos Desert, and today it is one of the largest cities in Inner Mongolia. This area is famous for its rapidly growing population and developing infrastructure of Inner Mongolia, possessing more high level GDP than even Beijing.

Inner Mongolia is interesting place. Since this is the birthplace of Genghis Khan, 79% of the population is Chinese, the predominant Han ethnicity, while 17% are Mongolian.

Interestingly, however, Inner Mongolia is one of the few places in the world that still uses traditional Mongolian writing. While Mongolia itself adopted the Cyrillic alphabet during the communist regime, ancient symbols can still be seen here, which still appear on Ordos street signs.

Builders began planning the new city center in 2003. He was supposed to be great precious stone China and the crown of urban Chinese art.

However, no one expected how quickly this new development would fail. Deadlines were not met, loans were not repaid, and investors concluded that the project could not be completed. Entire streets of unfinished buildings remained. High price living in this city does not allow many residents to pay for it. As a result, even fully completed apartments have become difficult to sell.

According to one local taxi driver, many of those who were finally forced to move to the city of Kangbashi were forced to leave their homes and go to a ghost town.

Typical house prices in Kangbashi have dropped from $1,100 per square meter to $470 per square meter over the past five years.

Today, it is planned to resettle a population of over one million people in the territory, but for now about 20,000 people live in Ordos.

In November 2009, Time magazine wrote about the city of Ordos and people all over the world learned about this wonderful metropolis. Pretty soon it earned the nickname “China's Ghost Town.”

Since then, many journalists and photographers from all over the world have been drawn like a magnet to the city with its lonely urban landscape, with empty streets, rows of residential but uninhabited houses abandoned in the middle of construction.

The city of Ordos is served by a newly built airport. It's obvious that someone once had grandiose plans for this city.

The futuristic terminal building is decorated with fountains and hanging baskets, while chic cafes and escalators glow in shades of green and blue.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Monument in the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

A colorful mural in the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted underground parking in the ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

Deserted streets of the futuristic ghost town of Ordos in China.

China's vision of territorial policy towards neighboring countries is difficult to understand at first glance. Behind last decade The country is ahead of many competitors in the development of industrial industry and economic potential. She has introduced the latest developments in scientific, technical and engineering thought in all spheres of her life. However, it is disconcerting that, despite the obvious success of development, over time, dead cities China. Having studied this issue for many years, the Institute Far East RAS asks the question: why does China want to expand its territories? After all, he has already received some islands for a 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 kingdom” itself has a reserve of over 60 million newly built apartments and houses with all the amenities and infrastructure “according to last word equipment" (parks, stadiums), which, if necessary, can accommodate half of the residents of the post-Soviet space. They are distributed among more than 15 uninhabited cities, among which the main ones are:

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

Xishuan City erected in one of the harshest areas weather conditions area - in the middle of the desert in Inner Mongolia. Has external similarities with tragic famous city Pripyat. With rare exceptions, you can see the light in any apartment - there are only a few people here. But the abandoned homes have not been looted - this is largely due to the death penalty law in force in the country.

Highly developed ghost town of Ordos built in 2001 on land rich in mineral resources. This is not a previously abandoned village, but vast areas of empty square meters 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 move in there. They know better places to live, such as the village of Bama in southern China, where natural and climatic conditions together with infrared sun rays, whose activity is the highest on the planet, allow you to live over 100 years without disease, spending your time in the desired way.

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

Tianducheng . The Guangzhou suburb is famous for its replica of the Eiffel Tower, but attempts to make the region look like Paris have failed. Housing prices here are quite high, and the lack of infrastructure completely eliminates the possibility of people settling here. A few local residents are trying to survive on little, 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 residents into the new territory. Currently, only 10% of the area is populated: the Chinese use the constructed dwellings only for country holidays.

China is one of the most densely populated countries and the first largest on the globe. This gives him a lot of problems, forcing him to resort even to the legislative level. Therefore, the fact of building such a number of empty cities in China, some of which claim to be megacities.

Possible reasons for the creation of dead cities

Why do the Chinese allow vast areas to remain 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 home. In terms of the ratio of the cost of an apartment to the average salary, an ordinary Chinese will need about 60 years of work to make such a desired purchase. And those wealthy owners who are able to purchase such properties 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 of China not to the detriment of the country's capital, even if they remain empty for 5-10 years. Maybe so, but here we're talking about about the majority of the population.
• The policy of the authorities who gave instructions not to settle anyone in these cities. Millions of tourists will bring new buildings and streets to the level of everyday Beijing and Shanghai, further worsening the sanitary conditions of the metropolis. After all, it is precisely because of a misunderstanding of culture, life and the manner of behavior inherent only to the Chinese that representatives of the Caucasian race prefer to limit themselves only to traveling to this country, and not to live here permanently.
• Some of the cities may in the future be designated for people of non-traditional sexual orientation. The crux of the problem lies in the birth control law. Using methods early diagnosis pregnancy, the Chinese began to perform abortions in the event 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, it has become commonplace in the country a large number of homosexuals. It is possible that abandoned cities in the future may be intended specifically for such human territory.
• The construction of the listed cities is an investment of accumulated Lately money supply 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 not neglect mortgage lending.
• And finally, the theory of military concept characterizing true face“Eastern friend” and returning to understanding the motivation for the construction of the Great Wall of China. Apartment and private buildings, as well as infrastructure facilities with basement bunkers for shelter, designed for hundreds of thousands of people. Together with the wide concrete roads towards Russia that can withstand the load of heavy equipment, they suggest a possible attack from China, and the devastated cities, in this case, suggest the creation of backup housing for the surviving soldiers after a nuclear counterattack. It is likely that such “threatening” buildings could have served as a lesson from someone else’s mistake - the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To summarize this topic, one thing you need to understand is that 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.

China continues to implement gigantic growth projects, thereby simultaneously stimulating its economy. In Inner Mongolia, the city of Ordos was built, designed for 1 million people. Now 20 thousand live in it, 98% of the buildings are empty.

There are many cities in China, shopping centers- and ghost airports - giant infrastructure projects that have been empty for years. The Chinese authorities are announcing that these facilities are “for growth” and will sooner or later be filled with people, clerks, passengers or renters. At the same time, the government artificially “accelerates” the economy - such infrastructure projects (this could include roads that few people drive on; warehouses filled to capacity with copper or aluminum, etc.) add 1-1.5 percent to the annual GDP growth rate point.

Construction of the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia province began in 2003. Despite the fact that Mongols make up only about 17% of this province, it was decided to build the city in the Mongol style (hence its name, associated with the word “Horde”).

As a result, by 2010, a city designed for 1 million people was built on an area of ​​355 square kilometers (by the way, the population density in it is 4 times less than in Moscow - by the way, even overpopulated China can afford to build spacious cities , but this is a topic for a separate article). However, by the end of 2013, Ordos was only 2% populated - 20 thousand people live in it.

The main investor-developer in 2008-09 set housing prices here at 10-11 thousand dollars per sq. m. m, today they have fallen almost 2-3 times - to 4-4.5 thousand dollars. However, these prices are unaffordable for the vast majority of residents of the Inner Mongolia province, where average salaries are 400-500 dollars.

The Chinese government intends to buy some of the empty space in Ordos for retired military personnel, but there will be no more than 20-25 thousand of them here (i.e. another 2-2.5% of the city’s population to the current 2%).

All these 3-5 years after the commissioning of the objects, management companies are forced to incur losses while maintaining the infrastructure of the empty city - repairs, street cleaning, security, street lighting, landscaping, etc. - and this is up to 10-12 million dollars monthly. This money was allocated to the developer by Chinese state banks in the form of a loan at a low interest rate.

The Ordos project itself was started in the Kangbashi region after huge reserves of coal and other minerals were discovered here. The area was instantly developed with office skyscrapers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters and sports facilities.

Many residential areas with beautiful, cozy mansions for middle-class people were also built. The only problem is that this area was intended to be home to 1 million people, but now almost no one lives there.

At the current rate of settlement, Ordos will be completely populated in 40-50 years.

A few more photos of the largest ghost town in the world.

China has many ghost towns, shopping malls and ghost airports - giant infrastructure projects that have sat empty for years. The Chinese authorities announce that these facilities are being built “to grow” and will sooner or later be filled with people, clerks, passengers or tenants. At the same time, the government artificially “accelerates” the economy - such projects (this includes roads that few people drive on, warehouses filled to capacity with copper or aluminum) add 1-1.5 percentage points to the annual GDP growth rate.

The Ordos ghost town in Inner Mongolia province began to be built in 2003. Despite the fact that Mongols make up only about 17% of this province, it was decided to build the city in the Mongol style (hence its name, associated with the word “horde”). As a result, by 2010, a city designed for 1 million people was built on an area of ​​355 square kilometers (by the way, the population density in it is 4 times less than in Moscow - by the way, even super-populous China can afford to build spacious cities , but this is a topic for a separate article). However, by the end of 2013, Ordos was only 2% populated - 20 thousand people live in it.

The main investor-developer in 2008-09 set housing prices here at 10-11 thousand dollars per sq. m. m, today they have fallen almost 2-3 times - to 4-4.5 thousand dollars. However, these prices are unaffordable for the vast majority of residents of the Inner Mongolia province, where average salaries are 400-500 dollars. The Chinese government intends to buy some of the empty space in Ordos for retired military personnel, but there will be no more than 20-25 thousand of them here (i.e. another 2-2.5% of the city’s population to the current 2%).

All these years after the commissioning of the objects, management companies are forced to incur losses while maintaining the infrastructure of the empty ghost town - repairs, street cleaning, security, street lighting, landscaping, etc. - and this is up to 10-12 million dollars monthly. This money was allocated to the developer by Chinese state banks in the form of a loan at a low interest rate.

The Ordos project itself was started in the Kangbashi region after huge reserves of coal and other minerals were discovered here. The area was instantly developed with office skyscrapers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters and sports facilities. Many residential areas with beautiful, cozy mansions for middle-class people were also built.

The only problem is that this area was intended to be home to 1 million people, but now almost no one lives there. At the current pace of settlement, the ghost town of Ordos will be completely populated in 40-50 years.