What's in the News

I was watching a report on TV last night about the rapid changes taking place in China. They interviewed the Melbourne (Australia) Architect who is drawing up the plans for the masses of new buildings in Nanjing. This guy says that he can hardly get his plans finished before the buildings are in place. We saw pre fabricated 30 story buildings going up like a Leggo set, in two weeks. In another area in China, we saw a city with no inhabitants and the commentator said that he quickly counted 30 odd high rise buildings. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I don't think that this was the only place like that. The comment was made that people just couldn't afford to live in these places even though the people were growing wealthier. This guy walked down streets and shopping malls and there were no other humans. Are you folks in China hearing about things like this?

I have heard of similar huge developments where ever freaking apartment is sold, but no one lives there.  People snap them up as investments, sure that they'll come out ahead because there isn't really any real estate bubble.

All I can say to that is the last time I heard people so loudly and repeatedly claiming there was no bubble was in the USA in 2008 - just before it popped.

Supposedly China plans to add about 700 million people to the urban centers over the next 12 years. I guess that's who the empty buildings are waiting for.  So what happens when the inevitable, economic glitch occurs? 

http://www.urenio.org/2013/05/18/preparing-for-chinas-urban-billion/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPILhiTJv7E
China's Ghost Cities and Malls
length 14:38

Uploaded by etfideas on Mar 24, 2011

Documentary by SBS Dateline (Australian TV) about the Chinese real estate market.

Original link to SBS Dateline video: http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/watch/id/601007/n/China-s-Ghost-Cities

http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/watch/id/601007/n/China-s-Ghost-Cities
http://videocdn.sbs.com.au/u/video/20110320_DL_TW_Chinas_Ghost_Cities_1000K.mp4

http://etf-investment-ideas.blogspot.com/2011/03/chinas-ghost-cities-and-malls.html

South China Mall 
http://www.southchinamall.com.cn/english/index1.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_China_Mall
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1223747/Ghost-mall-The-worlds-largest-loneliest-shopping-centre.html
http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/09/malls-worlds-largest-biz-cx_tvr_0109malls_slide_2.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/business/worldbusiness/17iht-mall.4.5321060.html
http://news.southcn.com/dishi/dongguan/shehui/content/2007-09/20/content_4248514.htm

homepage
http://www.pbs.org/pov/utopia/

watch online
http://video.pbs.org/video/1218530801/#
PBS Broadcast: August 18, 2009

D L the t0r_r3n_t
pie rate baaayyy
another of the exact same

The South China Mall is not a failure.  It's just that the needed a REALLY big empty mall to make an epic scale zombie flick and the filming got delayed a little.

I think the urban planners of China have a mandatory movie class where they all sit around and watch "Field of Dreams" for an entire term, milling out of the room mumbling, "Build it and they will come, build it and they will come...."
There has been reports about these Ghost Towns for years.

What really gets me in China is that they still put these buildings up so fast even though there's already too many and you look at a lot of the ones that are only 5 years old or so and they look awful cos they put them up so fast

I think the urban planners of China have a mandatory movie class where they all sit around and watch "Field of Dreams" for an entire term, milling out of the room mumbling, "Build it and they will come, build it and they will come...."
There has been reports about these Ghost Towns for years.

I think it's, "If we build it, we will MAKE them come".

Thanks for all that info guys. When I think that Australia has just passed the 23 million mark in population, my mind boggles. Thank goodness I'm on the way out the door; I hate crowds.

23 million and you call that a country?  There's more people than that in the Shenzhen-Dongguan-Guangzhou area alone.

EL, that is exactly why they are all crowding into this Country at an alarming rate. I'm not being racist here, just talking fact. That is one of the reasons I find it so hard to comprehend these vacant cities in China.

Vacant apartments, apartment buildings, and even cities full of them are due to some sort of Chinese preoccupation with apartments that haven't been pre-occupied.  A standard Chinese apartment is a concrete shell that needs flooring, interior doors, and often even the electric wiring installed.  A "virgin" apartment in this state is considered to be more valuable for resale that a "decorated" apartment that's ready to live in.

No, I do not pretend to understand the logic of this.  It's just the way things seem to be.

"Redecorating" in China doesn't mean changing the drapes and getting a new sofa cover.  It typically employs things like chisels and jackhammers.

Since we are talking about buildings, I'd like to pay tribute to Dr James Eward (Eddie) Liu who was known as the "Father of Chinatown" in Brisbane, Australia. Eddie passed away on Tuesday night aged 91. He was born in Hong Kong and arrived in Australia in 1937 when he was 15. He married an Aussie 3yrs later. He co-founded the Chinese Club of Queensland in 1952, was the driving force behind the restoration of a century old Chinese Temple  and steered the construction of Chinatown Mall which opened in 1987. He was awarded the OBE and the OAM. He helped in resettling migrants from Counries such as China, Soloman Islands and Thailand. He raised funds for countless numbers of charities and he sponsored gifted students and promoted Chinese language and Asian History through Queensland Universities. He was a beacon of hope for many Chinese migrants. The list just goes on and a huge turnout is expected at the funeral of this special man who was well known and highly respected in Brisbane.

What a great guy!
 

Here's to Dr. Liu.