[gruez]

>Given the ability of the CCP to significantly control major industries and movement of people, is it not possible that someone might buy an apartment in a "ghost city" while living in a rural area or renting in another city, expecting that people and jobs would flow to the city once it was completed?

Seems like it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in...

>Many developments initially criticized as ghost cities did materialize into economically vibrant areas when given enough time to develop, such as Pudong, Zhujiang New Town, Zhengdong New Area, Tianducheng and malls such as the Golden Resources Mall and South China Mall.[15] While many developments failed to live up to initial lofty promises, most of them eventually became occupied when given enough time.[6][16]

>Reporting in 2018, Shepard noted that "Today, China’s so-called ghost cities that were so prevalently showcased in 2013 and 2014 are no longer global intrigues. They have filled up to the point of being functioning, normal cities".[17]

>Writing in 2023, academic and former UK diplomat Kerry Brown described the idea of Chinese ghost cities as a bandwagon popular in the 2010s which was shown to be a myth.[18]: 151-152

[seanmcdirmid]

Kangbashi is never filling up like they planned, simply because coal is no longer booming like it once was. You can only do so much when the trend you were hoping for doesn’t pan out. It’s a district designed for a few million holding up at 50k or so.

Tianjin will always have a few ghost districts and skyscrapers. They eventually fill up after a decade or two or are razed for something else. It was like that when I first visited China in 1999 as well.

[mensetmanusman]

They will be ghost cities in 2100.