Ghost Town’ in China?

KANGBASHI: THE RICHEST ‘GHOST TOWN’ IN CHINA? Uchralt Otede N 2010, Time Magazine sardonically The decision to build Kangbashi Ireported that Kangbashi, in Ordos, district on what had been a rural vil- Inner Mongolia, is ‘a new Chinese lage was made after Ordos’s sudden city that, apart from people, has ascent to wealth in 2004. Ordos’s pros- everything’.13 Seven years later, perity comes from its plentiful reserves Kangbashi is still working hard to of energy and mineral resources. It has attract residents. On 20 April 2017, a one-sixth of the country’s total coal re- reporter for the Inner Mongolia Daily serves, its proven natural gas reserves 内蒙古日报, Hao Xuelian 郝雪莲, are equivalent to one-third of the coun- wrote that as a gift to Inner Mongolia try’s total, and its proven rare earth Autonomous Region on its seventieth and kaolin deposits account for half anniversary, the local government of of total domestic reserves. These rich Ordos has commenced a Steppe Silk underground resources have propelled Road Cultural Scenic Area project an economic growth rate of nearly thir- 草原丝路文化景区项目 in Kangbashi ty per cent, with urban development district. This two-billion yuan project to match. As Lian Ji 连辑, the deputy will occupy 335 hectares of what is chairman of the Inner Mongolian gov- now a green park, and will promote ernment, proclaimed in 2009: ‘China the development of tourism in the has the fastest growing economy in the Kangbashi district.14 world, Inner Mongolia has the fastest Kangbashi panorama Photo: Alan Leu, Flickr 78 growing economy in China, and Ordos away from the old city/town centre. 79 has the fastest growing economy in Three years after its construction, the Inner Mongolia’.15 government of Ordos moved its ma- Coal mines are the largest single jor agencies, schools, and hospitals to source of wealth in Ordos. Each year, Kangbashi in the hope of giving the close to half a billion tonnes of coal district greater vitality. Nevertheless, are mined by around 240 enterprises, many officials and residents continued bringing in around a quarter of a billion to live in the old city and commute to yuan to Ordos. In 2016, per capita GDP the new one by car, complaining that Kangbashi: The Richest ‘Ghost Town’ in China? Kangbashi: The Richest ‘Ghost Town’ Otede Uchralt was RMB227,700. Ordos, not surpris- Kangbashi lacked amenities like super- ingly, has more ‘nouveau riche’ 土豪 markets, clothing shops, department 2017 residents than any other city in China. and other convenience stores. In 2011, the Chinese Private Capital As a consequence, in the early Investment Survey Report 中国民间资 years fewer than 30,000 people lived CHINA STORY YEARBOOK CHINA STORY 本投资调研报告, jointly issued by the in a city that had been built for a mil- Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural lion; it seemed empty and desolate. Development and private capital firm Apart from street cleaners, the roads Go High Investment 高和投资, indi- were virtually empty, and most of the cated that more than 7,000 wealthy residential buildings entirely dark individuals, with assets in excess of at night. Kangbashi gained the repu- RMB100 million, lived in Ordos, as did tation of being a ghost town. Adding at least 100,000 individuals with as- to this sense were the rows of half- sets of over RMB10 million. According finished buildings: approximately five to the Hurun Report’s China Rich List million square metres of them, fully 2016 胡润百富榜, of the twenty-nine forty-five per cent of the district’s en- entrepreneurs from Inner Mongolia tire construction area, according to on the list, fifteen were from Ordos.16 a report in 2015.17 The coal industry Construction of Kangbashi began began shrinking in 2009, dealing a in 2003 to accommodate the number of major blow to Ordos’s industrial base outsiders flocking to Ordos and its min- and making it difficult for the city ing boom. The new district, which had government to continue its support more access to water resources than for massive development projects. Ordos, was located thirty kilometres The flourishing of private lending has also been problematic, as declining bashi District Bureau of Housing and profits have failed to meet heavy in- Construction, a total of 2,098 homes terest burdens — rupturing the capital were sold throughout the district in chain and leaving no money to finish 2016, and another 1,700 homes had building projects. been sold as of 20 June 2017.18 The As a partial solution, in recent local government has also recently years the local government of Ordos redrawn the boundaries of Kangbashi has built thirty-four schools of various district to include only its core urban types; Kangbashi even has a branch of area, leaving out the area on the south Beijing Normal University. The estab- bank of the Ulaanmuren River, where lishment of top-ranking elementary a large number of the empty residen- and middle schools has induced many tial buildings are located. parents to buy homes nearby. In addi- According to the latest govern- tion, four city-level hospitals, includ- ment report of Kangbashi district, ing Ordos Central Hospital and Ordos the population of the district reached Maternal and Child Health Hospital, 153,000, with an annual increase have opened. To promote the purchase of thirty-two per cent by the end of of new homes in Kangbashi District, 2016.19 The original planned popula- the local government has also issued tion of the district was one million — housing vouchers to those willing to suggesting that it may well resemble relocate from Ordos. According to Liu the country’s richest ghost town for Hai’e 刘海娥, an employee of the Kang- some time to come. Housing vouchers Photo: Alan Leu, Flickr This text is taken from China Story Yearbook 2017: Prosperity, edited by Jane Golley and Linda Jaivin, published 2018 by ANU Press, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. doi.org/10.22459/CSY.04.2018.02C.

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