2. Kangbashi New Area,
Ordos, Inner Mongolia
The Dubai of China
• Designed to accommodate
1,000,000 Residents
• Construction fueled by
speculation on coal industry
• Population: 70,000 (Mar 2013)
Source: Lian Su, Mayor of Ordos
3. Yujiapu, Tianjin
Little Manhattan
• Previously set to be the
world’s largest financial
district rivalling Manhattan,
complete with its own
Rockefeller Center, and World
Trade Towers
• Construction has been almost
completely abandoned because
developers have been unable
to pay back loans
Source: CBS News, 60 Minutes
with Lesley Stahl: China’s Real
Estate Bubble (Aug 11, 2013)
4. Paper Perfect: the Case of Huaming
Source: New China Cities: Shoddy Homes, Broken Hopes by: Ian
Johnson of the New York Times (Nov. 9, 2013)
5. • Huaming was featured at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai as an example of how urban
planning was being used to improve the lives of rural people
• 41,000 people lived in 12 villages around the township
• The idea behind the project was simple: by urbanizing residential areas, villagers could live
comfortably on 1 Sq. Mile, a third of the land they occupied currently
• By employing modern farming techniques, the town could raise crop yield while paying for
the construction of Huaming by selling the remaining land to developers.
• Villagers would be given the same amount of space in an apartment complete with modern
amenities at no cost to them
Logic Behind the Project
6. The Reality
• The government forced people to move out of their former homes by cutting
electricity and water, and bulldozing all of the local schools
• When they arrived, they found shoddy construction. Much of the money
meant for the project had been lost to corruption
• Villagers were not qualified to work in the offices in nearby Tianjin, the place
local authorities pointed to as a source of employment. Lack of job
opportunities led to social problems of alcoholism and suicide.
7.
8.
9. Reasons Behind Construction
• Economics – Party leadership views China’s dependence on export based activities for
growth as unhealthy in the long term and are looking to tap into domestic
consumption
• Urbanization would boost consumption, especially among the growing middle class
• Open up vast swaths of land for profitable enterprise
Source: China’s Maoist Vision: A City of 260 Million People by Gordon Chang of Forbes
Magazine (June 23, 2013)
10. Criticism
• Many of these new cities are not
tied to any productive enterprise
Source: Xiang Biao, Professor, Oxford
University
• Half of China’s population lives on
around 2 US Dollars a day while
most apartments cost upwards of
$50,000 US Dollars
• Cities are being built for middle to
upper middle class investors.
Investments are based on
speculation that real-estate prices
will continue to go up
Source: Gillem Tulloch: Hong Kong Based
Financial Analyst and Reasearch
Director at Forensics Asia
11. The Bohai Economic Rim
• Would Consist of an Inner Ring and an Outer
Ring, including 8 Major cities with a total
population of more than 67 Million People
• The main urban center in the region would
have a population of some 100 Million people
• The Tokyo Metropolitan area is the most
populous urban center in the world today with
a population of 37.1 Million
Source: Forbes, Nextbigfuture.com
12. Conclusion
The Chinese development program has
been compared by proponents to
President Eisenhower’s plan to build
the U.S. Highway system. The Chinese
government has the resources to
provide for the needs of its people and
expand opportunities to meet their
aspirations. To do this, they must
follow a few basic principles. Firstly,
create supply only where demand
exists. Secondly, do not encourage
speculative investment. Finally,
provide what local people can afford.
Development is a process that has
many steps. China must recognize
where its people are in that process
and resist the temptation to skip vital
steps in the process of development.
