China's City of the Future

Al Jazeera reports on one of the projects driving China’s magical 8 percent GDP growth. Ordos is a modern, luxurious “city of the future” in Inner Mongolia, built entirely over the last five years with government funds. It’s also a ghost town with almost no residents or businesses. While Chinese officials told Al Jazeera that almost all the apartment units in Ordos have sold, most of the buyers seem to be nonresident investors. Nearby business owners are understandably reluctant to set up shop in the empty city. In China, it seems that if you build it, they may not come. (HT: Magnus Falk) [%comments]