“A well-reported and fascinating primer on China’s ghost cities. Wade Shepard cuts through the sensational coverage of China’s infrastructure boom to deliver an eye-opening piece of reportage on the topic. A refreshing primer on China’s complex and often misunderstood property market.” -Rob Schmitz, Marketplace ’s Shanghai Bureau Chief “Shepard exposes both the myths and realities of China’s ghost cities; haunted spaces, which are not dead and abandoned, but rather have yet to come to life.” -Anna Greenspan, author of Shanghai Future: Modernity Remade “Wade Shepard provides an intriguing overview to a phenomenon that combines two of this century’s biggest narratives: global urbanization and the unprecedented growth of China.” -Rolf Potts, author of Vagabonding |
Featuring everything from sports stadiums to shopping malls, hundreds of new urban areas in China stand empty, with hundreds more set to be completed by 2030. Between now and then, the country’s urban population will leap to over one billion, as the central government kicks its urbanization initiative into overdrive. In the process, traditional social structures are being torn apart, and a rootles, semi-displaced, consumption oriented culture is rapidly taking their place. Ghost Cities of China is an enthralling dialogue-driven, on-location search for an understanding of China’s new cities and the reasons why many have not yet attracted sizable populations.
Buy now from Amazon | Published by Zed Books
Buy now from Amazon | Published by Zed Books