Why (Almost) Nobody Lives in China's $161 Billion City

[@halfasinteresting]

You know what's also a ghost town? The HAI topic suggestions bin when I don't pin a comment begging you to submit. Speaking of which, please submit topics and, if we use yours, we'll send you a free HAI t-shrt: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUdlvw6YgU44J8AnM2U_ZvRMyvh_CUM51LYSqF5nYJB9d1-w/viewform?usp=sf_link

[@AnnoyedArt1256]

u

[@AdityasEPFC]

fancy shansy, hai

[@ryanexx5250]

Pepper

[@nico27]

Bricks/Pepper

[@wikiwiki1093]

Give us a bricks video

[@joeym5243]

The most important lesson an architect could learn: there are only two types of buildings, those that are hat-like and those that are nonhat-like.

[@sriyasodharmma4021]

! very well

[@MichaelOnines]

In professional circles this is known as the hat / anti-hat theorem.

[@azera55555]

as an architecture student, I can confirm this

[@kiradotee]

Same with IT people: it's either a hotdog or not a hotdog. 👍

[@zakiducky]

Architect in training here. Y’all are forgetting about the waste basket typology here, the third pillar of the tri-partite architectural theory.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

They can give the city to me if they want, I can improve it

[@gameseeker6307]

You are ded

[@perspii2808]

Haha, Kim Jong Un profile picture joke in 2020

[@megugu2155]

when will you unban me from pyeongyang

[@FaffyWaffles]

@@gameseeker6307 "Well, that was Idiotic. Off to hang myself. Watch and Lear-"

[@bruhentertainmentstudios2922]

Gulag?

[@deep.space.12]

5:10 That has got to be the worst sponsor transition, ever. Why would any Chinese need a password manager, when they enjoy free cloud backups of all their personal data by their government?

[@jvccr7533]

No he's talking about the Chinese government, not its citizens. The Chinese government is basically Dashlane to its citizens, but what does the Chinese government have to be secure? It obviously needs its own Dashlane service, for itself.

[@deep.space.12]

@@jvccr7533 Neat.

[@arjdroid]

I mean, if you're part of the elites there, you really have nothing to worry about, it would be great for you, so yeah, they don't need Dashlane

[@MC_MMV]

I eat apples

[@travelight1]

🤣🤣🤣that’s cute. He thinks his own data is not being monitored by his own government. Oops, did I say too much?

[@eyad4992]

My in-laws live in Ordos and I have visited there several times over the past decade. As you mention in the video, the population has increased somewhat recently but Kangbashi is still very underpopulated. What usually gets left out of the Ordos spiel is that, from a global perspective (I.e. not just North American/Western European) Kangbashi is still a decent place to live. The air is clean, the roads are paved, and flowers are planted. For right now, depopulated doesn't mean decrepit, but only time will tell. Beijing (where I live) is in much worse shape than Kangbashi because it was built when China was poorer and things in China aren't built to last. As you mention, they're built to be built. You're free to doubt the merit of a planned economy compared to a market economy (I do), but I just wanted to provide the conext that's always missing from the Ordos conversation.

[@natpaulsen8793]

And it always seems to me that China really doesn't mind building stuff that might take years to fill up properly. Of course private companies aren't going to do that much because investors don't like it, nor will Western governments because voters don't like it, but China seems willing to. The area I live in in Shanghai actually has a video here on KZbin from calling it a "ghost city on the coast", which is no longer an accurate description. Clearly this one filled up a lot faster than Kangbashi, but it shows China's willingness to play a longer game than some people outside would expect.

[@sanneoi6323]

I may not have relatives living up north but... I am Chinese

[@sanneoi6323]

@@natpaulsen8793 nice my older brother is studying in Shanghai

[@cd5433]

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not a nice place to live . He points out that it cost 180billion dollars to build . It’s weird how empty it is and that they built the city before There was any demand to live there just to increase gdp and keep companies like evergreen working .

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

Places decent to live cause there's few people there? Unsurprising

[@kaihinton6623]

People in hong kong: *ah! There are no apartments available!* Apartments in china: *ah! There are no people available!*

[@lzh4950]

It has previously been suggested that people in HK could consider living in Shenzhen instead, but the take-up rate has been low

[@youngz13o]

@@lzh4950 seriously? they couldnt afford it..... shenzhen cost of living is like living cost of San Fransico bay area

[@lzh4950]

@@youngz13o Heard Shenzhen was being advertised as still having property cheaper than in HK though

[@jkjkjk100]

@@lzh4950 the very far end.. not the one close to the border. So if you work in HK you’re toast. Although rent is cheap though in China compared to HK

[@jkjkjk100]

@@youngz13o hk is more expensive than bay area or shenzhen... that’s the problem.

[@Username-mg7dg]

Imagine being one of the few people to have a whole city for yourself

[@ryanexx5250]

Pepper

[@Alexander_Jaelan_Cummings]

@@ryanexx5250 lol nice re

[@Israelball]

Pepper

[@ryanexx5250]

Comment pepper or you will have bad luck for 7 years

[@RealCadde]

Correction, imagine living in a city designed for 5 times the people it currently has. However i doubt that is actually the case. They are all living in one fifth of the city all crammed around the best parts of that city. So it's more like living in a regular city and if you take a road trip, you first have to pass through the empty bits to get to the countryside.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

“Skydiving in cars” RealLifeLore: *It’s Corolla time*

[@ryanexx5250]

Heyyy aren’t you friends with Kim jong un

[@TheManinBlack9054]

Hey! You again!

[@sriyadityasrivatsa5346]

Why are you everywhere ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon1828]

Hey! I’ve actually never seen you anywhere.

[@50reds60]

Your Sleep Paralysis Demon can you stop haunting me please?

[@TheLiamster]

“50,000 people used to live here, now it’s a ghost town” - Capt Mcmillian, 1995

[@Israelball]

Pepper. :))))))) lol sorry

[@a_yan6581]

Roll the intro

[@fatyoshi4853]

Chernobyl be like

[@batatanna]

yea, 50thousend people used to live in most major cities, now they're dead

[@MusicTheater81]

Oi, Suzy!

[@digistruct0r245]

"not everything can look like a hat" *Team Fortress 2 wants to know your location*

[@accountdeactivated5546]

E

[@Fred_the_1996]

E

[@mediocrecontent2449]

E

[@accountdeactivated5546]

E

[@-DeathKnight]

E

[@jacksonbitzer3336]

“The problem with these buildings is that no one showed up to them” As someone rides a motorcycle in front of the camera

[@JAlonge017]

that was campus pd. only dude in the city.. hey if they are so communist, why not have free college and send all people there?

[@ifyouwantmoneythengivemeev8094]

@@JAlonge017 their colleges are about as close to free as possible (university of Beijing, one of the best colleges in china, literally only costs $1200 a year in tuition) but you have to pass and excel in a very difficult sentence exam (kind of like south Korea)

[@benjbk]

@@ifyouwantmoneythengivemeev8094 I don't live in a communist country and I never paid that much money for college.

[@syrialak101]

@@benjbk Boy, let me introduce you to the United States of America.

[@realname4401]

@@benjbk Let me correct him, 1200 yuan. Around 150 bucks. If your country's not communist, it's socialist.

[@parazodgaming9493]

Chinese government looking at 1.48 million people suddenly googling their city 👁️👄👁️

[@ricardollano6894]

im dead HAHHAHAA

[@Elitecommando501]

It would be more like : ➖ ➖ 👃 👄

[@juliusnepos6013]

Georgie sama Lol

[@madmaxrerisen]

Now they used their ghost cities for covid 19, maybe they will fill the buildings now. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWnHkpKHjsespaM

[@thatntr4146]

Confused confusing confusion

[@TheNinjaDC]

TLDR: By inflating a real estate market bubble larger than the Hindenburg. And like the Hindenburg, an explosion is inevitable.

[@robezy0]

For how long have observers been warning from that burst and it never happened?

[@zinedinezethro9157]

@@robezy0 it's happening for several years now but it's not a big poo poo burst but a slow burn.

[@tobyharrison4702]

Robin well I believe that it will still hold up as long as the CCP is still believed in by the majority of the population and continues to function. However if people no longer trust the ccp or something so bad happens that they can’t cover it up or fix the problem. Then if that happens. Well let’s just say that things will be very bad.

[@feykro222]

Most of these buildings are not built to last. Some districts are so built so horribly that the houses are falling apart after 2 years

[@robezy0]

@@zinedinezethro9157 So where do you see that "slow burn" happening?

[@jesus9925]

i read that as "why no one lives in china"

[@edgeofsky6684]

Same

[@ryanexx5250]

Pepper

[@jessequaedvlieg9072]

Craig gang

[@ritishasingh5145]

Clearly missed just a 1 billion people

[@EconomyFlyer]

😆😂😂😂

[@pegeonpera]

Half as interesting going full clickbait ; Title : Why nobody lives in China's $161 billion city Actual video : Why 200,000 people live in a city designed for a million people

[@livwake]

Jetlite (almost)

[@anisb6980]

HAI: Makes $200,000 this year Also HAI: “I made (almost) no money this year”

[@thawhiteazn]

Yeah, it sounds like it was nowhere near a failure. 20-30k to 200k is pretty huge still, and it’s got plenty of space for more influx of population.

[@thetigerii9506]

found the wumao

[@petermarais4168]

"Why (almost) nobady lives in china's $161 billion city"

[@juststeve5542]

The Chinese housing market gets even crazier. For a start, Chinese people like to put their own mark on a property when they live in it, so a decorated property is actually a disadvantage as a new owner would have to strip it first. So a property bought as an investment is worth more if it isn't decorated. So these ghost towns/cities (of which there are many) contain thousands of undecorated homes. It gets crazier... At one point the Chinese government thought people were possibly over-extending themselves with their loans for property, so they restricted the number of properties a married couple could have to the same as a single person. Guess what happens next... Divorce rates rocket! The couples obviously still live together, they're just not married any more, so they can get twice the number of loans!

[@adnanchinisi7871]

Wow, interesting

[@zumbc]

Finally someone who knows their stuff! Personally I’m looking to invest in the Chengdu housing market

[@gearloose703]

Also because the apartments are really only empty shells, requiring significant investment to live in, they can not be rented out either. So they just sit. It will be interesting to see when the prices collapse, what happens when the apartment is worth less than the non-existent plumbing or electrical wiring.

[@juststeve5542]

@@gearloose703 I wonder what will collapse first, the price or the building?! Build quality is not their strongest skill!

[@gearloose703]

@@juststeve5542 They are built cheap but what I believe will sink them is the cost of maintenance. Not now, when migrant labor is cheap, but some day they will get too costly to maintain due to poor quality.

[@nico27]

"It's called a city because it's not a city" _visible confusion_

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

It's like the Holy Roman Empire!

[@MihaelGeng]

Ambiguity of the word "city" in China -- The Chinese word "市" (shì) is usually loosely translated into English as "city". However, it has several different meanings due to the complexity of the administrative divisions used in China... ... The choice of definition of "city" used for statistical data of Chinese cities can lead to different results. For example, Shanghai is the largest city in China by population in the urban area but is smaller than Chongqing by the population within the administration area. - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_China Yeah it is easily confusing.

[@kenyu9019]

Its a regional subdivision, or a province, we use the same system here in the PH. Ordos has a pop of 2m and rising, its not empty. Those hi end realstate will get filled up in the future when the regional economy catches up with the coastal cities.

[@madmaxrerisen]

Not a city, when it falls down. Built to create a movie set for covid. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWnHkpKHjsespaM

[@jkjkjk100]

Just like washington DC.

[@reddragon4724]

Who’s going to go to his party??

[@daveharris5914]

The communist party!

[@TheArabsolga]

@@daveharris5914 I was just about to say that hahaha

[@leonleon2021]

And Democrats and Republicans are NOT INVITED

[@ieatyourbrain8478]

OUR* party

[@Alex-fv2qs]

Maybe he can get Sam from Wendover Productions if he's lucky enough

[@stinkypinky0989]

I always wanted to know why

[@hgu]

We finally found him, the person who asked

[@lapapar1174]

@@hgu finally, after 1000 years...

[@ziepex7009]

Ok but how does that get 50 likes

[@stinkypinky0989]

ZiepexGamer already? Damn I don’t know lol

[@collinklein5840]

Buenos dias

[@chadthundercock4982]

"Almost no one lives here" "population of 200,000" wut.

[@R4de]

You should pull up a calculator and divide 200k with 1.393 billion and then if you know enough maths you might understand how low that is

[@donutsubscribe3751]

@@R4de but it was only designed for 1 million not 1.3 billion

[@Jan-su5vm]

@@R4de is this one of those "how can there be 10 billion people living in Asia if there are only 4 million people on earth" things?

[@R4de]

Jan I have no idea what you’ve talking about lol

[@aoikemono6414]

@@R4de You should get back on your meds. This is a city in China, not the entire country.

[@timesathousand]

"How China's Economic Planning is like the Fast and Furious Franchise" This guy gets to make youtube videos of the essays we wish could have written in High School

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

Oceans of empty luxury apartment buildings with all the units owned by middle-class Chinese investors? Are we talking about Kangbashi District or Vancouver BC?

[@mittensfastpaw]

Me Here You really need to ban China from buying anything there.

[@BothHands1]

Alex Gully you have a pretty wide breadth of knowlege for a 12 year old. but yeah, the issue is that it drives up housing prices in the area, forcing people to relocate once rent becomes too expensive. but yeah, you don't exactly want to get on china's bad side by blocking only their citizens from buying realestate as investment. but it'll reach a tipping point where everyone moves somewhere cheaper, and those investments no longer pay off, because the chinese landlords won't have renters to give them return on investment. at that point, prices will likely come down again. but in the meantime, some regulations are definitely good, though i'm not privy to what those regulations are, or which ones are in the works. haven't looked into it. but i applaud your desire to learn of the workings of the world at such an early age.

[@supercatgaming1482]

@Alex Gully yeh the goverment is rich from selling organs and trading and from the people and supporting north korea and the people are poor and have no human rights

[@BothHands1]

Alex Gully oh shit, you really know what's going on. those definitely seem like fair regulations . i wonder if 25% extra property tax might be too much to the point that it discourages all investment. but if the problem of housing price spiking is severe enough that it's significantly reducing the population of once thriving cities, then definitely i think it's warrented, and worth the risks.

[@MusicIsBestDrug]

Alex Gully buddy hats off to your inquisitiveness that has led you to learn so much at such young age. All that you've said is on point. Never ever change buddy. This need for learning and your good attitude will take you a long way!

[@bernardomercado261]

Me and my logic: ah, Inner Mongolia, inside of Mongolia. Reality : no.

[@ryanexx5250]

Comment pepper or you will have bad luck for 7 years

[@calebyao.]

*no*

[@robezy0]

Well from the Chinese perspective it's perfectly logical to call it inner Mongolia

[@fakename287]

@@ryanexx5250 salt

[@michael_betts]

Chinese names are always logical and true, like the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, The People's Liberation Army, and The Great Leap Forward (that certainly didn't cause the largest famine in human history).

[@Krystaltho]

I’ve noticed this is how it is in many places in China. I stayed in a city where my family were the only people in an apartment building. It was very unsettling to see soooo many buildings with no people

[@eustache_dauger]

Cities: Skylines Difficulty: Realistic

[@grayzytube]

Globally there seems to be a problem with countries being able to provide adequate amounts of housing. China seems to have got ahead of the game. It's probably better to have excess housing stock than not enough, and has the benefit of keeping pices low rather than ever increasing pices caused by developers and investors ensuring the shortages continue.

[@abcdmefgh2843]

Housing is useless if it's in the middle of nowhere. Lots of empty houses in the West too, there are whole towns and villages abandoned in Spain and Italy, same in Japan. The problem is, nobody is going to live in them, as there's no jobs around.

[@mugendono23]

Accept those new apartment building's are referred to as tofu dregs by the locals.

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon1828]

1:47 when I saw this I was confused why all the plants were healthy, hedges were trimmed, etc. Edit: ok

[@QuackersMcCrackers]

OK

[@WraithLK]

The Chinese government probably pays people to keep the plants clean and healthy in the hopes that it will attract more people to the city

[@DankDungeon]

200k people still live there

[@gearloose703]

All the local people who used to own that land, are given an apartment and a job, like street cleaning.

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon1828]

@everyone yes, that is why I edited it. I know people live there, the title was misleading.

[@alirezatopiwala8268]

Hears desert and party My mind: Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine

[@ACE234dm]

Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well

[@trolllovindaddy]

The last time there was a party in the desert there was a revolution in iran overthrowing the monarchy

[@MultiSciGeek]

In a country like India with huge overpopulation and extremely shit infrastructure, cities like these would sell out in days. Literally!

[@user-nf9so5oa7w]

in today China's birth rate, it would be full with indians in decades

[@dsan17]

Most of it has already been bought so the builders already made bank. Now, the new owners are just waiting for tenants. Pretty good investment actually with the population growing from 20-30k to 200k in less than a decade. The city I live in took 50 years to grow from 30,000 to 370,000 (small city supposedly only for around 200k).

[@VE0411]

Man I'm really enjoying your videos. And I'm amazed by all the effort you put into them! Keep it up! Your content is just great!

[@TeaRiker]

me when i spam too many city districts in Stellaris

[@FingeringThings]

For a second I thought you were gonna talk about Wuhan

[@ryanexx5250]

Pepper

[@alexbell4392]

I see you everywhere

[@nicholaslau3194]

lol because everyone died in wuhan

[@Israelball]

Pepper

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon1828]

Forgot about that

[@19chiru]

0:33 "I don't have any friends " That hit right at home

[@MattTheCommenter]

"Why (almost) nobody lives in china's $161 Billion City" I'll tell you why. Almost nobody is worth $161 Billion ;)

[@Rerbun]

One person is ;) EDIT: Whoops I did a whoosh there

[@declaniii6324]

Ruben S. yo mama... wait... that’s a compliment... shit

[@mooseoperator27]

Jeff Bezos would like to have a word.

[@MattTheCommenter]

@@mooseoperator27 I didn't know Jeff had more now. Thought he was still in the 140B or less range. Guess he's now in the 180s

[@mooseoperator27]

M a t t According to Google he's worth 183.3 Billion dollars.

[@randovids]

I never tire of watching videos descriptions of the ghost cities. Nothing like declaring success by having more of something no one uses.

[@yanDeriction]

Building new clean sheet cities designed for walking, biking and mass transit, and moving people out of rural areas and suburbs, would allow the highest per capita carbon emitters like US, Canada and Australia to drastically reduce carbon footprint.

[@stacydowns]

But are the buildings made out of bricks?

[@zhenyutang4277]

Steel bars and concretes as the frame, with some air bricks to form the walls while reducing the weight.

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon7054]

@@zhenyutang4277 so yes?

[@michaelturner4457]

Made from tofu with gingerbread cladding.

[@ChardonnayWest]

this is sooo well made, i wish to support your channel in whatever way that doesn't cost me money : )

[@matthewhartzell4709]

I went to this city about ten months ago. It’s actually a popular tourist destination and there was a music festival going on when I was there.

[@GermanPerfectionist]

Kangbashi now has around 200,000 inhabitants. This video now has around 200,000 views. Or, as HAI would put it: „(almost) nobody has seen it“ 😂

[@moritzz7574]

This city is like my city in cities skylines: big and empty

[@AidanJ___]

China: Spending money on nothing, since the good old Qin dynasty

[@AxxLAfriku]

Let me get this straight: You comment something that is unrelated to the fact that I have two DANGEROUSLY DASHING girlfriends? Considering that I am the unprettiest KZbinr ever, having two hot girlfriends is really incredible. Yet you did not mention that at all. I am quite disappointed, dear gh8

[@oscargurdian9389]

AxxL please delete your channel

[@Ryan-oe2mn]

@@AxxLAfriku You got 20.8K followers. I don't think you need to promote your channel here.

[@Andyatl2002]

AxxL, this stupid spam account again.

[@Sea-zu4bj]

You’re all imbeciles who can’t see a joke. This is called copypasta

[@QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.” - Mignon McLaughlin

[@fakename287]

H-... How is that relevant to this video? (Aside from the fact that it's, uh, China)

[@jonadabtheunsightly]

There are dozens of these "ghost cities" all over China. A lot of them are adjacent to actual inhabited cities, e.g., there's one next to Shenzhen.

[@jonadabtheunsightly]

@vincent ang We're quite aware of the Chinese government's misguided attempt to relocate everyone into the cities, so they don't have to actually develop infrastructure in the countryside. It still doesn't make sense to have miles and miles of apartment buildings sitting empty until they literally start falling apart due to shoddy construction, without ever having been occupied. Homelessness in the US is an interesting social issue, but it's completely unrelated to the topic of discussion here.

[@jonadabtheunsightly]

@vincent ang It would not be safe for me to visit mainland China. I have said things on the internet that could easily result in my being detained.

[@madeinchina1450]

@@jonadabtheunsightly detain you for what, China has to feed you with food.

[@madeinchina1450]

@@jonadabtheunsightly Here is another empty city in China, have a look. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGrFimB5j5pkqqc, 3000 km away from Mongolia.

[@stuckathome068]

Lol it's actually quite funny to read this thread for someone who's actually from there. You can relax no one is gonna pay any attention to you

[@harpuria]

200,000 in one city isn’t really a “ghost town”

[@spookyplaguedoctor5714]

The most interesting thing I learned from this is that the guy behind RLL is named Joseph.

[@cosmiccruise8372]

Who lives in the pineapple under the sea? Malaysian airlines 370! Who built a city in china It got banned.... ;(

[@Alex632]

😐

[@killme2675]

I liked your comment but... get out.

[@cosmiccruise8372]

no

[@killme2675]

Yes

[@killme2675]

Justin Wang No this is KZbin, we’re not as cringe as Redditors... Also, 370 still rhymes though lol

[@doggo00]

Why is noone talking about the fact that halfway through your voice got louder and then quieter again

[@garyfarrell1407]

Me wondering how this relates to planes.

[@E1craZ4life]

Wrong channel.

[@jmproductions7731]

Thats wendover productions

[@garyfarrell1407]

The same guy runs both

[@AlRoderick]

It's in inner Mongolia. Steppes are kind of like plains.

[@fantasticmio]

We have a mall here in Alberta like this city. All of the retail space has been sold, but very few shops have actually opened. The retail space was bought as an investment, but a lot of those investment companies haven't found retailers to rent the space they bought. The place has been pretty deserted since it opened.

[@jumping_shibe2701]

Are you referring to New Horizon Mall near Calgary?

[@fantasticmio]

@@jumping_shibe2701 yep!

[@traiz]

I love all the recent uploads keep it up my guy

[@mog7501]

Could you imagine The Chinese Government watching this and be like "Yep, we gotta switch to Dashlane pronto"

[@djcfb2889]

3:58 "allow homeownership in China", meanwhile showing the central district of Hong Kong

[@flyngbee4777]

Hong kong is china '-'

[@Martin-wt9co]

@@flyngbee4777 Nope Hong Kong is Hong Kong

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

@@Martin-wt9co Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is allowed to operate semiautonomously for the time being but may one day fall under mainland China's communist rule.

[@fakename287]

@@OtakuUnitedStudio *is currently falling China's gone ahead and broken the agreement they made with HK but that's not really a surprise

[@Skullair313]

Hong Kong is not China (at this point) Also Taiwan is not China and I hope it stays that way

[@afklion7140]

Topic idea: Controlling time by being in the 5th dimension (Interstellar movie sub-concept)

[@kevmeister6466]

I just looked on Wikipedia and it says 745k people live on Dongsheng District. Who's wrong?

[@StevenX-v1r]

That's a investment of 100billion RMB or about US$16 billion. That's 1/10 of what you said. The new area has 150K residents already and they are not Nobody. You need to make numbers right before spreading some information.

[@mr_joni648]

0:40 I got jumpscared because of the mic/volume change :D

[@astroch]

Nobody: Hai: Chinese Detroit

[@kjpvaibhav]

I got most hurt by the statement," I don't have any friends ".😢

[@memostothefuture]

I have been to Ordos, Kangbashi, the museum, the stadium and more many times. While it is correct that this used to be a ghost city that nobody wanted to move to that is long in the past. It's reasonably busy now - nowhere as packed as other Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities like Xi'An, Chengdu or nearby Hohhot - but still something most of us Westerners (I am an Expat living in China) would recognize as a living, breathing city. Especially the center of the city, the part where you showed the performance center, is anything but empty. I was there last on Chinese New Year and the amount of fireworks going off all around me was a clear sign for where people were. (Still your shot of Yu Garden in Shanghai @1.54 is something Ordos will never be able to replicate and that is not even as busy as Yu Garden gets.)

[@kingbb5153]

news update: Ordos "ghost town" was news in 2015, and 2020 version is occupancy rising steadily with people moving in for education and retirement, and also cheap property price @HAI

[@srikanthramesh8124]

Just casually waiting for Premier Xi's KZbin account to comment on this

[@unifieddynasty]

This is a fair analysis of China's ghost cities. A lot of youtubers love to diss China and say that these construction projects failed, but that is not a realistic view. This case study must be examined through the lens of economics, not anti-China politics.

[@alejandrozetinar]

I’ll take one of those apartments

[@fakename287]

Y tho?

[@chiwanau]

U wouldn't want it. Regular apartments r already poor quality and need lots of maintenance. These r built up even worse cuz everyone wants in on corruption top to bottom.

[@supercatgaming1482]

So you wanna live in a land with almost no human rights

[@NightcorEDM]

They are for Chinese people only

[@alecsa4568]

Idk why people are talking about this again, it’s called planning and it’s like when 10 years ago they were mocked for building a railway station in a field is now an efficient fully functional city

[@atomspalter2090]

nice video! really informative!

[@patricksedler9697]

That party was awsome man! Sorry for eating all the doritos though.

[@daveharris5914]

Fun Fact: US is the only one who wrote and produced the worse season 8 of Game of Thrones, surprising huh

[@crystalwolcott4744]

It's filmed in Europe tho?

[@enricocarrara4741]

@@crystalwolcott4744 nope

[@jaydani1996]

It's also the one to write and produce the first seven

[@Youdontshushh]

@@jaydani1996 ...........

[@ukeyaoitrash2618]

0:27 They're sheltering at home XD

[@AnimilesYT]

Usually I directly know when a segway into a sponsorship starts. But with this one I had absolutely no clue that the sponsorship was about to start. Well done!

[@hepthegreat4005]

China doesnt have a great structure for tracking loans. It works like this. You buy a house, you use that house as collateral for a loan for a new house and then you use that second house as collateral for a third house.... and this can go on. Because of the lack of oversight these people have multiple houses with little equity in all of them.

[@cheesedmacaroni]

Nah man you have one friend remember? It's Sam from Wendover Productions

[@tcatu1]

0:11 when you forget corona exists

[@kmann100500]

2:21 hahah... oh you're being serious.

[@cristobalcaro3392]

It is true tho

[@yeetsmith1105]

i mean it is true, which is exactly why the housing bubble happened

[@TheNinja131]

Around 0:57, there seems to be an audio issue. Cuts off a bit early and volume level drops a tad

[@watercolourstudios9753]

Yea

[@hoihoi12250]

Probably had the lowest transmission rates for a city

[@robertmills3830]

This is what happens when you build a economy using unfair means, it's a house of cards, it's only a matter of time before everything falls apart Edit- for all the people arguing in the comments, here are my views, I believe that the economy works best when left at the hands of private citizens to decide their fate, government main motive should be to reward innovation and give incentives to private citizens based on how productive and innovative they are, ensuring them that if they create revolutionizing new technology or service that makes life easier for other citizens then they will be rewarded in a capitalist free market society where they can sell their innovation for as much as citizens are willing to pay, the market decide the price as well as prize for their innovation. This motivates them to be innovative, productive and create good jobs in the process of getting rich, it's the back bone of this country(America), for example if someone invest their own time and money to come up with a cure for cancer then they should be able to demand whatever price they deem worthy of their effort leading others to come up with a cure in order to get their share of the pie, leading to competition which eventually will lead to everyone being able to afford the cure since companies would again innovative to come up with a cheaper and better product to gain a bigger share of the market. China on the other hand doesn't adhere to these ideas, they rather engage in market economy just as much is required and use very nasty and unfair policies to boost their economy which eventually will lead to inflated numbers and an eventual collapse

[@robezy0]

What unfair means are you talking about? And you realize people have been predicting the burst of China's housing bubble for ages now...

[@fakename287]

@@robezy0 idk about unfair means, but consider the fact that people are buying this real estate solely as an investment. Without anyone actually willing to move in, the real estate is worth basically nothing aside from whatever money investors are willing to pump into the scheme; speculative investment is the very definition of a bubble And it hasn't been ages, it's been like 10 years since people started predicting; America's housing bubble that collapsed in 2008 started inflating around the 1980s

[@robezy0]

@@fakename287 The worth of living space results from people's trust in its value. As long as China's rapid urbanization continues and people are flocking to the Western regions, I'd guess Ordos is fine. It's true that China's bubble started inflating not that long ago and looking at America's example, it can take a long while until it bursts. This means that the CCP has much time ahead to react to it though. However, most observers have predicted the burst to happen rather soon (some of them are already in the past) and that's the part I'm not buying.

[@zhenyutang4277]

The housing price doubled instantly in a certain timepoint 2007-08 as the result to carry on the financial crisis happening somewhere in the world. So I believe that something had already fallen apart before what you mentioned.

[@zedantXiang]

nope peple only care about themself,just look at how america is doing nowdays comprad to when the job where created by the state

[@zbbbchaery1511]

the interesting thing is, I went to this city last month, the truth there is totally different......... try to think, its need several years to filled the district, the picture in this video was filmed almost 3-5years ago. hahaha

[@jimcornell5514]

www.zhihu.com/question/45495188

[@evolution7180]

It’s unfortunate channels get away with this because most people don’t have any firsthand experience in the topic and would just just believe in anything.

[@leafleap]

1:53 Take a look at the moped driver coming in from the left side driving straight into the oncoming lane like its nothing.

[@alexfrancis3581]

This is the most entertaining and informative video nice transition into those subtle jabs

[@IcedTeaMain1]

If you didn’t know: Fact: McDonald’s once made bubblegum-flavored broccoli

[@HunterHogan]

The name Dōngshèng (东胜) is interesting, by half. Dōng 东 simply means "east" or "eastern". Shèng 胜, in this context, probably means "beautiful vista". Beijing 北京 literally means "northern capital". Nanjing 南京 means "southern capital". The Chinese name for Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is Dongjing 東京, "eastern capital". Tokyo, written in Japanese (kanji) is exactly the same: 東京. (東 is traditional Chinese, while 东 is simplified Chinese, but they have the same meaning.)

[@KernelPanic0]

A few issues with this video. Despite being called the "Chinese Communist Party", they aren't communist. And the government making projects like this isn't a byproduct of being communist, it's just because they have a sort of planned economy. Planned economies aren't necessarily communist, and communism doesn't necessitate a planned economy.

[@benjaminholcomb9478]

HAI: makes video about China, pulls no punches The Party: *wants to know your location*

[@thedanish5523]

I was in Hohhot in 2010. Parts of it are similar. Ghost cities with few residents. I remember going into a supermarket in which all 20 lanes were staffed, but I was one of maybe 3 customers.

[@mattbowdenuh]

So the opposite of Walmart, which has 20 lanes but only 3 are staffed....

[@reecejohnson1346]

4:38 just to simplify the rich pay the poor to build which the rich then sell to the middle class

[@Newbie856]

Just did a humanities project on ghost cities in China and the facts in this video were spot on! Good job! Love this channel

[@deep.space.12]

3:58 Hey that's Hong Kong! 4:00 "1998" Oh...

[@ChilapaOfTheAmazons]

The transition between video and ad... _very smooth_ 😁👍

[@geographyglobe3547]

City = building building = bricks *Coincidence? I think not.*

[@ACE234dm]

Idea: keep sending Sam bricks every day in the mail until he makes a video about bricks

[@tinypenguinhk]

0:55 Dongsheng (東城) literally means eastern city lol

[@dexinwang7192]

no it is 东城is dongcheng. Dongsheng is东胜

[@tinypenguinhk]

Dexin Wang 你對

[@lolwutasddfdfk]

Every urban development has a transition period from when its completed to when people start living there. China's just seems huge because China is a huge country. People keep overexaggerating this issue and pretending its somehow a sign that China's going to collapse.

[@tyroland06]

Hey, I'm so early, I can't even see HAI's comment yet!

[@busterbeagle2167]

I love that you referenced Muammar Gaddafi’s hat. Hahahah. Well played.

[@logistaur]

Daaaamn when he mentioned “Ordos” all these flashbacks to “Person of Interest” came to mind.. one of the best shows out there (if you catagorize it with other 24Ep/season shows)!!!! Highly recommend if you enjoyed fringe or like Sci-Fi shows

[@whitty6341]

Its a good thing the video is about an interesting topic cus the bad jokes every 2 seconds makes it almost unwatchable

[@lookingforsomething]

Yup, China and political prisoners. Strong arming neighbouring countries. Boycott China every chance you can.

[@mimobear]

I think it’s interesting how HAI always uploads on the same day or a day after real life lore uploads

[@MasayaShida]

The segway at the end is one of the best ever from this channel.

[@hungryshark97]

Really love HAI videos! Constructive critique would be the jokes. In my opinion, less is more because sometimes it feels like every 3 sentences is a joke. The jokes aren't bad, I just think that a little less would benefit the videos :)