From a desolate and arid ghost city in the middle of China’s wild west in Gansu Province, a new urbanized area has risen, according to an article in The Guardian.
Development in the Lanzhou New Area started back in 2012 as a bid to fulfill the Chinese government’s plans of populating the barren wasteland of a region. To give way to this dream, villages and even mountains have been bulldozed in order to create the perfect canvas for the desert metropolis.
Since then, Lanzhou New Area now includes a free trade zone, a network of roads that run over 400 miles, a collection of high-rise towers, and even an artificial lake. Billboards in the English language have also been erected, filled with colorful adjectives about the development.
The Communist Party, however, is not done with Lanzhou New Area.
In order to attract people to relocate to this sparsely populated region, replicas of iconic world landmarks have been ordered by officials. It won’t be long until Lanzhou New Area has its own Parthenon, Great Sphinx of Egypt, and even a portion of the Great Wall of China.
The development of Lanzhou New Area is just a part of the Chinese government’s wider plans to develop China’s western region. Called the “Go West” initiative, the project also involves the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai.
The construction of roads, railways, and other infrastructure, according to American writer Wade Shepard, has led to a construction frenzy in China that reached its height after the financial crisis in 2008.
The problem with such projects, however, is that people don’t always immediately relocate to such newly developed cities, giving way to another type of ghost cities-- urbanized areas without any people.
“The best thing is the infrastructure, the roads, the squares. The living environment is better than Lanzhou, said 23-year-old Zhang Yongshuai, who has moved to Lanzhou New Area from Lanzhou with his two sons.
“The biggest problem is there aren’t any people. But I think they will come. If there were no people here then it would all have been a big waste, wouldn’t it?”