Following a recent 60 Minutes report on China's empty "ghost cities", we've been thinking a lot about how some of China's grand construction projects have fallen flat.
One of the greatest examples of this overarching ambitious might be that of the New South China Mall, located in Dongguan, China.
Take a tour of the New South China Mall >
The mall was opened in 2005 and was heralded as the largest shopping center in the world with 659,612 square meters (7,100,000 sq ft) of space. According to CNN, the owners expected 100,000 visitors a day.
That didn't happen.
According to a report last year from Emporis, a global building data firm, the mall is virtually empty. "It has been classified as a 'dead mall'", the report states. An employee CNN spoke to claimed the mall had 20% occupancy.
One of the relatively few people who has visited the mall is journalist and explorer Wade Shepard, who published a great essay on the empty mall earlier this year at his website Vagabond Journey.
Wade has kindly allowed us to publish his photos with some of his comments here to give you a taste of China's "Ghost Mall".
Wade says the biggest problem with the mall was its location.
"This city is mostly made up of factories and factory workers — definitely not the target clientele for high-end shopping mall."
When Wade got to Dongguan, most people he asked had never even heard of the giant mall.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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