I saw a video on Reddit showing the demolition of dozens of vacant high rise buildings in China. In addition to what you might expect, the comments alleged a “Ponzi scheme” in the housing market, and that some were still paying mortgages on the destroyed buildings. Any idea what’s happening on that front?
Without knowing anything about the video, there’s countless examples where “Chinesr ghost cities” have become actual populated urban centers. China is thinking long-term.
I remember the first time I learned about this was from a Vice documentary that a friend showed me. In the documentary they visited a “ghost city” and showed large skyrises that were occupied by less than 10 people (the whole city had barely 1000 people in it), unopened metro stations in the middle of nowhere and huge but empty schools, hospitals and department stores. They then made some comments about corrupt politicians giving our huge contracts to construction companies for bribes and for an artificial way to make it seem the economy was growing. A few years later I looked up that place, and it was already a city with a population of 150 000 people.
Most likely the video is real, but taken way out of context or painted in a particular way to fit the narrative of “ghost cities”.