This article is interesting in light of the the fact that our own economic development officer has recently been to China with a view to opening trade potential. Raw lumber was one commodity discussed.
Ordos: The biggest ghost town in China
In Inner Mongolia a new city stands
largely empty. This city, Ordos, suggests that the great Chinese building boom,
which did so much to fuel the country's astonishing economic growth, is over.
Is a bubble about to burst?
And it is merely the most spectacular example of a new Chinese
phenomenon, in many cities - unsold flats, unlet shops, empty office blocks.
It looks to outsiders as though the great Chinese building boom is
over, the real estate extravaganza that shook the world.
Western financial experts who fear a bursting of the Chinese real
estate bubble point out that the Chinese economy is more dependent on house
building than the United States economy was, before the sub-prime lending
bubble burst in 2007.
Many Chinese local authorities seem to have become dependent on
the proceeds of big land sales to developers.
In the eyes of the critics, China's housing boom is becoming a
disaster.
Well, the authorities in Beijing have taken notice of the direst
warnings. They have been taking official action to rein in the speculative
buying of multiple apartments over the past two years.
I can hear people say, "Typical CLC, whenever there's an opportunity to get involved in development, you always have some objection", but this story does make you think, given all the stories of growth we've been hearing about in China.
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