https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...bare-in-city-s-empty-housing-unfinished-roads
money spent on building them. Successful precedents include Shanghai’s Pudong, now a bustling financial district. Zhengdong New District in central China’s Henan province, meanwhile, was once an archetypal “ghost city” but now hosts a massive factory producing iPhones.
Guizhou aspires to pull off the same feat. In 2021, the provincial government unveiled a plan to significantly boost the number of urban dwellers in major cities over five years, with a target of at least 2 million people set for Zunyi’s urban core. To lure newcomers, authorities have promised to build more schools, increase the number of hospital beds and daycare places and offer funding and policy support for farmers to start their own businesses.
The region is also accelerating an effort to develop itself into a big data center, offering incentives to attract investment from the likes of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Provincial capital Guiyang already hosts a data-center operator in partnership with with Apple Inc.
The provincial government unveiled a plan in 2021 to boost the number of urban dwellers over five years, with a target of at least 2 million people set for Zunyi’s urban core.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
The street cleaner in Zunyi said that despite all the frustrations, the government’s urbanization push has brought one positive — a higher pension than if she had remained a farmer.
“We are farmers who are left with no land,” she said. “This is the most basic treatment the government should be giving us.”
- With James Mayger and Fran Wang
money spent on building them. Successful precedents include Shanghai’s Pudong, now a bustling financial district. Zhengdong New District in central China’s Henan province, meanwhile, was once an archetypal “ghost city” but now hosts a massive factory producing iPhones.
Guizhou aspires to pull off the same feat. In 2021, the provincial government unveiled a plan to significantly boost the number of urban dwellers in major cities over five years, with a target of at least 2 million people set for Zunyi’s urban core. To lure newcomers, authorities have promised to build more schools, increase the number of hospital beds and daycare places and offer funding and policy support for farmers to start their own businesses.
The region is also accelerating an effort to develop itself into a big data center, offering incentives to attract investment from the likes of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Provincial capital Guiyang already hosts a data-center operator in partnership with with Apple Inc.
The provincial government unveiled a plan in 2021 to boost the number of urban dwellers over five years, with a target of at least 2 million people set for Zunyi’s urban core.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
The street cleaner in Zunyi said that despite all the frustrations, the government’s urbanization push has brought one positive — a higher pension than if she had remained a farmer.
“We are farmers who are left with no land,” she said. “This is the most basic treatment the government should be giving us.”
- With James Mayger and Fran Wang
