it's very easy to be overwhelmed by
China a booming nation of 1.3 billion
people who's increasingly prosperous
lives are driving development on a scale
the world has never seen
China is constantly on the move it's
estimated that in the next decade 350
million people will leave the land for
the city it is the largest population
movement in human history and it's
leading to the rise and rise of the mega
city
[Music]
the old gives way to the new entire
cities emerge seemingly from nowhere
well it's absolutely phenomenal
then when you look at the scale of the
cities Chongqing 31 and a half million
people in Chongqing it's and most people
have never heard of it
Melbourne architect Robert Caulfield is
among the experts who've been invited in
by the Chinese they like his grand
designers and have awarded him prized
contracts to transform not just a few
blocks but entire cities just over in
that area there will be the new hub from
sketch to animation to construction it
all happens at dizzying speed one of our
projects they were actually putting in
the roads before we'd even finish the
drawings and we just couldn't produce it
fast enough so as quick as you're
drawing it they're building it well
quicker than we were drawing
it's like China Inc it's like a a
corporation that the five-year plan
everyone going in the one direction I've
had it suggested to me that doing
business with the Communists is good
because they make a decision while they
do make decisions
it's that full-throttle philosophy that
has transformed cities like Shanghai no
matter what the cost
[Music]
this is a common sight on old buildings
these red painted characters translated
mean to be demolished it won't be long
before this block becomes another
skyscraper
[Music]
in the middle of this soaring metropolis
we come across a grand old traditional
Chinese house marked for destruction
Nihao good to meet you mrs. sure and her
family have lived here for 70 years and
that protest banner in the window lets
everyone around here know they don't
want to move so let me understand this
let's have a look at your neighbors one
big high-rise there another big
high-rise there and your house right in
the middle but you don't want to move no
they're asking us to leave but we will
never be willing to do so
mrs. shows not alone in trying to hold
her ground have a look at what happens
when people like her refuse to budge
the developers just build around them no
matter how absurd the lengths or depths
they have to go to there's no time to
dispute no lodging a building complaint
with counsel developers simply move too
fast and the new buildings appear as
quickly as it takes to demolish the old
ones this 30 story hotel went up in just
two weeks
[Music]
so basically prefabricated floor plates
and prefabricated walls that are all
just moved in and put in place by a
crane it's like a big Lego set the
danger with that sort of development is
that there is a risk of a lot of
buildings being built that all look the
same
however this unfathomable ambition to
rehouse hundreds of millions of citizens
has created some truly bizarre anomalies
[Music]
have you ever wondered what it might be
like if you were the last person on
earth well I'd imagine that it would be
something like this
and I've got to tell you it is a very
strange and eerie feeling everything is
here an entire city all the buildings
the roads schools hospitals you name it
everything that is except the people and
looking around there is not a soul to be
seen
this is a new city he called Lingam an
hour's drive from Shanghai built for
nearly a million people
it's almost like a cardboard cutout of a
city and in some places a giant facade
rows of vacant shops restaurants and
office buildings waiting for customers
diners and works when you walk around
these ghost cities what are your
thoughts what am i thought well I mean I
just don't gobsmacked
I mean I'm gobsmacked that there are so
many malls and an empty apartments just
standing vacant and yet they're still
building more it just it doesn't seem to
make sense
Hong kong-based Financial Analysts
gilliam taluk since neither he nor the
world has ever seen anything like the
phenomenon of China's ghost cities
they've constructed huge residential
areas with shopping malls etc and no
one's moved in to live in them just
because you build it doesn't mean
they'll come clearly they're not coming
no I mean 700 million people in China
live on less than $2 a day they simply
can't afford these and that's why these
apartments are sitting empty because
there's no one who can afford to live in
them
[Music]
it's not just residential developments
sprawling commercial districts also lie
empty
this is you job Putin new city type to
become China's Manhattan in fact
challenging New York is the world's
biggest financial district
but on our biblical journey we find it
is utterly devoid of any sign of life
this is one of the more staggering sites
I think I've seen it's an entire city
quite literally frozen in time now only
six months ago construction on this
massive project was in full swing but
now it's all that a standstill I can
count at least 30 skyscrapers over there
where the work has completely stopped
officially they say that this project is
just on hold but you've got to say
especially in these sub-zero
temperatures the future of this city
looks especially bleak
[Music]
this is the largest prophecy bubble that
has ever been selfishly from Australia's
point of view we like this bubble
because we keep shipping iron ore and
other raw materials to China so they can
keep building these cities yeah I
wouldn't give up the day job as they say
I mean I'd be very nervous because if
the bubble does burst then you simply
have to follow the supply chain and the
supply chain ends up in in Australia but
for the Australians helping to build the
new China all this construction makes
perfect sense when you remember China's
booming population thriving middle class
and unwavering drive to become the
world's dominant superpower well it's
absolutely phenomenal because there's
somewhere between 4 and 500 million
people still living in what the Chinese
government considers to be inadequate
accommodation so they're going healthful
ever to build this accommodation four to
five hundred million people I mean it's
hard to get your head around it they're
staggering you know I could take Robert
Caulfield has been commissioned to
redesign a vast area of the historic
city of Nanjing
and the journey there is a reminder of
why China's mega cities work they're
connected by 10000 kilometers of
high-speed train lines and look at the
speed now 303 kilometers an hour and
accelerating imagine run of these
running between Sydney and Melbourne on
blinking you'd be there yeah that's
right
[Music]
it's got a very long and rich history
Nanjing was once the ancient capital of
China home to the Ming Dynasty and a
revered site it's now entrusted to an
Australian architect with some big ideas
we're proposing a cable car system that
goes right along the front of the lake
core field also has approved plans for a
futuristic project in the city center
well we've got here Michael is that just
over in that area there will be the new
hub building and there's a high-speed
rail that goes actually through these
buildings here and this goes for about
five kilometers down this road and
there'll be a number of high-rise
factories in this area but it's one
thing to sit in your Melbourne office
and dream up this amazing renovation of
a city but to be standing here and
seeing it underway it is quite
remarkable
that's it happened so quickly and
there's 24 square kilometres in this
master planning area that we've done
that's enormous
[Music]
that just seems to be the way things
roll in the new China everything happens
at a frantic pace Robert Caulfield just
hopes they let him get the drawings done
first so no idea is too big it's really
quite strange
Michael because you know I'll go back in
a couple of days to Melbourne office
where we're working on three or four
retirement villages and in the next week
we'll be working on a city yeah it's
fear it's a very exciting time though
and for all Australians there's a
fantastic opportunity here hello I'm
Liam Bartlett thanks for watching so
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