The incredible mega city with schools, a hospital and airport...where NOBODY lives
This is not a vision of the apocalypse, but a Chinese "ghost city".
Ordos in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China, was intended to house over one million people.
But it is practically abandoned, as shown in this eerie set of pictures.
Ordos, in the Kangbashi district, was constructed as part of a Chinese government plan to build 400 new cities in 20 years, and boasts an airport, schools, mosques and police stations - all of which stand empty.
And rows of unfinished tower blocks line the unused main roads.
The city, which was started during an economic boom, has not been properly finished as construction firms went bankrupt and pulled out of their projects.
High property prices are also cited as one of the reasons that people have stayed away from the Ordos, along with it's proximity to another, established, metropolis.
The photographs were taken by a self-styled "urban explorer", Darmon Richter.
He said: "The city felt truly post-apocalyptic – more so than anywhere I've ever been.
“Even in Chernobyl you tend to run into other tour groups, or see the furniture rearranged by the countless photographers who've visited before you.
“Kangbashi district was utterly untouched though, and walking through the silent streets was an unnerving experience.”
Ordos, which was designed to be an iconic and futuristic metropolis, has a book-shaped library and a huge, pebble-shaped musem.
Oxford-born Mr Richter said that during his time in the huge city, he encountered few residents.
He said: "There were a few pedestrians in the central area, but as we walked further out into the suburbs we entered vast regions filled with deserted buildings and empty offices.
"For hours at a time we'd see nobody on the streets, and even those occasional people we passed were often wearing the uniforms of street sweepers or maintenance workers.
"At first the silence was oppressive, alarming even, but after several hours of exploring, the city began to feel more and more liberating, almost as if humanity and its laws were extinct, to be replaced by one giant urban playground, devoid of life.
"I was hesitant to try doors at first - though I was purely driven by curiosity, I didn't want to be mistaken for a looter. In time I grew more comfortable however, as I realised that there was simply no one about to say otherwise.
"By the end of the day, I had even taken a walk through a completely disused police station. I'm sure Ordos has its own police department somewhere, but I saw no sign of the authorities during my time in Kangbashi."
People are slowly trickling into Ordos - which even hosted the Miss World pageant in 2012 - but according to Mr Richter, there is still a long way to go before it can be considered a fully-fledged, functioning city.
He said: "We got talking to a taxi driver at one point who assured us that people were coming. He seemed confident that now the city was mostly built, and it was only a matter of time until the new residents arrived.
"However, many of the construction firms are reaching bankruptcy or pulling out of the project, so there are empty buildings here in dire need of maintenance. Before long, large parts of the the city are likely to become uninhabitable if things don't change.
"From what I saw, it would be a miracle to see Ordos transformed into a fully-functioning, inhabited city anytime soon."
Ordos in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China, was intended to house over one million people.
But it is practically abandoned, as shown in this eerie set of pictures.
Ordos, in the Kangbashi district, was constructed as part of a Chinese government plan to build 400 new cities in 20 years, and boasts an airport, schools, mosques and police stations - all of which stand empty.
And rows of unfinished tower blocks line the unused main roads.
The city, which was started during an economic boom, has not been properly finished as construction firms went bankrupt and pulled out of their projects.
High property prices are also cited as one of the reasons that people have stayed away from the Ordos, along with it's proximity to another, established, metropolis.
The photographs were taken by a self-styled "urban explorer", Darmon Richter.
He said: "The city felt truly post-apocalyptic – more so than anywhere I've ever been.
“Even in Chernobyl you tend to run into other tour groups, or see the furniture rearranged by the countless photographers who've visited before you.
“Kangbashi district was utterly untouched though, and walking through the silent streets was an unnerving experience.”
Ordos, which was designed to be an iconic and futuristic metropolis, has a book-shaped library and a huge, pebble-shaped musem.
Oxford-born Mr Richter said that during his time in the huge city, he encountered few residents.
He said: "There were a few pedestrians in the central area, but as we walked further out into the suburbs we entered vast regions filled with deserted buildings and empty offices.
"For hours at a time we'd see nobody on the streets, and even those occasional people we passed were often wearing the uniforms of street sweepers or maintenance workers.
"At first the silence was oppressive, alarming even, but after several hours of exploring, the city began to feel more and more liberating, almost as if humanity and its laws were extinct, to be replaced by one giant urban playground, devoid of life.
"I was hesitant to try doors at first - though I was purely driven by curiosity, I didn't want to be mistaken for a looter. In time I grew more comfortable however, as I realised that there was simply no one about to say otherwise.
"By the end of the day, I had even taken a walk through a completely disused police station. I'm sure Ordos has its own police department somewhere, but I saw no sign of the authorities during my time in Kangbashi."
People are slowly trickling into Ordos - which even hosted the Miss World pageant in 2012 - but according to Mr Richter, there is still a long way to go before it can be considered a fully-fledged, functioning city.
He said: "We got talking to a taxi driver at one point who assured us that people were coming. He seemed confident that now the city was mostly built, and it was only a matter of time until the new residents arrived.
"However, many of the construction firms are reaching bankruptcy or pulling out of the project, so there are empty buildings here in dire need of maintenance. Before long, large parts of the the city are likely to become uninhabitable if things don't change.
"From what I saw, it would be a miracle to see Ordos transformed into a fully-functioning, inhabited city anytime soon."
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