$3 Billion Abandoned Xiangyun International Project 北国未来城 | Exploring China Series Part 5

In part five of the China series, we're exploring the massive Xiangyun International (祥云国际) project. The 1800 acre abandoned residential and commercial development is located in the heart of Shijiazhuang, a city 5 hours southwest of Beijing with a population of 11 million.
Update (2024): The project was restarted and renamed to Beiguo Future City (北国未来城).
According to local news, Xiangyun International was meant to be known as the "Venice of the Orient". Expansive plans called for theme parks, luxury hotels, high-end business offices, tourism exhibitions, leisure and entertainment, and environmentally-friendly residences. Investors poured 17 billion yuan into the development - an equivalent today of $3 billion US. However, construction was stopped in 2014 due to investment issues and eventual bankruptcy.
Join me, along with fellow explorers @theproperpeople, as we go exploring past the present future.
J O I N T H E C O M M U N I T Y
⇢ Instagram - / chrisluckhardt
⇢ Twitter - / chrisluckhardt
M U S I C
⇢ Intro Music - "Always on the Move"
⇢ Outro Music - "Always on the Move (Reprise)"
⇢ Theme Music - "Past the Present Future"
⇢ All music written, performed, recorded, and engineered by Chris Luckhardt.
E X P L O R E R S
⇢ ‪@TheProperPeople‬
B I O G R A P H Y
Chris Luckhardt has documented and photographed some of the most iconic and viral images of abandoned places around the world. He was among the first photographers to publish photos in the press from legendary abandoned places like Hashima Island, Nara Dreamland, Michigan Central Station, and Six Flags New Orleans. His body of work has led to collaborations with The White House, Netflix, Ford, GQ China, ABC News, Good Morning America, Scholastic Canada, Yahoo! Japan, and many more. In 2016, the Obama administration invited Chris to photograph a private citizen "haunted" tour of The White House.
#China #Abandoned #PastThePresentFuture #AbandonedPlaces #TheProperPeople #ChrisLuckhardt #AbandonedChina

Пікірлер: 27

  • @chrisluckhardt
    @chrisluckhardt2 жыл бұрын

    Don't forget to watch the whole China series! Here's the playlist! → kzread.info/dash/bejne/d3qsmaeKnbmqqMo.html _Note: China has the LARGEST population at 1.4 billion. India is predicted to pass China in 2027. Apologies for letting that audio "typo" slip past the editing stage!_

  • @Redrally
    @Redrally2 жыл бұрын

    Michael summed it up perfectly: you can do a grand structure if you want but if there is no character, no charm, no plan, and the only credit to the grand structure is that it is a grand structure, it's ultimately meaningless.

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    For sure, Michael nailed it. So much of what we saw in China was steel and concrete covered in unoriginal superficiality.

  • @gregkamer3754
    @gregkamer37542 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting. I laughed in one of the dog scenes. A single dog is running up and barking. Then he looks behind him and sees he is all alone, so he has second thoughts and turns away. I’ve seen videos of whole cities in China that were abandoned and even finished buildings left to rot and decay when the real estate bubble burst. A lot of people invested in real estate thinking they could resell and make a huge profit only to end up losing everything. I have to wonder how structurally sound all that concrete is after being exposed to the elements for all these years with no type of maintenance.

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    The Proper People (with me during the adventure) climbed to the top of the unfinished tower. Their video shows a lot of poorly constructed sections throughout the climb. I'm no structural engineer but to my eyes most of the construction we saw during the two weeks appeared problematic.

  • @amandapurves3529
    @amandapurves35292 жыл бұрын

    What a huge place cute dogs but mean at the same time

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    Glad I grew up on a farm or the dogs might’ve been intimidating! Mostly they were just too loud lol. I had to fit the audio in that spot because they were overloading the microphone!

  • @amandapurves3529

    @amandapurves3529

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@chrisluckhardt so ture I also grew up on the farms dad had lot of dogs I do miss the farm life I bet it was so loud

  • @shogun2heroicvictories15
    @shogun2heroicvictories152 жыл бұрын

    Reminds me of Japan. when the bubble burst. All those developments just stopped overnight and never restarted. Alot of them can still be found.

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    I’ve explored many of those Japanese ruins you’ve mentioned. I posted it in the summer. It and other ruins in Japan have a “frozen in the 90s” aura.

  • @shogun2heroicvictories15

    @shogun2heroicvictories15

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@chrisluckhardt Thanks will check it out.

  • @marcusgowin3372
    @marcusgowin33722 жыл бұрын

    Fascinating and eerie views, excellent work!

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you, Marcus!

  • @loduca16
    @loduca1610 ай бұрын

    This video made me appreciate the second space shuttle video even more.

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    10 ай бұрын

    Any particular reason why?

  • @loduca16

    @loduca16

    10 ай бұрын

    @@chrisluckhardt it’s late at night and those damn dogs were jarring af after watching the mostly quiet Russian shuttle video. Just found your channel and I’m working my way through your videos. Love it.

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    10 ай бұрын

    Thanks, those little dogs certainly made a ruckus! 😂 I switched to an immersive video style after this China series. All of my videos have higher views and engagement now, so future voiceovers will be strictly for educational uploads.

  • @Tiger66261
    @Tiger662612 жыл бұрын

    Great job. Hope this gets more attention.

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks so much!

  • @bleachedin2mysoul
    @bleachedin2mysoul2 жыл бұрын

    Hounds of hell!!! Very accurate!!! Hahah The scale of the place is too huge!!!

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yep, and they did nip both Bryan and Michael a little! It’s the largest place I’ve explored…so huge!

  • @eetfuk4664
    @eetfuk46642 жыл бұрын

    amazing paintball location

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    11 ай бұрын

    It would add some colour to the place!

  • @polaris911
    @polaris9112 жыл бұрын

    Cool place. You should get a better camera tho, footage looks like this was recorded on a phone.

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    LOL someone finally noticed! I wasn’t planning on shooting video, but changed my mind after the 2nd day and started filming with my beat up iPhone 7. But the video is 2 years old and I’m using a mix of DJI and Sony now. Maybe a little GoPro at times too.

  • @LegendaryBrandon1
    @LegendaryBrandon12 жыл бұрын

    I woulda just kicked those dogs away that guy needs to control them

  • @chrisluckhardt

    @chrisluckhardt

    2 жыл бұрын

    Bryan gave one a light nudge away, but we were prepared to be more defensive if necessary. I grew up on a farm around animals so these dogs weren’t much of a concern. Just loud!