China once unveiled ambitious plans to build a modern £4.2bn “eco-smart city” in the heart of South Africa.
Dubbed the “New York of Africa,” Modderfontein near Johannesburg was supposed to be home to the wealthy, but the city never saw the light of day.
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The project was designed by Shanghai-based Zendai Group, which purchased the 1,600-hectare site in 2013.
They envisioned it as a smart, modern city that blends perfectly with nature.
The developers have committed to creating 300,000 jobs, 50,000 homes and modern amenities, including shopping centres, schools and hospitals.
Luxury skyscrapers and lush green forest-like parks were also promised.
There were also plans to connect the future city to a high-speed rail network that could take just seven minutes to reach Johannesburg, The Express reports.
Dai Zhikang, president of Zendai, claimed that it would become “the future capital of all of Africa.”
“This will be on par with cities like New York in America or Hong Kong in the Far East.”
Major global consultancy firms such as Atkins and Arup have been contracted to masterplan the 1,600 hectare site.
But the ambitious project was never realized.
Local authorities have demanded that Chinese developers include thousands of affordable housing units for nearby residents to stay in the city.
However, the company's plan only included luxury homes for the super-rich
The project was put on hold for two years before it was finally cancelled.
Today, the site at Modderfontein has a small population living in scattered houses.
Meanwhile, a £1bn Chinese-made city sits empty in Malaysia after developers left it to rot.
The jungle city feels like a luxury resort and is located just a stone's throw from hustle and bustle Singapore.
At first glance, it appears to be an ordinary city with hundreds of high-rise buildings, villas and paved roads.
But upon closer inspection, visitors can notice how eerily silent this “ghost town” is.
Most of the luxury apartments and villas have been left to rot in the estate built by Country Garden – China's largest property developer – under Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative.
The ambitious project was built in 2016 during China's real estate boom.
Forest City is now just an abandoned ghost town next to a river filled with crocodiles.
Only a few hundred people live in the high-rise buildings, and only 15% of the project has been completed.
Fake Paris
Meanwhile, China built its own “Paris of the East,” complete with replica Eiffel Tower and French architecture.
Tianducheng also boasts Parisian lanes, cafés, parks and signs.
But for many years, this flashy simulation was just a ghost town, with only 2,000 residents calling it their mission.
The luxury real estate project was opened in 2007 after a massive £1 billion construction project.
The replica Eiffel Tower is 729 feet taller than the original French tower, and is only 107 meters high.
While the Champs-Élysées tradition was named Xiangxie Road before it was reverted back to the French name.
The developers even gave Tianducheng its own Palace of Versailles gardens with geometric plantings and fountains.
With street upon street of Parisian-style residences, you'd be forgiven for confusing the clone with the French capital.
But despite all this, the Illusory City of Lovers failed to convince anyone to go crazy for it.
This is partly due to its inaccessible location in rural Zhejiang Province.
Incredibly, between 2007 and 2013, only about 2,000 people lived in a town built for 10,000 people.
But with the Haussmann-style homes remaining vacant, the quaint town has attracted crowds of tourists.
Among them are newlyweds who are looking for the perfect backdrop for their wedding photos.
However, by 2017, word of the European wannabe had spread, and it had a population of 30,000.
Surprisingly, the Eiffel Tower in Tianduqing is not the only Chinese trick on the famous French tower.
There is also a 108-metre-tall tower in the southern city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.
It is one of dozens of bizarre “fake” monuments that China has built during its obsession with “duality.”
Other curiosities include imitations of London's Tower Bridge, Alpine villages and even the Sydney Opera House.
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