The abandoned £73bn mega-city that's now a 'ghost town' with hardly anyone living there

The city of Xiong'an in China (Image: Getty)

China is a country known for its huge population, colossal construction projects and massive megacities. But while China is renowned for its ambitious projects, not all of them go to plan.

The £73 billion abandoned city of Xiong'an is evidence of this. Construction of the city started back in 2017, with many Chinese workers urged to move there along with their employers. Most of the huge buildings, however, now lay empty as residents lament the "boring" and lifeless state of the city. One local once told The Times: “There isn’t much social life.

Much of the city remains a construction site (Image: Getty)

“Young people all work overtime, and there aren’t many opportunities for leisure or socialising.

“As for finding a boyfriend, you’ll just have to make do with hoping your friends provide.”

The aim of the Xiong'an project, backed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, was to help deal with China's overcrowding in major cities, especially the capital Beijing.

Xiong-an was therefore built in Hebei province, 105 km from Beijing and Tianjin. It was meant to become the new home of 5 million people, but currently only 1.2 million live there.

Just 1.2 million people live in the city designed for 5 million (Image: Getty)

A business owner, Zhang Cheng, told The Times: "Many of them (his employees) enjoy social activities — dating, eating out and so on. Investors and partners also expect to meet over dinner, drinks or karaoke.

"Xiong’an doesn’t offer any of that at the moment. Even with the hiring subsidies, if I asked my staff to relocate here, even at their current salaries, many probably wouldn’t agree."

The city is served by Beijing Daxing International Airport, which is set to become one of the world's busiest thanks to a new £35 billion development.