Jingjin New Town / 京津新城

If a place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity will be a non-place. Marc Augé, Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, London, Verso, 1995, p. 77-78. This report is about a « new town » near Tianjin called […]

[part 3] Shanghai World Expo / 上海世博会

The abandoned site of the Shanghai World Expo 2010 is always a very exciting place to visit. You can read my first report here and my second report here. Several weeks ago, I spent another great moment in another part of the Shanghai World Expo, on the opposite side of the Huangpu river. Even if […]

« The World’s Tallest » Ferris Wheel / 世界第一摩天轮

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were a great source of failed projects, among which the world’s most ambitious Ferris wheel project. I went on this exploration about one year ago, with my friend Brïn, who created the blog burbex.org. I decided to finally publish it, because he just left China (without saying goodbye, by […]

Rose Villa / 玫瑰山庄

When I was in Zhuhai, I saw a strange villa compound as my bus was driving along the seaside. It really looked in a pretty bad shape: the name of the residential unit was half broken, no guard was present at the main entrance, and the colours on the walls of the villas were washed […]

Sweet Fragrance Lake Amusement Park / 香蜜湖游乐场

I spent the week-end in Shenzhen. This city is famous for its still very popular kitsch theme parks like Window on the world or Shenzhen folk culture village. Therefore, I am very fond of the place I visited1: an abandoned waterpark from the 1980s! An early waterpark in a growing megalopolis As you might know, […]

Paradise Hill Hotel / 石景山大酒店

I am now living in Zhuhai, in Guangdong province, and I spotted a place from a public bus on the very first day I arrived. It is indeed a very large building in a very lively part of the city, which is why it caught my attention. A huge empty driveway, a monumental entrance with […]

[Part 2] Shamei Mansion / 沙美大楼

You know how sometimes, just after you see it, you have a building in mind and you just can’t get it out of your head? Haha I guess most people cannot really understand what I am talking about but anyway, that is what happened to me a few days ago in Shanghai when I met… […]

[part 2] Imperial Garden Villas / 御苑花园别墅

This is a report about the Olympic villas at dusk and the mythical HOMKO CLUB. I have been to this place quite a few times now, and I have already written a first report about Imperial Garden Villas, explaining how and why this unfinished-abandoned luxury villa compound can be found in the middle of a […]

Xishuangbanna Tropical Flowers and Plants Garden / 西双版纳热带花卉园

Yesterday, I did another great discovery in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna: a botanical garden surrounded by abandoned elements! Next to the park: the abandoned Olympic pool If you follow my blog, you know that I particularly like abandoned swimming pools, especially the long ones… The ones that are olympic-size. After finding an indoor olympic-size pool in Datong, […]

Strange futuristic unfinished-abandoned buildings / 奇怪未来主义的烂尾楼

This report on the visit I did in November 2015 will display the amazing SF architecture of several unfinished-abandoned buildings found in Datong… Strange buildings, aren’t they? Before presenting more closely their amazing architecture, I will explain where they come from… The five major equipments project (五大场馆): a semi-failure Datong, a city in Northern Shanxi […]