Built for over a million people, the city of Ordos was designed to be the crowning glory of Inner Mongolia. Doomed to incompletion however, this futuristic metropolis now rises empty out of the deserts of northern China. Only 2% of its buildings were ever filled; the rest has largely been left to decay, abandoned mid-construction, earning Ordos the title of China's Ghost City.

A fisherman throws a net for catching fish with his wife in Yanhu fisherman village near Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, China, 18 October 2018. (Photo by Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA/EFE)

Girls play with live Teacup pigs, a rare pet in the country, at the start of celebrations leading to the Lunar New Year, Friday, February 1, 2019 at Lucky Chinatown Plaza mall in Manila, Philippines. The upcoming Year of the Pig represents abundance, diligence and generosity. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

Chen interacts with his “smart” sеx doll as he lays in a bed in his home in Guangzhou, Guandong Province, China, 05 April 2018. Chen, because of his busy pharmaceutical sales job and the travel it involves, has no time for a girlfriend. Chinese girls all want to talk about marriage after the second date and he is not interested in that for now, he said. (Photo by Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA/EFE)

Residents wrapped in blankets watch flames engulf bamboo scaffolding at Wang Fuk Court housing estate after a major fire broke out, in Tai Po, Hong Kong, China, on November 26, 2025. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

People visit the Yellow Sea forest park as the leaves of Dawn Redwoods turn red and yellow in winter in Yancheng, eastern China's Jiangsu province on December 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Fireworks explode over the Kremlin in Red Square which was blocked by police during New Year celebrations in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, January 1, 2017. New Year's Eve is Russia's major gift-giving holiday, and big Russian cities were awash in festive lights and decorations. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./AP Photo)

A participant from Indonesia waits to perform a dance during the last day of World Culture Festival on the banks of the river Yamuna in New Delhi, India, March 13, 2016. The festival opened on the banks of the Yamuna River in the Indian capital Friday despite concerns the sprawling construction of roads, ramps and pontoon bridges would irreparably damage the river's floodplains. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)