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 man wearing a Pikachu hat, a character from Pokemon, plays Pokemon Go during a gathering to celebrate “Pokemon Day” in Mexico City, Mexico August 21, 2016. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

People view an installation over a lake that forms part of the Enchanted Forest Winter Illuminations at Stockeld Park in Wetherby, North Yorkshire on Monday, November 14, 2022. Light effects, a captivating soundscape, and animated installations come together in the ancient woodland once a year over the Christmas period. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)

People make a heart shaped gesture as they look at the first sunrise of the year during New Year's celebrations at a park on January 1, 2023 in Seoul, South Korea. Seoul's New Years celebrations returns this year after it was cancelled during the Covid Pandemic. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Swimmer silhouetted in a waterslide in the coastal suburb of Glenelg, Adelaide, Australia on January 21, 2025. (Photo by Amer Ghazzal/Alamy Live News)

A view of the silhouettes of people, passing across a bridge over the frozen Lake Murat, trying to go on their daily lives despite the cold during winter season in Agri, Turkiye on February 10, 2025. (Photo by Abdullah Soylemez/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Models present creations by designer Olivier Rousteing as part of his Spring-Summer 2023 ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Balmain during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France on September 28, 2022. (Photo by Johanna Geron/Reuters)

Farmer Tom Spilman harvests some of the 125,000 pumpkins at Spilman's Pumpkin Farm in Sessay, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, UK on Monday, September 25, 2023, ahead of the opening of Pumpkin Fest 2023 on Saturday. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)