Olivier attributes the city's spectacular failure to the government's "build it and the people will come" attitude. It represents a pervasive problem in China, where officials hope to more than double the country's urban population by 2020.
Cities like Ordos spring from rural areas to accommodate the masses — but the masses don't always come. "This phenomenon is really a cancer for the development of this country," Olivier said, "and a serious threat to the Chinese economy."
