Just to balance out some of the global cheerleading that’s going on re China.
Also, it gives you an idea of where some of the Chinese stimulus money may have been going into.
http://www.bizmology.com/2009/08/20/great-mall-of-china-isnt-so-great/
If you are interested, here’s a documentary shot recently at the mall itself: http://www.pbs.org/pov/utopia/
Highlights:
The South China Mall (now renamed New South China Mall) in Dongguan, China sounds good on paper. The holder of the title “World’s Largest Mall” is more than twice the size of the previous record holders, Mall of America in Minnesota and Edmonton Mall in Canada. The building includes nearly 7 million sq. ft. of space and is complete with 8,000 parking spots. It also features amusement park rides, themed outdoor areas, an indoor rain forest, and an artificial canal system.
But there is one thing missing … people
The sprawling mall sits virtually empty. It’s a lonely place with only about a dozen operating tenants (some 1,500 store spaces are available). Escalators sit idle, corridors are darkened, nude mannequins sit in stark shop windows, little boats designed to run through the mall’s system of canals run anyway, but have no passengers. Workers at the mall fight to stay awake (a few lose that battle).
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