12 eerie images of huge Chinese cities completely empty of people
Photographer Kai Caemmerer travelled to China to explore and document these mysterious urban landscapes
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-3.jpg)
Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
![Louise Thomas](https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/support-us/louise-thomas.png)
Louise Thomas
Editor
Throughout China, there are hundreds of cities that have almost everything one needs for a modern, urban lifestyle: high-rise apartment complexes, developed waterfronts, skyscrapers, and even public art. Everything, that is, except one major factor: people.
These mysterious — and almost completely empty — cities are a part of China's larger plan to move 250 million citizens currently living in rural areas into urban locations by 2026, and places like the Kangbashi District of Ordos are already prepped and ready to be occupied.
Photographer Kai Caemmerer became fascinated with these urban plans, and in 2015 he traveled to China to explore and document them. His series, “Unborn Cities,” depicts a completely new type of urban development. “Unlike in the US, where cities often begin as small developments and grow in accordance to the local industries, these new Chinese cities are built to the point of near completion before introducing people,” he told Business Insider.
See 12 eerie images from his series:
When Caemmerer found out about these empty cities, he was immediately fascinated. “As an architectural photographer, I found the notion of a contemporary ghost town to be appealing in a sort of unsettling way,” he said.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-1.jpg)
“These new Chinese cities are built to the point of near completion before introducing people,” Caemmerer said. “Because of this, there is an interim period between the final phases of development and when the areas become noticeably populated, during which many of the buildings stand empty.”
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-2.jpg)
In 2015, Caemmerer photographed the Kangbashi District of Ordos, the Yujiapu Financial District near Tianjin, and the Meixi Lake development near the city of Changsha.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-3.jpg)
“It was the uniform newness of these cities that originally piqued my interest,” Caemmerer said.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-4.jpg)
“Oftentimes these 'new areas' are satellite cities located within the proximity of an older, more established city,” he explained.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-5.jpg)
Caemmerer would stay overnight at a neighboring, more populated city.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-6.jpg)
He photographed twice a day — before sunrise and just after sunset — for 80 straight days.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-7.jpg)
Luckily, Caemmerer didn't run into legal issues while photographing the cities, and in terms of safety, “These areas felt very secure,” he said.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-8.jpg)
Because of the newness of the places, Caemmerer described the cities as “surreal” and “uncanny.”
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-9.jpg)
“Oftentimes, when you're in a city, you can locate yourself within the timeline of that city by identifying different eras of architecture or by interpreting the relative age of the structures and landscape around you. When visiting a city that has been built in just the past five or six years, these indicators of age are not yet visible,” Caemmerer said.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-10.jpg)
When Caemmerer did, on the rare occasion, run into people, they were usually intrigued by his archaic-looking, large-format film camera.
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-11.jpg)
These images are documenting a “complex moment in Chinese urbanisation,” Caemmerer said. “Many of these new cities are not expected to be complete or vibrant until 15 to 25 years after they begin construction. They are built for the distant future, and at present, we can only speculate on what form they will have taken when they reach this point in time.”
![Kai Caemmerer](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/15/18/web-Kai-Caemmerer-12.jpg)
To see more of Kai Caemmerer's work visit www.kaimichael.com
China's extraordinary 'nail houses'
Show all 8Read more:
• One man killed after a suspected car bombing in west Berlin
• Royal Bank of Scotland is axing jobs at its investment bank
• POLL: The key reason Brexit will wi
Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2015. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments