content: The truth is... worse. They're made for banks. There are rules in place about how much liquid capital can lie around at different levels of the Chinese government. There are other rules about full employment. The are requirements for infrastructure investment. Assemble the right conditions and these things pop up like mushrooms... or mold. No one wanted them; no one lives in them; they serve no purpose; and they're owned and traded in a bloated speculation market. Some of them are being looted for scrap. People have forgotten Khrushchev's endless expanses of panelacky.  This is just that all over again. Thankfully, it's usually built on the cheap because everyone involved takes a cut and knows no one will live there. We can hope that they won't last long.