Tianjin gehört zu den modernsten und reichsten Städten Chinas. Doch ausgerechnet dort zeigt sich die Krise der Wirtschaft. Leerstehende Wolkenkratzer stehen symbolisch für die Probleme, mit denen das Land zu kämpfen hat. Von Benjamin Eyssel.
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Tianjin - a symbol of China's economic crisis
"All the beautiful empty buildings"
Status: 10.11.2023 06:38 am
Tianjin is one of the most modern and wealthiest cities in China. But it is precisely there that the economic crisis is becoming apparent. Empty skyscrapers are symbolic of the problems the country is facing.
Drive through Tianjin-Binhai by car. An impressive skyline - around 80 kilometers east of the core city of Tianjin. This metropolis of millions is located in the north of China, close to the capital Beijing. Here, skyscrapers stand next to skyscrapers, criss-crossed by wide streets, and the driver tells us a little: "This tower block is empty, that one too, they've stopped building here. He estimates that around 70 percent of the buildings here are empty. This statement cannot be verified. On closer inspection, however, it is indeed noticeable: Many of the buildings are unused or unfinished.
The New York of China? Michael Pettis is an economics professor at Peking University. He quotes a widespread legend. Ten or 15 years ago, a decision was made in Tianjin: We want to become the New York of China, the financial center. "And they asked themselves: What makes New York a financial center? Skyscrapers, that's what it has to be! And so they built as much office space in high-rise buildings along the river as in the whole of Manhattan. And the idea behind it was: once the buildings are there, we'll become like New York. In the end, it didn't work. Now it's a tourist attraction. All the beautiful empty buildings. "Even Chinese state media keep talking about the Manhattan of the East. In contrast to the New York district, however, you hardly ever see people on the street here.
The Goldin Finance 117 skyscraper is the third tallest building in China - and the tallest ruined building in the world.
597 meters: The world's tallest ruined buildingAt the other end of the city, not far from Tianjin South Railway Station, stands a ruined building that has even made it into the Guinness Book of Records. The Goldin Finance 117 - a skyscraper, 128 floors, 597 meters high. The third tallest building in China, the tallest ruined building in the world, the tower stands alone, all the other buildings in the district are significantly lower. The cladding is missing on large parts of the façade. The skyscraper was never completed. Construction work was stopped in 2015 because the investor ran out of money. Residents say they have got used to it. 25-year-old Chen Guozhen lives right next to the ruined building in an apartment block: "Sometimes I look up, it's really huge. When I go home, I can always look for the building on the horizon first, then I can find my house." She had never seen such a tall building in her home country of Anhui. "When I first came to Tianjin, my father-in-law said it was the tallest building in the city. "The Goldin Finance 117 skyscraper in the west of the city and China's Manhattan in the Binhai district in the far east of Tianjin. Different projects that are nevertheless symbolic of China's economic and real estate crisis. There are ruins and empty buildings all over the country, even entire abandoned ghost towns.
Real estate crisis weighs on the economyOver-indebted real estate developers such as Country Garden and Evergrande are struggling to survive, and construction has been halted on many projects. Buyers of apartments are worried about their investments, as many real estate developers work with advance payments, which are paid before construction begins.After skyrocketing for many years, real estate prices are now falling again in many places in China, including in the modern metropolis of Tianjin with its more than ten million inhabitants. The crisis-ridden real estate sector is weighing heavily on the Chinese economy, as it has accounted for around a quarter of gross domestic product to date. But it is not only real estate developers who are over-indebted; many cities are also running out of money. After all, they used to generate a large part of their income from land sales to real estate companies. Tianjin, one of China's richest cities, hit the headlines this year because the city was unable to pay bus drivers their salaries on time.
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Well superpower with the largest building ruin in the World. It has the smell of North Korea already.
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