Dec 132011
It always seems that if you want to see some truly creepy abandoned territory, you look towards places run by collectivists. The horrible dystopias of the former Soviet Union, the unfinished and abandoned cities of China, Detroit, New Orleans. The Chinese have a remarkable place… an unfinished and abandoned “Disneyworld”-like amusement park given the name “Wonderland.” It would look right with aliens or zombies rampaging through it. The photos here are quite something.
China’s Abandoned Wonderland
16 Responses to “Wonderland”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Pity China abandoned its “collectivist” beliefs over 20 years ago. Appears you still live in the Cold War era. China stopped being Communist when Deng came to power. He opened the doors to capitalism and that is what has made China the economic giant it is today. Time to wake up!
> China abandoned its “collectivist” beliefs over 20 years ago.
No, it simply swapped horrific Maoist communism for something more akin to fascism. While Chinese people are allowed to use capitalism to rake in vast sums of cash, they remain subject to the whims of the government.
> He opened the doors to capitalism and that is what has made China the economic giant it is today.
True. It could be even more gigantic if they became more libertarian and less national socialist.
It appears that you prefer your delusions to reality. As I said, China is no longer a c\Communist state (if it ever was, there are doubts amongst most doctrinaire Communists as to whether it was). You seem to like labels, rather than looking at the substance behind them. China is an Confucian authoritarian state now, rather along the lines of Singapore.
As to what China could become, it won’t be anything resembling the classic Libertarianism that you appear to desire. No nation will, particularly after the failures of the GFC. Or did you miss that as well?
> China is an Confucian authoritarian state now
Like I said: national socialism/fascism.
> No nation will, particularly after the failures of the GFC. Or did you miss that as well?
What, you mean when numerous economic systems were nearly collapsed due to excessive government spending and bureaucratic overreach?
If you mistake Confucianism for Fascism I think you need your political beliefs reorientated.
American libertarianism == Utopian dreaming. If you like living in individual poverty over societal wealth, go for it but Confucianism has about much relevance to Fascism as does China to Communism today.
> If you mistake Confucianism for Fascism
Nope. Did you forget the “authoritarian state” thing you wrote?
> American libertarianism == Utopian dreaming.
Yup. Of course, socialism == dystopian reality.
Fascism is about more than mere authoritarianism. Confucianism is also about more than mere authoritarianism. You appear to be unable to see beyond that.
As for Socialism, for something you have never really experienced you appear to believe you’re very knowledgeable about it.
Now, why not simply agree that your claims about China are mistaken?
Oh, and perhaps before blaming “collectivist” thinking for the failure of the Chinese amusement park, you’d care to explain the abandoned amusement parks in the USA I’ve read about online? Abandoned, of course before the GFC, when capitalism was king in the USA.
Might it rather be a case of bad economic decisions being made in both cases or is that too fair minded for you?
> why not simply agree that your claims about China are mistaken?
Sure, and I’ll simply agree with my claims about the Earth being more or less spherical are also mistaken.
> Might it rather be a case of bad economic decisions being made
Sure. Collectivism is always a bad economic decision.
>Sure, and I’ll simply agree with my claims about the Earth being more or less spherical are also mistaken.
*SIGH*, obviously you just can’t admit you might have gotten it wrong, can you? There is a name for people such as yourself – “zealots”. As I keep pointing out, China is not a “Communist state”. It is now an almost purely capitalist one. They have turned their backs on the few Communist principles that they once had. My God! They even allow private ownership of real estate now. Can’t get more capitalist than that, now can they? Your problem is that you continually conflate matters of personal freedom with issues of commercial freedom. While interconnected they are not necessarily the same thing, all the time.
>Sure. Collectivism is always a bad economic decision.
Except, as I keep pointing out this wasn’t the result of a “collectivist” decision making process but a commercial one.
Tell me, are the Disney Corporation makers of “collectivist” decisions? That may explain why they have abandoned and disused amusement parks!
You’re something special, I’ll give you that. I repeatedly call China fascist/national socialist, and you repeatedly claim that I’m continually calling them Communist. There’s a word for people like you…
> They even allow private ownership of real estate now. Can’t get more capitalist than that, now can they?
Yes, they can. Clearly your understanding of basic economic principles is pretty minimal.
> this wasn’t the result of a “collectivist” decision making process but a commercial one.
Within the larger context of a collectivist, centrally controlled economy. Same central authority that has built entire cities in the middle of nowhere and then abandoned them.
That’s pretty much stock-standard national socialism. Property owned by individuals who are allowed to pursue profit… so long as they do so within the goals of the State. Capitalism as a subset of over-arching collectivism. See: Detroit.
>You’re something special, I’ll give you that. I repeatedly call China fascist/national socialist, and you repeatedly claim that I’m continually calling them Communist. There’s a word for people like you…
Truthful?
You appear unable to differentiate between “Communist” and “Socialist”. Not surprising as its obvious your political education is lacking.
> Yes, they can. Clearly your understanding of basic economic principles is pretty minimal.
Ha! This, from you? You got to be kidding me!
Private ownership of property is anaethema to socialism. Yet here we have the PRC a supposedly Socialist nation in your view, allowing it! Funny, looks like the Emperor’s new clothes aren’t any good.
> Within the larger context of a collectivist, centrally controlled economy. Same central authority that has built entire cities in the middle of nowhere and then abandoned them.
The PRC’s economy is no more a “collectivist, centrally controlled” one than the USA’s is. Oops! I forgot, the US’s economy has been a centrally controlled one since Teddy Roosevelt’s days, now hasn’t it?
> That’s pretty much stock-standard national socialism. Property owned by individuals who are allowed to pursue profit… so long as they do so within the goals of the State. Capitalism as a subset of over-arching collectivism. See: Detroit.
You really do know nothing about China, do you? China doesn’t centrally direct what individuals do, economically, any more, Toto. 🙂
Cuba looks to allow private property now. China is a unique case. I cannot help but wonder if Tiananmen Square’s failure was due to cultural differences and a lack of “Youth Culture.” The fall of the Belin Wall had as much if not more to do with Pink Floyd’s The Wall than it did with Reagan or the Pope who seem to get all the praise. Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement was pro-Union. Thing is–communists hate unions as much as pure capitalists do. Also, kids in Europe made the fall of the wall feel more like a soccer riot and a rave combined.
In China, stability is god. I cannot help but wonder if the youth in Tiananmen felt somehow shamed into giving up on some level…
The world’s 10 incredible abandoned amusement parks – http://amusementparksoftheworld.com/amusement/10-most-incredible-abandoned-theme-parks-on-earth/
Gee, and _none_ of them are in China. One is in the Ukraine (then Soviet Union) but its closure cannot really be blamed on “collectivist” decision making but I’m sure you’ll stretch your bow to try and include it.
All those capitalist countries, all those abandoned amusement parks…
> Gee, and _none_ of them are in China
Give them time. They’re new to the “theme park” thing. Hell, they’re new to the whole “profit motive” thing. They’ve been subjected to thousands of years of collectivism… living for the state though the Emperor, then for the State through Mao. And they’ve had a decade or so of learning how to live at least a little bit like free humans. If you abuse a dog from birth to adulthood and then suddenly give it freedom, you can’t expect it to get things right right out the gate. So the Chinese will make a lot more stuff and get it really, really wrong before they figure it out.
And I find it entertaining as hell that you choose to exclude Chernobyl from the list of collectivist failures.
Was Three Mile Island, Sellafield and Fukashima all the result of “collectivist thinking” as well?
TMI: Nope. of course, it is entirely unlike Cherbobyl: no deaths, no injuries, no radiation leaks.
Sellafield: I believe it was owned and operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Government, yes?
Fukushima: I seem to recall it got bitchslapped by a newsworthy earthquake and an even more newsworthy tsunami.
Chernobyl was a disaster because it was designed and operated by commie dipshits who didn’t give a rats ass about anything remotely resembling safety. Fukushima was a disaster because it was an antiquated design that got hit with a major natural disaster; sadly, it should have been replaced years earlier by newer, more advanced and safer reactors, but the development of such reactors had ground to a halt due to the interference of anti-nuclear activists.Sellafield was hardly a disaster, just something of a mess… a mess operated by the British government. TMI was a disaster because anti-nuclear activists convinced the public that it was a disaster, when in fact it was *not* a disaster, and has run for three decades since then without sullying the local environment.