New apartment towers and gated communities were being constructed simultaneously all around this housing estate while it was only being overgrown with weeds. This development of minimalist concrete cuboidal villas was frozen in an almost complete state. Historical satellite imagery^[1] indicate the site was still in active construction in 2008, but by 2011 was long abandoned and overgrown. While many of these single-family detached homes were complete to the point of featuring glass windows, they were ghostly shells with nothing but bare concrete on the interior except for one which likely was the model unit.

By 2015, demolition^[1] had razed all of the structures to make way for a new gated housing development. This one, called “樾山明月” or Yueshan Bright Moon appears to have been completed by 2018^[1] and is available for buyers.^[2]

Housing developments that are built, never finished, never sold, and then demolished are nothing unusual in China.^[3] This estate is located close to a metro stop in Songjiang district which is part of the One City, Nine Towns^[4] project to shape the future of suburban Shanghai. The driving force that result in this kind of rapid construction which sometimes result in failure is a complicated juncture of issues unique to urban development in China.^[4] Government master plans designate new areas for urban growth and real estate speculation drive investments in construction projects,^[4,
5] often resulting in the famed^[6] “ghost cities” found all over China.