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I am still in the Arctic, so today’s guest
video comes from Collin Rodefer

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over at the Collin Sphere Travel Vlog, who’s
reporting from China.

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Nice to meet you, my name is Collin and here
we are in beautiful Shanghai, China.

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Home to tens of millions of people,

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Shanghai is one of the most populated cities
in the world.

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You might know some attractions that Shanghai
has to offer,

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such as the Bund, Nanjing Road,

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and even the newly opened Disneyland.

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But despite the enormous population,

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you might be surprised to find out that here
lies, within this city,

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fully built newly constructed towns that remain
virtually empty.

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Modern day ghost towns.

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Located at the end of subway line 9 lies Thames
Town,

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an English style ghost town with street names
such as Prince and Harry Street.

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It’s what you might expect from a replica
town which even sports many statues

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of well-known figures from English history
and culture.

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This town was originally built to service
a thriving community.

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And with shop signs that read “open”,

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you have to take a closer look to realise
that the fresh fruits

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that are on display in the windows are actually
fake

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and that these shots are, in fact, abandoned.

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On the chance that you do encounter people,

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it’s not hard to see that this town serves
more as a place of tourism,

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and even more so, a backdrop for wedding photography.

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Completed in 2006, Thames Town was one of
nine Western-style towns

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to be built on the outskirts of Shanghai.

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In order to alleviate pressure and congestion
within the city centre.

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It was reported that it cost ¥5 billion to
complete,

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and can house up to 10,000 people.

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Its sole purpose was to house students and
staff at nine universities

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in nearby Songjiang University City.

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As you can tell, ten years later,

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it just hasn’t met that purpose.

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After walking the perimeter of the town,

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which only occupies one square kilometre of
space,

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and seeing nothing but empty residential after
residential,

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I decided to test my luck and head into the
city centre

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to see what kind of lively events Thames Town
has to offer

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on a summer’s weekend night.

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Nothing.

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So why did this happen?

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Why did this fail?

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Well, once the town was completed,

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the majority of properties were bought up
by wealthy investors and individuals

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looking to make businesses and this place
their second home.

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As naturally, as demand rises, prices rise,

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and in this case prices skyrocketed,

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making it unattainable for universities to
provide accommodation

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for their students and staff.

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So with the majority of properties purchased,

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you end up with a lot of empty shops, and
you have all the businesses

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trying to provide services for around 1,000
people

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when the population should really be around
ten times that.

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When you think of a ghost town,

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you may think of the classic Western American
towns we all see in movies

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with the ever-so-classic tumbleweeds being
blown into the distance.

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The difference between a town like that and
this,

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is that those towns one point developed communities

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and now we just have the remains of the buildings

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– whereas here everything is new and clean,
and is just...

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existing.

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Walking to this town, you definitely get an
eerie feeling here,

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and it kind of almost feels like the Truman
Show,

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as in you know there’s people living here,

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however something about it just feels fake.

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The best way to describe it, I would say,

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is it kind of feels like a Hollywood set.

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But behind closed doors it doesn’t feel
so Hollywood,

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and you get a totally different feeling.

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Searching around, I was able to get into a
small coffee shop called Andy Coffee,

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and with the counters turned over and the
chairs thrown around,

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you get the feeling that previous owners just
up-and-left the place.

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Like, they had to be suddenly evacuated.

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In that moment, I was rather paranoid about
being in there, but in hindsight,

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I really should have just sat down and brewed
myself a coffee.

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The thought that I keep trying to shake is
that

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this is an actual community where people actually
live their lives,

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rather than just being a tourist attraction.

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And there’s reasons why there have been
many comparisons to the EPCOT Center,

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and I have to keep reminding myself that I
can stay here as long as I want.

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There is no closing time.

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It’s… it’s quite interesting to say
the least, and would I live here?

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Definitely.

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Definitely, if I could afford it.

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If you were to ask me how English this is
town actually feel,

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I would say that other than the Chinese characters
around every corner,

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and other tell-tale signs such as bamboo scaffolding,

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you would have a hard time differentiating
between Thames Town and an actual English

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town.

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Of course you can nitpick the small things,

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like windows being larger in comparison,

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but this is just a preference of Chinese culture.

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The middle ground lies somewhere in both the
English and Chinese undying love for tea.

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Now whether this town is deemed successful
or not, that’s not my call.

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And although the town did not meet its initial
purpose,

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the fact that the majority of the properties
were purchased,

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coupled with the fact that China is now building
another one of these towns in Beijing,

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tells me that they see something worthwhile
in building these little western towns.

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Once again, my name is Collin, and thank you
for experiencing this amazing place with me.

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Thank you, Collin!

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Go subscribe to his channel now,

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links are in the description or on screen.

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He’s got loads of great videos like that.

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And what I love about that is finding out
that the replica version of London

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has exactly the same property bubble problem
as the real version of London.

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Next time, the final guest video:

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and it’s about something that you’ve probably
seen and probably didn’t want to.