The Chinese like to invest in property but they do not like to buy property that has been lived in (bad spirits residing left by bad energy etc. )
So their theory is that no one else will want to buy their investment if it has been lived in so they won't rent it out either. Result: ghost town.
This is not the first ghost town I've seen in China. I was watching a documentary with another town featured. I don't remember where it is but it was an enactment of a stylised European town. Like a mix between a London burrow and a German village. It was quite surreal, like the set of a Hollywood studio abandoned.
The only use for it was as a backdrop for couples having their wedding photos taken (which is usually a week before the actual wedding, another interesting cultural difference).
