There are no guards, fighter jets or air traffic controllers at Shaoguan's military airport.
Children cycle around the cowpats and weeds on the runway and ducks paddle in a pond 50 metres from the abandoned flight control tower.
The duck keeper, a man in his 40s who lives in a farmhouse next to the pond, says he hasn't seen a plane for years. 'The last time I saw a plane landing has got to be over eight years ago,' he says. 'For a long time there has been talk of expanding the airport for civil use, but there is no sign of that happening.'
It's probably not the picture Guangdong policymakers had in mind two years ago when they announced a plan costing 300 million yuan (HK$342.22 million) to revive Shaoguan Guitou airport by this year in order to boost investment and tourism in the city, Guangdong's northern gateway. Under the plan, the airport would become a regional air traffic hub, specialising in short- and medium-haul flights. But the airport's prospects have not improved since the Wuhan to Guangzhou high-speed railway began operating at the end of last year.
Shaoguan is about 220 kilometres north of Guangzhou, and that means three to five hours by car, or two hours in traditional trains. But the high-speed trains have cut the travel time from Guangzhou to Shaoguan to just 45 minutes.
Shaoguan is hardly an isolated case. Just like the frenzy to build airports a few years ago, mainland cities are now scrambling to be part of the nation's ambitious high-speed railway network.