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Victims of China’s real estate boom catch the eye of photographer, whose images of families forced to live in unfinished buildings earn awards honour
- A recent boom in China’s real estate industry has led to buildings being left incomplete, and some homebuyers have had little choice but to move in
- At least it’s ‘free’ compared to paying rent elsewhere, explains photographer Weimin Chu, who documented their high-rise life without power or piped water
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Over the past several decades, China has gone through a period of unprecedented, rapid economic development.
In particular, the real estate industry has grown to account for between 10 to 12 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and, until the coronavirus pandemic, it seemed as if the number of residential projects in China was going to increase exponentially.
But this accelerated development and an overheated economy has left some people in the dark – literally. In cities across China, everyday homebuyers have found themselves in the predicament of living in unfinished buildings, many without access to electricity or water.
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These residential projects, often referred to as lan wei, or incomplete buildings, are by-products of the booming property market that emerged after China opened its doors to foreign investments in the 1980s. While China has sought to reinvigorate its property sector following its debt crisis, this unfinished building problem has never gone away.
“A lot of unqualified small developers went into the market,” says Weimin Chu, whose photographs of China’s unfinished buildings recently received an honourable mention in the 2023 World Press Photo Contest’s Asia category.
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