Well, things haven't changed much over the centuries. They used slave labor to create the Great Wall. Same thing now for the empty cities.

You will say, "But the workers who built the city were paid!" What were they paid with? Tax money from people who can't afford to move in to the city that their own taxes paid for.

The situation is just as messed up in China as in the USA where people live in tent cities because they can't afford to pay for the houses that they used live in.

America is great! China is great! So say all the respective governments' pamphlets that attempt to advertise their respective countries.