Dandong's city government has moved offices to the area, but the thickets of surrounding high-rise buildings remain unfinished and empty.

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From the 1950s onwards, the collective turned a once sleepy, small town of 6, 000 into a city with massive high-rise buildings and a population of exactly 67, 881 in 1989.

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The city thus spends vast amounts of energy to air-condition its high-rise hotels, skyscrapers, stadiums and other buildings.

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This city of seven million people living in various high rise towers at the base of sea-surrounded mountains is gleaming with shiny new buildings, expensive cars, and prestige-brand shopping malls.

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