万花筒 2013-07-01&07-03 中国经济放缓 城市建设依旧过热

That seems to be the model of cities across China where the economic boom of the past decade has built a lot of empty space. China southwestern city of Chengdu alone is currently building more retail¹ outlets² than 86 European cities combined. All this, as growth slows, the result is looking dangerously like a glut³. The problem, says developer Pan Min, is that many property companies don’t know how to manage their projects. Her firm is building a 39-story office complex, housing a Hilton hotel.

“It feels like we have a glut, because all the companies are building grade-A offices.

If only the developers and government would plan better for various property needs, there’ll be sufficient demand for all.”

Easy money is one of the main drivers of the commercial property buildup.

As the government limited investment into residential⁴ housing to cool prices, people have shifted money to office space, while China’s buildup today is on an unprecedented⁵ scale, not all cities face the same risks, says Patrick Philips, head of the Urban Land Institute. 

--I don’t think it’s to be underestimated that the capacity of the Chinese economy to address challenges like this. But again in certain circumstances, I think the challenge will be very great. And we may need to see solutions we haven’t seen before.

--We does that mean?

--Knocking buildings down. 

Developers in places like Chengdu believe Beijing’s policy to encourage more people to move to  cities will help fill up their buildings. But it already looks too late for some places. Property analyst⁶ Zhang Peng took us to one empty complex, which he says was designed wrong. 

If a building is empty, and you don’t have the people moving in or buying, then the developers will die, they will die in droves.

When that happens, well, this market still have plans willing to invest, it’s really hard to say, because the problems today have accumulated after several years. While China’s property sectors⁷ relatively⁸ restrain debt levels may help it avoid a US-style collapse⁹, many more ghost towns would be dotting china’s landscape soon.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

4 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。