Inspired by Dubai and bloated by the outsize ambitions of a disgraced Chinese property developer, Ocean Flower Island, a cluster of man-made islets in the South China Sea, flopped as a business. But it still dazzles as a breathtaking fiesta of fantasy and folly.
坐落于南海的人工岛群海花岛灵感源自迪拜，又因一位身败名裂的中国地产商的过度野心而盲目扩张，最终以失败告终。但时至今日，这片土地依旧满眼光怪陆离的幻想与荒唐，令人瞠目。
The hugely expensive, partially completed project — a gigantic shopping mall without shops, a theme park without visitors, dozens of abandoned high-rise housing blocks and artificial beaches too dangerous to swim — helps explain why China's yearslong real estate crisis never really seems to end. There is so much money and so much hope entangled in the wreckage that it is too big to clear away quickly.
这一项目耗资巨亿、建设却半途而废，偌大的购物中心空无商铺，主题乐园不见游客，数十栋高层住宅烂尾闲置，人工海滩凶险到无法下水游泳，它成了中国房地产危机何以多年难以得到解决的缩影。巨额资金与无数希冀深陷这片废墟，体量之大，使它难以很快得到清理。
“This place is a dead zone,” said Zhou Qingbin, a visitor from the nearby coastal city of Danzhou. The municipal government of Danzhou now controls much of Ocean Flower Island and is struggling to figure out what to do with it.
「这地方成了死城，」来自附近沿海城市儋州的游客周庆斌（音）说。如今儋州市政府掌控着海花岛的大部分区域，却始终苦于不知该如何盘活这片烂摊子。
本月，游客们聚集在海花岛童世界海洋乐园入口处的广场上——这座游乐园从未开放过。
两名男子在废弃的海花二号岛上垂钓。
It was built by Evergrande, a Chinese real estate developer that collapsed under more than $300 billion of debt in 2021. Evergrande's implosion and the troubles of other big property developers have shattered confidence in real estate, once an important driver of China's economic growth.
海花岛由恒大集团打造，这家中国房地产开发商2021年因背负超3000亿美元债务轰然崩塌。恒大崩盘及 其他大型开发商 的困境重创了人们对房地产行业的信心——而该行业曾是中国经济增长的重要引擎。
New home sales have dropped to their lowest level in more than 15 years, according to figures released by the statistics bureau in Beijing on Monday. The sector has become such a headache that the Chinese authorities recently began censoring pessimistic online posts about the property market.
据中国国家统计局本周一发布的数据，中国 新房销量 已跌至15年多来的最低水平。房地产行业的困局已然成为棘手难题，中国官方近期甚至开始审查网路上对楼市的悲观言论。
And yet, the Danzhou government seems to be pressing on with Evergrande's original concept. It was intended as a Chinese version of Dubai's Palm Island Jumeirah — only bigger. Evergrande sank around $12 billion, most of it borrowed, into what was supposed to be China's biggest built-from-scratch entertainment, conference and shopping destination, with the islets forming the petals of a flower.
尽管如此，儋州市政府似乎仍在延续恒大最初的规划构想。这座岛原本被定位为中国的迪拜朱美拉棕榈岛，且规模更甚。恒大为其投入约120亿美元（大部分通过借贷），欲将其打造成中国从零开始建设的最大娱乐、会展与购物胜地，几座人工岛排布成花瓣的形状。
该项目包含一座规划中的国际购物中心。
游客漫步于海花岛会议展览中心的展馆之间。开发商恒大集团为这个集零售、住宅和娱乐于一体的综合体投入了约120亿美元。
That investment, though huge, fell short of the $23 billion the company said it needed to build apartments to house up to 200,000 people. That has left Ocean Flower Island in limbo. Before its collapse, Evergrande said it had completed 60,000 apartments and handed them over to buyers. Other buildings, however, never rose beyond their concrete foundations, which, flooded by rainwater, have become fishing holes. Thirty-nine high-rise apartment blocks that were nearly finished but never sold are marooned on a wasteland of rubble.
即便投入如此巨资，仍远不及恒大宣称的、为建设可容纳20万人居住的住宅所需的230亿美元。这也让海花岛陷入了进退两难境地。破产前，恒大称已建成并交付6万套住宅，但其余建筑大多只打下水泥地基，如今它们被雨水淹没，竟成了垂钓地点。 39栋接近完工却从未开售的高层住宅如今孤独地矗立在满是瓦砾的荒地上。
The whole project was the brainchild of Xu Jiayin, Evergrande's founder and former chairman, who was once China's richest man and is now in jail. A gushing account by Evergrande said Mr. Xu came up with the idea for Ocean Flower Island during a 2011 vacation in Singapore. Sequestered in his room, the company said, he sketched out designs for an artificial archipelago in the shape of a bougainvillea and “meticulously oversaw every detail.”
整个项目都出自恒大创始人、前董事长许家印的构想。他曾是中国首富，如今却身陷囹圄。恒大曾大肆宣扬，许家印2011年在新加坡度假时萌生了打造海花岛的想法。据公司描述，许家印当时闭门不出，勾勒出形似三角梅的人工岛群设计图，「对每个细节都精益求精」。
But he did not appear to have nailed down how the project would make enough money to build the fake islands and pay back a growing pile of debt to Chinese and foreign lenders. Evergrande also needed to persuade officials in China's southern province of Hainan to sign off on a venture that violated environmental protection and other laws.
但他似乎从未理清这个项目该如何创造足够的收益，支撑人工岛的建设，偿还不断累积的中外贷款。恒大还需说服中国海南省的官员，批准这一违反环保等多项法规的项目。
Zhang Qi, the former mayor and Communist Party chief of Danzhou, who approved Ocean Flower Island, was convicted of corruption in 2020 and sentenced to life in prison. Other local officials have also been convicted on various corruption charges, including the former governor and party secretary of Hainan, Luo Baoming, who was jailed for 15 years in December for taking around $16 million in bribes.
当年批准海花岛建设的儋州市前市长、市委书记张琦2020年因贪污被判无期徒刑；多位当地官员也因各类贪腐指控获刑，其中包括海南省前省长、省委书记罗保铭，他去年12月因收受1.13亿元贿赂被判15年有期徒刑。
From its inception, Ocean Flower Island was driven by the same idea that drove much of China's frenzy of construction during a decades-long economic boom: Build it and they will come.
从诞生之初，海花岛的建设逻辑就与中国数十年经济繁荣期内疯狂建设的理念如出一辙：先建好，自然会有人来。
恒大崩盘时，39栋高楼公寓即将竣工却无人问津。一排排空置的大厦矗立在废墟荒原之中。
在海花岛项目中开发最密集的二号岛街头理发。该岛主要由老年人居住。
In a country with 1.4 billion people and expectations of ever-rising incomes, this was for years a safe bet, until it wasn't. In 2021, Beijing, worried by out-of-control lending, issued a directive restricting access to loans by property developers. Credit from banks, the biggest of which are controlled by the state, dried up. Evergrande seized up.
在这个拥有14亿人口、民众普遍预期收入会持续增长的国家，这一逻辑多年来都是稳妥之选——直到有一天不再如此。 2021年，北京担忧信贷失控，出台新规限制房企融资，银行信贷——其中最大的几家银行由国家控制——随之枯竭，恒大就此陷入僵局。
The Danzhou government is trying to keep the project alive. It pitches Ocean Flower Island to Chinese vacationers and would-be home-buyers as a “unique lifestyle concept.” There are no reliable estimates of the current population, beyond the thousands of people who initially purchased properties — a fraction of early projections.
儋州市政府仍在竭力维持项目运转，将海花岛向中国游客和潜在购房者包装成「独特生活方式理念」。目前岛上的实际居住人口尚无可靠统计，最初购房者有数千人——这一数字与早期规划相去甚远。
Unlike Palm Island in Dubai, where the grand villas were snapped up by celebrities, soccer stars and foreign officials looking for a sunny sanctuary, Ocean Flower Island drew mostly retirees from northern China looking for a warm place to winter. The main street in the residential area is lined with restaurants offering northern specialties like steamed buns and hot pot, as well as geriatric health care services.
杜拜朱美拉棕榈岛的豪华别墅早已被追寻阳光的名流、球星和外国官员抢购一空；而海花岛吸引的购房者大多是中国北方寻觅温暖过冬之地的退休老人。住宅区的主街两侧林立着主打包子、火锅等北方特色美食的餐馆，还有各类老年康养机构。
Zhang Qun, 70, a retiree from the province of Heilongjiang, said that when he bought his apartment five years ago there were crowds of people at the Evergrande office clamoring to buy.
70岁的张群（音）是来自黑龙江的退休老人，他说五年前买房时，恒大售楼处里挤满了抢购的人群。
Today, the office is littered with old brochures and property contracts and is staffed with government-supervised clerks responsible for sorting out paperwork for properties purchased years ago. If Mr. Zhang sold his apartment now, he would lose half his investment.
如今的售楼处散落着陈旧的宣传册和购房合同，由政府监管的工作人员负责处理数年前的房产手续。如果现在卖掉房子，张群的投资会亏掉一半。
1月初，在一家房地产中介门外，一名销售人员正寻找潜在的公寓买家。
二号岛上的住宅区主要居住着来自中国其他地区的老年人。
The only other traces of Evergrande are vending machines stocked with dusty bottles of “Evergrande Spring” mineral water. Mr. Xu, Evergrande's former chairman, vanished from public view in 2021. A report last March by the Supreme People's Procuratorate said that he had been prosecuted for crimes including financial fraud and disorderly financial management. It did not say whether he had been convicted or where he was.
岛上能见到的恒大痕迹只剩自动售货机里积灰的「恒大冰泉」矿泉水瓶。恒大前董事长许家印2021年便从公众视野中消失，中国最高人民检察院去年3月发布公告称，其因涉嫌非法集资、挪用资金等罪名被提起公诉，并未提及判决结果和其现居地。
“A lot of people lost money because of Evergrande, and are angry,” said Li Yanbo, a real estate agent on Ocean Flower Island.
「很多人因为恒大亏了钱，心里都是怨气，」海花岛的房产中介李延波（音）说。
Those who bought apartments early made big profits, at least on paper, as the price per square yard more than tripled between 2015 and a 2021 peak. Those who arrived late lost their shirts.
早期买房的人曾获利颇丰，至少账面上是如此——2015年至2021年房价峰值期间，这里的房价每平方米涨幅超两倍；而后期入场的购房者赔得血本无归。
But Evergrande, Mr. Li added, was not all bad: “Some people think they were cheated, but there are others who would never have had a chance to get an apartment if not for Evergrande.”
但李延波也说，恒大并非一无是处：「有人觉得自己被骗了，可也有不少人，如果不是恒大，这辈子都没机会拥有一套属于自己的房子。」
Property prices on Ocean Flower Island, he added, have stabilized somewhat.
他还说，如今海花岛的房价已趋于稳定。
Nearly every city in China has unfinished tower blocks left stranded by Evergrande's demise. But probably nowhere has Mr. Xu's hubris left such a high concentration of excess as in Ocean Flower Island.
恒大的崩塌在中国几乎每个城市都留下了烂尾楼，但因许家印的狂妄自大造成过度的资源集中，恐怕海花岛无出其右。
海花岛某酒店内一座空置的露天游泳池。
人们穿梭于服装店之间，驻足选购。
To help accommodate what was supposed to be a flood of tourists, Evergrande built The Castle, a hotel with 5,100 rooms. Its two outdoor swimming pools have been drained of water, and the hotel has stayed afloat by catering to budget travelers on peak-season package tours. For much of the year, it is largely empty.
为迎接预想中蜂拥而至的游客，恒大打造了拥有5100间客房的「海花岛欧堡酒店」。如今酒店的两个室外泳池早已抽干积水，全靠旺季的廉价旅行团勉强维持运营，一年中大部分时间都空空荡荡。
The sound of wind whistles through the broken windows of luxury coastal villas fit for Russian oligarchs. Some have been taken over by laborers who sleep on the floor.
海风穿过那些本为俄罗斯寡头打造的滨海豪华别墅的破窗，发出呼啸声。部分别墅已被务工者占据，他们直接打地铺居住。
Shopping streets featuring Italian, German, Chinese and other styles of architectures look like deserted movie sets.
融合了义大利、德国、中式等多种建筑风格的商业街，宛如被遗弃的电影布景。
A plaza flanked by eight fake churches, including a red brick structure resembling a cathedral, is meant as an Instagram-able setting for wedding photos. The churches are now used as the backdrop for a sound and light show.
广场两侧矗立着八座仿建教堂，其中一座红砖建筑形似天主教主座教堂，原本是为打造网红婚纱照取景地而建，如今却成了灯光秀的背景板。
Ocean Flower Island still has believers.
但海花岛仍有自己的信徒。
游客查看海花岛的旅游地图。
Wang Xian, a retired banker from the northern province of Hebei, acknowledged that Evergrande's founder “went too far and thought he could do anything.”
来自河北的退休银行职员王贤（音）坦言，恒大创始人「步子迈得太大，总觉得自己无所不能」。
But with around 300 million Chinese people retiring over the next decade, he noted, many will want to find a sunny and safe place to live. “If just 1 percent come here,” he said, “this place will be a big success.”
但他也指出，未来十年，中国将有近3亿人步入退休，其中许多人都想找一处阳光充足、安稳宜居的地方生活。 「只要有1%的人来这里，」他说。 「这地方就能迎来大发展。」
