China’s Desert Mystery
Ever since @habitualpixel posted this article from Gizmodo on these gigantic structures being built in the deserts of China, I’ve been intrigued on what the heck they could be. I did a bit more digging into Google Earth’s historic aerials and found some earlier shots of the whatevertheheckitis.
Here’s the site in 2003: pristine and desert-y:
Then boom, they’re building this thing in April 2005, which proves it’s actually a thing, and not some weird trick Google is playing on us:
And in less than a month, in May 2005, they’re finished. It should be noted that there wasn’t any other period where aerial images were a month apart. Someone clearly wanted this documented:
So what the heck is it? My theory, it was part of a test to see if they could dress up the desert like the Bird’s Nest Stadium in advance of the 2008 Olympics. Got a better theory?
Google Maps: See for yourself
Gizmodo: Why Is China Building These Gigantic Structures In the Middle of the Desert?
