The New South China Mall in Dongguan was infamous for being a "ghost mall" despite being the largest shopping mall in the world by total leaseable space. I decided to finally check it out, drawn by a video from Wade Shepherd of Vagabond Journey who had explored its eerie, empty corridors years ago.
Getting there wasn’t easy. Dongguan is a sprawling city of over eight million people, but transportation options to the mall are limited. The subway only has one line, and buses struggle through gridlocked traffic. With no other option, I took a Didi ride to the mall, which was located far from the city center, in a strange, isolated part of the city. As soon as I arrived, I understood why this massive development had earned its ghostly reputation.
Opened in 2005, the mall’s ambitious plan initially included luxury shopping, high-end restaurants, and even a theme park. But the location proved disastrous. It’s not near any major residential or commercial hubs, and without an adequate transportation system, the developers struggled to attract foot traffic. Despite attempts to rebrand it as the “New South China Mall,” which included partnerships with Tsinghua University, the massive retail complex never lived up to its original promise.
Walking through the mall felt surreal. The design was tight and claustrophobic in places, with a confusing layout that seemed to stretch on endlessly. On the upper floors, the businesses thinned out, leaving many parts completely deserted. The fourth floor, where rent is cheapest, was home to small education centers, gyms, and random enterprises that barely attracted any customers. Some of the escalators didn’t even work, and I wandered through entire sections without seeing another person.
The New South China Mall wasn’t just about shopping; like many malls in China, it also housed a variety of other services—education centers, dentists, law offices, and artist studios. But despite these offerings, much of the mall remained eerily quiet.
I finally came across the so-called Amazing World, an indoor amusement park designed to draw families and children. Though the park itself looked promising, the lack of visitors added to the strange, empty atmosphere that dominated the space. As I continued walking, I found the more active sections of the mall, filled mostly with toy stores, baby clothes, and some mid-range dining options like Pizza Hut and hot pot restaurants. But there were no big-name brands like H&M or Gap, as I had expected in such a huge space.
Much of the mall was open-air, which wasn’t ideal for a rainy day like the one I visited on. The rain only added to the sense of desolation. I had expected more people given that it was a Sunday, but the number of visitors was astonishingly low, even for an off-peak time. It was still very much a ghost mall in many areas.
Years ago, I visited the Mall of America in Minnesota, which also had an indoor amusement park and multiple copies of popular stores like Gap and Starbucks. The New South China Mall, by contrast, lacked such duplicated brands and never achieved the level of activity seen in malls like the one in Minnesota. Instead, it felt disjointed, with large empty spaces punctuated by the occasional active business.
As I left the mall, I couldn’t help but wonder what the future held for such a massive, yet largely unused space. Despite its impressive size and ambitious beginnings, the New South China Mall continued to struggle to find its place in modern China.