从某种程度上讲，这些“鬼城”与沙俄的波将金村（Potemkin village）类似，只是为了个路过的沙皇皇后营造印象深刻的幻觉；但中国的鬼城是实实在在的，也许不仅仅是为了取悦领导人。
In a sense, these “ghost cities” resemble the Russian empire’s Potemkin villages, built to create an impressive illusion for the passing Czarina; but China’s ghost cities are real and were presumably meant to do more than flatter the country’s leaders.