Offbeat

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UPDATE: Looks like the voting is evenly split (3 vs 2, but one of those 3 was me). As a result, I'll keep things mostly the same for this community. No big changes coming. We'll keep this community focused on weird stories/events but I'll give the "news" part a little bit of wiggle room.

-----Original Post-----

Good evening guys, gals, and non-binary pals -

I know this isn't the biggest community on Lemmy, but I would love to hear your feedback on the future direction of this place. I've been thinking about this for a while and @BlameThePeacock's recent post inspired me to actually post about it.

The original idea for this community was to be a Lemmy equivalent of /r/offbeat on Reddit. A place for weird, strange, and offbeat things that happen in the news. Kind of like nottheonion, but with a broader scope.

I've been noticing that sometimes people post things that are interesting and very much offbeat, but not what you would traditionally consider as news. I haven't been removing these posts, but I have been aware of them. I've even got a report about one of them not being news. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4

So I guess what I'm asking, would you rather that we stick more to strictly being "Offbeat News" or broaden our horizons to being just "Offbeat". "Offbeat" would still include weird things that happen in the news but also include other weird but interesting things out in the world that aren't strictly news articles. I personally feel like the latter would be an interesting direction to take, but ultimately I'm not looking to alienate the people that enjoy this community.

Cheers,

TWG

EDIT: If you'd rather vote instead of leaving a comment, here's a poll: https://strawpoll.com/GeZAOpGVJnV

I love Mattias Krantz and his wacky music projects.

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Summary

• The State Guest Mansions project was a real estate development in Shenyang, China, that was abandoned after two years of construction.

• The project was supposed to create 260 European-style mansions for affluent residents, but it was never completed.

• The reasons for the abandonment are unclear, but locals suspect that corruption might have been the cause, as funding had been discontinued, and unauthorized construction crackdowns had left the project incomplete.

• The mansions are now being used by farmers for their crops and livestock.

• Ghost towns are not uncommon in China, and there are an estimated 65 million empty houses in the country.

• The rise of ghost cities in China is due to a number of factors, including government policies and oversupply of housing.

Additional Details

• The State Guest Mansions project was developed by the Greenland Group, a major Chinese real estate company.

• The project was located in the hills near Shenyang, a major city in northeastern China.

• The mansions were designed to be luxurious, with marble floors, chandeliers, and coffered ceilings.

• The project ran into financial difficulties within two years of constructions.

• The Greenland Group has not commented on the reasons for the abandonment of the State Guest Mansions project.

The article also mentions the issue of ghost towns in China. Ghost towns are areas that have been built up but are largely uninhabited. There are an estimated 65 million empty houses in China, which is enough to accommodate the entire population of France.