The 234-room Pangu Plaza, which opened in December, charges as much as $17,750 a night for a suite. The sushi bar, where the cheapest lunch special is $265, cooks its rice in mineral water flown in from Japan.

Confidence, however, is belied by the cavernous, empty lobby where the only sound is the tapping of the high heels of the crisply attired staff. No paying customers were evident during a weekday afternoon visit, although Seng said that occupancy has reached “up to 30%.”

This is an extreme example, but this sort of scene is EVERYWHERE in China. Weather you’re in the showcase cities of Shanghai and Beijing, in the 2nd tier provincial capitals, or any of the smaller cities. EVERYWHERE you go there is construction and everywhere you go the buildings are UNUSED.

Glad to see the western media is finally opening their eyes to this one. Nice job to the LA Times for this article “Global financial crisis hits Beijing luxury hotels hard“.