HOW IT STARTED: Chinese property giant close to collapse. China Evergrande, once the country’s second-largest real estate developer, is drowning in debt. Some 1.5 million people have put deposits on new homes that have yet to be built. A collapse could be catastrophic.

—Deutsche Welle, September 16th, 2021. 

How it’s going: “China has built 65 to 80 million vacant homes, enough to shelter the entire population of Germany, as millions struggle to find affordable housing. But the numbers only tell part of the story. Behind these ghost cities are real people who are trapped in a broken system.”