When Americans think of mega projects, they might think of the Hoover Dam, The Manhattan
Project or The Apollo Program. These projects are really amazing, but if you live in China,
you will probably have a different list of mega projects. Hey, welcome to Trip Bitten and my name
is Miguel and I've been living in china for 12 years now and whenever I return home to the United
States or when I talk to people from the us, they never believe me when I talk about China's mega
projects and what they've been building in the last decades. They often end up Googling these
projects to verify my story and wonder why they have never heard of these projects before. So, in
this video, I will list 10 projects that Americans won't believe China's been building. Some of you
might already know some of these projects, but I hope to introduce you to a few that you haven't
seen before and that even surprised me. I will start with number 10 on my list and work my way
to number one, which I think is pretty amazing because I don't want to blow everybody's mind
right away. So let's jump in with number 10, which is the Gansu wind farm. Many foreigners think
China is polluted and dirty, which is true in many parts of the country, but China has been investing
billions of dollars into renewable energy and now has some of the largest renewable energy projects
in the world. The Gansu wind farm project is one example. The project is located in desert
areas near the city of Jiuquan and is one of six national wind power mega projects approved by the
government. It is the largest onshore wind farm in the world and according to the Northwest Renewable
Energy Institute, it has 7 000 wind turbines producing 20 gigawatts of power and was completed
in 2021 at a cost of $15 billion US dollars. This is just one renewable energy mega project
that made the list. The next mega project on our list coming in at number nine is the Daxing
International Airport in Beijing. It's really impressive and I've actually been there, so I'll
show you some of those clips now. I even got to go behind the scenes a little to see how it operates.
The most impressive part of the mega project to me is the fact that it was completed in just under
five years. Construction of the airport began in December 2014 and it was opened in September 2019.
According to airport technology, Daxing Airport was developed at a cost of $17 billion US dollars.
It is expected to handle 27 million passengers by 2025 and up to 100 million passengers upon
farther expansion. This is a stunning building and will be a great addition to the capital.
Back down on earth, we have number eight which is the Huanghe Hydropower Solar Farm, which is
china's largest solar farm with a capacity of 2.2 gigawatts. The solar farm is located in
Qinghai Province and is the second largest in the world, second only to the 2.245 gigawatt capacity
Bhadla solar farm in India. Like I said earlier, China is investing heavily in renewable energy
and this is another example. The farm is reported to have cost $2.2 billion US dollars
and is part of a planned 16 gigawatt renewable power complex, which includes two converter
stations of eight gigawatts. Americans couldn't even dream of a solar farm of this size and scope.
Speaking of dreams the next mega project will have you floating in the clouds the Beipanjiang Bridge
is number seven on our list and it is a four-lane cable bridge on the border between Guizhou
and Yunnan. As of 2021, the bridge is the highest in the world with a road deck sitting over 565
meters above the Beipan river. This looks like something out of a sci-fi movie leading to a
city in the clouds, but in reality it is just a really tall bridge. The bridge costs around $140
million US dollars, took three years to build, and required some complicated engineering along
with a lot of brave workers. From the skies to the rivers, the next mega project on our list is the
Three Gorges Dam. This is not a new project, but it is the largest hydropower plant in the world
and the sheer size of it would blow anybody's mind. The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric
gravity dam that spans the Yangtze river. The dam body was completed in 2006 and the power
plant of the dam project was completed and fully functional as of July 2012, which means this mega
project is a little older, but still impressive. The government estimated that the project would
cost $22.5 billion US dollars and estimated in 2009 that the construction cost would be recovered
when the dam had generated 1,000 terawatt hours of electricity, but the full cost of the Three
Gorgeous Dam was recovered by December 2013. We are now moving into the top five megaprojects
on this list and I'd love for you to hit the like button and help push this video out to
more Americans, who may not believe China is actually building these mega projects.
With that said, let's dive under the sea and on to number five on our list which is the Jintang
undersea high-speed railway tunnel. You might not have heard of this project because it was
recently approved and has only just started. After two years of preparation, the core technical
proposal for the project's 16.2 kilometer undersea tunnel, the longest in the country,
passed assessments by a panel of experts. The project is expected to take six to seven years to
complete and once completed the tunnel will allow passengers to travel between Ningbo and Zhoushan
in just 30 minutes, greatly reducing the travel time. I would love to show you new footage,
but because this is a new project there hasn't been much released yet. The project is expected
to cost around $4 billion US dollars and will be the longest underwater high-speed rail line in the
world Speaking of high-speed trains, number four on our list is China's high-speed rail system.
I recently did a video about China's high-speed rails and I'd love for you to check out that video
after you finish watching this one. Basically, China's high-speed rail system is the best in the
world now and they plan on completing over 70 000 kilometers of lines by 2035. I really enjoy riding
the high-speed trains here in China and think this is one of the best ongoing mega projects in China.
They have completed some of the most interesting rail lines like the highest rail line in the world
and now they are working on the longest undersea tunnel in the world. The engineering required to
complete these lines is amazing and I really can't wait to see how many lines they complete
in the future. Step aside SETI, because the next mega project on this list has the best chance of
making first contact. I'm talking about FAST. FAST has a 500 meter diameter dish constructed in a
natural depression in the landscape and it is the world's largest filled aperture radio telescope.
If you love sci-fi movies in the idea of making first contact, like I do, then it isn't surprising
this mega project made the list. Obviously, this is going to be used for a lot more than just
searching for signals, but it is still exciting to think about what discoveries it might uncover.
The telescope took about five and a half years to complete and cost around $110 million US dollars.
In recent years, the telescope has been open to international researchers and hopefully it will
expand our knowledge of the universe. We've made it to number two on our list of mega projects that
Americans won't believe China is building and it is a bridge. I'm sure you can guess, which bridge
I'm talking about and if you guessed the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau bridge, you would be right.
This bridge is really interesting because of the engineering complexities that the team needed to
overcome to build this structure. I used to work for a media company and we did a video
about the construction and talked to the project manager. It was really interesting because this
type of bridge had never been built before. The Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau bridge is a 55 kilometer
bridge tunnel system consisting of a series of three cable stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel,
and four artificial islands. It is both the longest sea crossing and the longest open sea
fixed link in the world. The bridge opened in 2018 and costs around $18.8 billion US dollars.
Despite some controversies, the bridge was completed and it is an engineering marvel.
If you made it this far into the video I'm sure you like this type of content and I would
love for you to hit the like button, because it really helps push the video out to more people
and more people can learn about these amazing projects that China is building. Also, consider
subscribing to the channel for more videos like this one. Okay, on to number one on my list, we
have been in the sky, on the ground, and under the sea, so now it is time to blast off into space.
The number one most unbelievable mega project, in my mind, is China's space program. I grew up
watching Star Trek and Star Wars and Stargate and Firefly and The X-files; and one of the best trips
I had when I was young was going to Cape Canaveral with my father and visiting the Kennedy Space
Center and a few years ago when I went to Russia, I really enjoyed visiting the Cosmonaut Museum.
So, of course, China's space program was going to be number one on my list and for good reason
beyond my personal fascination. China is one of only three countries that have independently
sent humans into space and built a space station, the US and Russia, being the other two countries.
Another thing the space program accomplished was on January 3rd 2019, Chang'e 4, China's lunar
rover successfully landed on the far side of the moon. The rover was able to transmit data back
to earth, despite the lack of radio frequencies on the far side, via dedicated satellites sent
earlier to orbit the moon. The landing and data transmission was considered a landmark achievement
for human space exploration. It was the first far side landing in history. Basically, I could
make a whole video about China's space program and what they have planned in the future, but I would
suggest reading more about the program, if you are unaware of their accomplishments. "Remember
the truth is out there!" So, there you have it, 10 megaprojects that Americans won't believe
China has built. All joking aside, I do think it is important to share this type of content to
help bridge the gap between the two nations. If both nations only focus on the negative aspects
of each country people will not trust each other, which could lead to future conflicts
and misunderstandings. Thank you for watching and don't forget to hit the subscribe button
and the like button to help this video reach more people; and if you want to see another interesting
video, I did make a video about China's trains. So, click here and see you in that video. Bye!