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!
