China is able to pivot quickly on projects of enormous scale in part due to its political structure. I doubt many western countries would pivot so quickly and drastically for national interests in whatever you call this version of capitalism.
Tell me you're living half a decade in the past without telling me. "Ghost cities" are actually areas where the state preplanned urbanization so everything would be in place when people started moving in. In fact, most of these "ghost cities" are actually populated now.
Edit: could someone please explain why I'm being downvoted? I've provided a source to back up my statements. Or is this a case of "everything about China is bad because Red Scare"?