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It was to be the ultimate urban paradise. Hundreds of pages of plans, maps and charts detailed the construction of a state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China’s Chongming Island, at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

In August 2005 the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corp. hired global engineering firm Arup to design a city for the booming commercial capital of China. Dubbed Dongtan --or "East Beach"--the new satellite city would sit on the edge of the alluvial island of Chongming in the mouth of the Yangtze River.