Abandoned Chinese island is overgrown by plants (video)
A video has emerged of what appears to be an abandoned and totally overgrown Chineseisland.
Shengshan Island is part of a chain of islands in China's Zhejiang province, to the east of Shanghai.
See also: China's Great Wall is crumbling
The footage shows a village set into the hillside that has been completely overrun with green plants and vines.
The empty houses all seem to be completely covered in ivy plants and visitors can be seen strolling through the abandoned streets.
According to Mashable, the village was abandoned in the early 1990s when the residents, who were mainly fishermen, moved closer to the mainland.
Ivy is an evergreen, woody plant that can climb at least 30 metres in height above ground level - which might explain why these small, square houses have ended up entirely green.
There is a similar abandoned island between the Bronx and Riker's Island in New York. According to Irish Central, the island was once home to a number of quarantine hospitals but has since been declared unsafe for humans to visit.
Another famous abandoned area is Hashima Island in Japan, which rose to fame after its appearance in the 2012 James Bond film, Skyfall.
Hashima lies 15km off the coast of Nagasaki in the south of Japan. The area was formerly known for its undersea coal mines, which closed in 1974 and the population left soon after, leaving the island to slowly fall into disrepair.
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