Decrepit: Four Years After Hosting the Beijing Olympics, This Is What China's $40B Investment Looks Like

Okay, to be fair, not all of the $40 billion dollars worth of infrastructure that went into the 2008 Beijing Olympics has been abandoned or destroyed (for instance, they still get some mileage out of that “Bird’s Nest” thing), but, good grief, they've allowed an awful lot of it to fall by the wayside.

Like all things abandoned in China, the following photos have a certain creepiness to them. However, more than just creepy, they’re also kind of depressing.

See, unlike China's empty malls or centrally-planned ghost towns, these Olympics venues weren’t always hollow shells. They were once massive and meticulously orchestrated affairs, exploding with life. Now they’re as cold and lifeless as the system of government that runs that country.

Anyway, that’s how we feel about it [and you should too].

Here are some "before" and "after" photos of China's Olympic venues [via Yahoo's Erick Galindo]:

Fire Works Over the "Bird's Nest"

Fireworks during opening ceremony rehearsals

Yes, those are workers picking trash out of the canal

The Water Cube

This was used for the swimming and diving portion of the Olympics

And now it looks like something from Ridley Scott's "Alien"

Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park

This park is located just north of Beijing

Good Lord ...

Looking good.

The Beijing Baseball Stadium

Lush and green

Go ahead and tell me this doesn't look bad. Please, I look forward to it.

Maybe it's trick photography, right?

The 2008 BMX cycling competition

Not too bad, right?

Yikes.

Britain Celebrates

Lights, lights everywhere

Decrepit

6. The Volleyball Stadium

Preparing for the next round

Totally abandoned

Click here to see more of the slideshow.

This story has been updated.