The first plan was for an "eco-city" that would help pull Zhongxian, a remote city on the hilly banks of the Yangtze River in southwest China, out of poverty.
But after a dispute with the local government over land rights, the developers pulled out and all that remains of the green-themed project are half-completed structures and piles of garbage.
Now, Zhongxian's government has seized upon another plan to reinvent its economy: a 1.4 billion yuan ($210 million) online gaming complex that it hopes will cash in on China's fast-growing e-sports market.