Chinese mall life, seen from inside
A man decorates the Christmas trees beside a blow-up Santa Claus doll that imitates the famous Marilyn Monroe pose before a shopping mall in Taiyuan, central China's Henan province, on December 11, 2013.
Foam fight
Participants enjoy themselves during a "froth party" in front of a shopping mall on June 30, 2015 in Jinhua, Zhejiang province of China. A shopping center hosted the event as part of a mid-year celebration in east China's Zhejiang.
Halloween in China
Visitors walk past a pumpkin lantern show in front of a shopping mall to mark Halloween in Shenyang, in northeast China's Liaoning province, on Oct. 24, 2016.
Halloween in China
A visitor poses for photos during a pumpkin lantern show in front of a shopping mall to mark Halloween in Shenyang on Oct. 24, 2016.
Pizza the polar bear
A polar bear is seen in an aquarium at the Grandview mall in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, July 27, 2016. The plight of the polar bear, named "Pizza," drew outrage from scientists and animal welfare advocates worldwide. In late 2016, the Chinese government said they temporarily relocated the bear to a nature preserve while its enclosure was enlarged.
Snoopy toys galore
A giant Snoopy balloon is seen as part of a Snoopy exhibition at the entrance of the International Financial Center shopping mall in Shanghai, Sept. 3, 2014. The exhibition, which celebrates the anniversary of the famous cartoon creation, displays about 2,000 toys.
Opening Soon
A man sleeps in front of a shopping mall under construction at a shopping district in Beijing, Aug. 29, 2014. China has roughly 4,600 malls and has accounted for more than half of all the malls built worldwide in each of the past three years, according to real estate firm CBRE.
Dragon Slide
A woman passes a slide measuring about 170 feet inside a five-story shopping mall in Shanghai, China, Feb. 16, 2016.
Dragon slide
A general view of a slide measuring about 170 feet inside a five-story shopping mall in Shanghai, China, Feb. 16, 2016.
Orangutan
An orangutan tries on a dress at a shopping mall in Kunming, Yunnan province, China, Aug. 24, 2016.
The Pentagon replica
An aerial view of Shanghai's Pentagonal Mart in Huinan Town of Pudong District, taken on Jan. 20, 2016. A complex resembling the U.S. Pentagon building has become the largest vacant building in Shanghai. Completed in 2009 with a total area of about 500,000 square meters (124 acres), the mall has been left vacant mainly because of its location and confusing inner structures.
Airborne dining car
People dine while lifted about 30 meters (100 feet) above ground on a hazy day in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. The occasion was part of a shopping mall's promotional event on Dec. 31, 2015.
Beijing mall
People walk in an almost empty shopping mall in Beijing on Feb. 15, 2016. Chinese trade slumped in January, authorities said on February 15, as both exports and imports tumbled with feeble domestic and global demand dragging on the world's second-largest economy.
Tall mall
This picture taken on May 1, 2014, shows the 990-foot arch-shaped building intended to house 69 stores, a luxury hotel, offices and shopping mall in Suzhou, eastern China's Jiangsu province.
Children's Day
Children and their parents wait to watch a performance to celebrate International Children's Day next to a balloon decoration at a shopping mall in Beijing, June 1, 2014.
Going up
A woman rides an escalator at a shopping mall in Beijing, China, Sept. 23, 2015. Rising vacancy rates and plummeting rents are increasingly common in Chinese malls and department stores, despite growing retail sales. The answer to that apparent contradiction lies in the rising competition from online shopping, which raked in the equivalent of $610 billion last year.
Year of the rooster
A giant chicken sculpture stands outside a shopping mall in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi province, on Dec. 24, 2016. The mall is ringing in the year of the rooster with a giant sculpture of a chicken that some say resembles U.S. President Donald Trump.