These photos of Chinese theme parks that become ghost towns in the off-season are both creepy and serene

PhotographerStefano Ceriogenerally splits his time between Rome, Italy and Paris, Francebut this past year he journeyedthrough China to explore itsmany and wildly popular amusement parks.Cerio was curious about what theseparks had to offer, but not in the way most visitors are.Fascinated by the idea of "absence," heheaded to the highest populated country in the world to document these parks when they were completely empty. His new book, "Chinese Fun," offers a rare and desolate look at various Chinese amusement parks.The results are both creepy and serene. See for yourself below.SEE ALSO:An eerie tour of the abandoned chinese amusement park that's finally being torn downFive major themes recur in Cerio's work: representation, illusion, vision, expectations, and reality. Here, he questions whether rides, and the parks they reside in, are symbols of happiness, or merely an illusion.Those five themes are explored through recreational areas generally visited by the public for holidays and vacations. What these spaces look like when they're completely empty allows us to see them in a new light ' and to question their existence.General images of amusement rides and carnival food stands usually trigger nostalgic, happy memories. But through Cerio's washed-out, muted color palette ' and especially without people around ' the spaces verge on depressing.See the rest of the story at Business Insider NOW WATCH: This abandoned Chinese island shows what the world might look like without humans
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