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Posh Beijing homes obscure historical
sites
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - "Buy a new home, drive a new car" -
these are China's new rallying cries as the government
tries to spur consumption and maintain the country's
mind-boggling economic growth of the past two decades.
But as the serene grounds of the Fragrant Hills
in the capital's outskirts and the vicinity of the Great
Wall are becoming dotted with the vacation homes of
China's nouveaux riches, government officials are
worried that the policy is destroying the beauty of
beloved tourist spots in the area.
The State
Council has ordered an investigation into luxury villa
projects in the capital following an avalanche of
complaints by the public that rich buyers are snapping
up homes built on the grounds of scenic places
considered national heritage sites.
Expensive
projects are aiming to raise villas near sacred relic
spots on the Fragrant Hills such as the Reclining Buddha
Temple and the Azure Clouds Temple, both dating back to
the early 14th century. Under assault too is the scenic
Badaling section of the Great Wall where architects
around the world have been invited to design innovative
vacation homes, which blend in with the local scenery.
"If these developments are left unchecked, in a
few years' time, whenever a tourist approaches the
Fragrant Hills they will be met by a sign that reads:
private property, no tourists allowed," a commentary
published on Qianlong.com, a web site run by Beijing's
Communist Party committee, said last week.
The
trend has made some Chinese Communist Party cadres fear
that a home-buying frenzy, although supported by the
government, is transgressing the boundaries of nature
reserves and historical sites that are considered state
property.
The villa projects have also raised
environmental concerns triggered by fears for the
preservation of cultural relics.
In August, a
government team led by the Ministry of Construction
launched an investigation into villa projects in Beijing
and the adjoining provinces of Henan and Hebei, the
Yangcheng Evening News, a regional newspaper in
Guangdong province, southern China, reported last week.
Two national conferences were convened to
discuss the controversy. The paper quoted Wang Guangtao,
minister of construction, as saying that some tourism
authorities had overlooked the importance of
environmental protection in approving the villa
construction. He added that some tourism bodies were
driven only by profits.
Spurred by Beijing's
successful bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics and the
country's entry into the World Trade Organization last
December, investors are pouring large amounts of money
into expensive developments in the capital.
The
drive to desert crowded downtown areas for a more
luxurious life in houses in protected suburban
surroundings began 10 years ago when the first top-notch
villas came on the market. Rich enclaves with plush
names such as Capital Paradise, Beijing Riviera and
Dynasty Garden originally catered mainly to foreign
executives who could afford to pay as much as 83,000
yuan (US$10,000) a month in rent.
Often built on
what was once barren wasteland, these suburban oases
strive to pack first-class facilities in a small
locality. All of the villa developments boast swimming
pools, health clubs, shops and sometimes even golf
ranges. International schools in downtown Beijing have
followed the trend by building new complexes in the
suburbs.
Yet while only a few years ago these
housing developments were occupied by an expatriate
community, now they, and many new mushrooming on the
capital's outskirts, are focusing on attracting China's
newly affluent classes.
"It all became possible
because the government allowed Chinese buyers to take
mortgages two years ago," says Linda Lee, senior
property consultant with Jiayuan Real Estate Consulting
Co in Beijing.
"True, owning a villa has become
sort of a fashion for middle-class Chinese, but we
wouldn't have seen such a rush to the suburbs without a
relaxation of government policies," she added.
For a country that hardly recognized private
property a generation ago, China's housing boom is
stunning.
Residential areas with auspicious
sounding names like Dragon Gardens are sprouting all
over the country, where the average annual income is
6,869 yuan ($827) for urban dwellers and 2,366 yuan
($285) for those in the countryside. Even the least
expensive villas in some of the new developments cost a
staggering 1.6 million yuan ($192,000), according to
real-estate agents.
If the property happens to
be in the foot of the Fragrance Hills' wooded peaks,
once the hunting grounds of Chinese emperors, then the
price can reach exorbitant levels.
Rose Garden,
Jade Lake, Emerald Green Villas - these are just a few
of the developments that skirt the Badaling expressway
leading to the Great Wall, another hotspot for Beijing
home buyers.
"While foreigners consider
infrastructure and proximity of international schools
most important when deciding whether to live in the
suburbs, Chinese people often rely on advice by fung
shui people [geomancers]," says Linda Lee.
She believes that efforts to stop the stampede
by the affluent to live in places near the Great Wall
would be fruitless. That is because the area is seen by
fung shui masters, experts at the art of placing
structures or objects in favorable locations and
arrangements, as the "head of the dragon", and therefore
considered extremely auspicious.
(Inter Press
Service)
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