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Developers 'copy' quaint Austrian village while razing Chinese hamlets
By Wan Lixin |
June 22, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IT is now public knowledge that a real estate arm of Minmetals Corp has started copying a famous Austrian village in Guangdong Province ("Tiny Austrian hamlet is stunned at plans to build a Chinese copy," Shanghai Daily, June 18).
Like all big state-owned enterprises, the mammoth metals and minerals trader has diversified into real estate.
Though Minmetals has not been known for keeping secrets, this time it kept everything under wraps exceedingly well, until the report. According to an AP report, residents of that village, Hallstatt, were left totally in the dark about the project which reproduces even minute architectural details.
Well, if that hamlet is stunned, residents should blame themselves for underestimating the originality of a new generation of Chinese.
Though most Chinese have not been better informed than residents of Hallstatt, we are less stunned at the news of mimicry. As a matter of fact, we have become accustomed to seeing falsifications in their myriad forms.
Falsifications are usually executed in the wake of the destruction of the authentic, original versions, usually architecture.
In this case, the object to be copied and falsified is something Austrian.
Blind faith
When I was young those who chongyang miwai (worship and have blind faith in things foreign) would be stigmatized.
But 30 years of soaring economic growth, accompanied by indiscriminate importation of foreign goods, manners, and ideas, has ushered in a new set of values. Some have come to admire anything foreign, irrespective of its relevance to the Chinese reality.
Cashing in on this mindset, shrewd property developers began to use foreign-sounding names for property developments. That gives the property an aura of elegance and exclusivity.
Venice Garden, Viscaya, Beverly Hills, Paris, California, Vancouver, Monte Carlo, even the coffee Latte are just a few of the names bestowed on real estate projects in China.
In 2005, Kunming, Yunnan Province, published regulations banning the use of "weird foreign names" for properties. As part of the campaign, some projects, among them "Paris of the East Plaza," and "French Gardens," had their names changed.
These names lend exoticism to cookie-cutter housing projects, but when there are too many of them, they lose their appeal. Enterprising developers began to eye something more substantial.
A few years ago, in a city that obviously no longer feels humiliated by its colonial past, planners announced they would build nine international towns in suburban areas, modeled on English, German, Italian, Dutch and other architectural styles.
Although some of these Potemkin villages have turned out to be little more than film studios for couples ready to tie their knot, it's shocking that such incongruities can be proposed, approved, and completed at all.
Damaging growth
There is an important cultural dimension to these projects that has been understated so far.
The peculiar dwelling style of a people is the result of long years of adaptations to native traditions, culture, geography and weather.
The way we Chinese live has been informed by the Chinese concept of the universe, life and human relationships.
When a foreign village is imported in its totality as a fashion, it is an extreme form of cultural nihilism and reflects a total disdain of native culture and traditions.
But considerations of culture and traditions are no match for developers bent on maximizing profit.
When growth is seen as the sole yardstick of official merit, voices of dissent quickly get filtered out.
And side by side with these initiatives to import a Western hamlet, is the reckless destruction of traditions.
For years writer Feng Jicai has been agitating for the protection of ancient Chinese villages.
According to Feng, the 600 large- and middle-sized Chinese cities have all lost their individuality, since they are now dominated by vulgar, Western commercial developments devoid of spirit and culture.
Each Chinese official should ask: Where are our own traditional villages?
Like all big state-owned enterprises, the mammoth metals and minerals trader has diversified into real estate.
Though Minmetals has not been known for keeping secrets, this time it kept everything under wraps exceedingly well, until the report. According to an AP report, residents of that village, Hallstatt, were left totally in the dark about the project which reproduces even minute architectural details.
Well, if that hamlet is stunned, residents should blame themselves for underestimating the originality of a new generation of Chinese.
Though most Chinese have not been better informed than residents of Hallstatt, we are less stunned at the news of mimicry. As a matter of fact, we have become accustomed to seeing falsifications in their myriad forms.
Falsifications are usually executed in the wake of the destruction of the authentic, original versions, usually architecture.
In this case, the object to be copied and falsified is something Austrian.
Blind faith
When I was young those who chongyang miwai (worship and have blind faith in things foreign) would be stigmatized.
But 30 years of soaring economic growth, accompanied by indiscriminate importation of foreign goods, manners, and ideas, has ushered in a new set of values. Some have come to admire anything foreign, irrespective of its relevance to the Chinese reality.
Cashing in on this mindset, shrewd property developers began to use foreign-sounding names for property developments. That gives the property an aura of elegance and exclusivity.
Venice Garden, Viscaya, Beverly Hills, Paris, California, Vancouver, Monte Carlo, even the coffee Latte are just a few of the names bestowed on real estate projects in China.
In 2005, Kunming, Yunnan Province, published regulations banning the use of "weird foreign names" for properties. As part of the campaign, some projects, among them "Paris of the East Plaza," and "French Gardens," had their names changed.
These names lend exoticism to cookie-cutter housing projects, but when there are too many of them, they lose their appeal. Enterprising developers began to eye something more substantial.
A few years ago, in a city that obviously no longer feels humiliated by its colonial past, planners announced they would build nine international towns in suburban areas, modeled on English, German, Italian, Dutch and other architectural styles.
Although some of these Potemkin villages have turned out to be little more than film studios for couples ready to tie their knot, it's shocking that such incongruities can be proposed, approved, and completed at all.
Damaging growth
There is an important cultural dimension to these projects that has been understated so far.
The peculiar dwelling style of a people is the result of long years of adaptations to native traditions, culture, geography and weather.
The way we Chinese live has been informed by the Chinese concept of the universe, life and human relationships.
When a foreign village is imported in its totality as a fashion, it is an extreme form of cultural nihilism and reflects a total disdain of native culture and traditions.
But considerations of culture and traditions are no match for developers bent on maximizing profit.
When growth is seen as the sole yardstick of official merit, voices of dissent quickly get filtered out.
And side by side with these initiatives to import a Western hamlet, is the reckless destruction of traditions.
For years writer Feng Jicai has been agitating for the protection of ancient Chinese villages.
According to Feng, the 600 large- and middle-sized Chinese cities have all lost their individuality, since they are now dominated by vulgar, Western commercial developments devoid of spirit and culture.
Each Chinese official should ask: Where are our own traditional villages?
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