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Why China's Super Wealthy Turning to Tradition-Looking Homes?

Turning to tradition: Why China's super wealthy don't want western-looking homes anymore

By Oscar Holland, for CNN
Updated 0142 GMT (0942 HKT) August 29, 2016

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Photos: Feel like an emperor in these traditional Chinese homes
Unique Taohuayuan, Suzhou, China – Traditional style houses are becoming increasingly popular among China's urban elite who want to set themselves apart from more middle class real estate consumers.


(CNN) When Sotheby's listed a 32-bedroom house in Suzhou last month, it was the property's price tag that made headlines.

Valued at 1 billion yuan (over $150 million), the 72,000-square-foot estate -- nicknamed 'utopia' in Mandarin -- was heralded as China's most expensive home. The story led to familiar commentary about the country's booming demand for luxury living. But it also represented a subtler trend among the super-rich.

Unapologetically Chinese

Despite having the trappings of a modern Western mansion, including a pool and wine cellar, the property was unapologetically Chinese in style.

The house's rock gardens and curved roofs epitomize a historical aesthetic now being replicated -- to varying degrees of authenticity -- across China's luxury market. While high-end buyers overall still prefer Western-style villas and apartments, demand is changing, says Sunny Liu, general manager of property research firm China Index Academy.

"We can see this trend of traditional styles becoming more and more popular in the market, especially in the very top-end of the luxury sector," he says. "In Beijing, most of the high-value villa products are traditional now."

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Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/28/architecture/luxury-china-homes-most-expensive/index.html
We have a saying in Urdu: everything returns to its origin.
 
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They dislike and critize the government. Not the country. I hope you know the difference.
No, a lot of viet I know embrace their immigrant countries more than their own motherland....
Hatred to a government can easily affect their love of a country. It's natural and emotional.
The west always criticises Chinese immigrants who seldom pay their allegiance to the migrant countries.
They have their own pride.
 
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Great video friend.

I remember when I was younger, Shaanxi and others were considered to be the poor interior areas of China compared to booming coast....and only major known industry was coal etc

Glad to see interior China is becoming more and more developed....it has great natural beauty as well for sure....I think thats what I like most about interior China.....also I like the cuisine in interior China more too....its more spicy and good varieties of tasty meat dishes. In Xian area when I was visiting, I especially enjoyed the mutton soup + lamb with the mo bread and pickle garlic. I am sure @Chinese Bamboo will enjoy it too. What is the specific name of the university btw?

:-)Xi'an Jiaotong University.
My score is enough to get admission from Wuhan university,Huazhong University of Science and Technology&Xi'an Jiaotong University.I chose Xi'an in the end.
@Nilgiri
 
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:-)Xi'an Jiaotong University.
My score is enough to get admission from Wuhan university,Huazhong University of Science and Technology&Xi'an Jiaotong University.I chose Xi'an in the end.
@Nilgiri

:D Thats a great decision Jiatong is a very famous medical university. I studied Electrical Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University. Spend 5 years in Xi'an and totally gonna come back to that city for vacations.
 
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Honestly, I think traditional Chinese architecture aesthetics is far superior to anything in the west. It is a shame that China lost so much of its aesthetics.
 
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Honestly, I think traditional Chinese architecture aesthetics is far superior to anything in the west. It is a shame that China lost so much of its aesthetics.
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I don't quite agree with your statement. It is a rather strong statement.

Every culture has their own good and bad points re their architecture aesthetics.

It's up to us to be smart enough to pick the good ones and discard the bad ones.

The other thing is "tastes' changes over time. What is perceive to be beautiful today may not be in a few hundred years' time.
 
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I don't quite agree with your statement. It is a rather strong statement.

Every culture has their own good and bad points re their architecture aesthetics.

It's up to us to be smart enough to pick the good ones and discard the bad ones.

The other thing is "tastes' changes over time. What is perceive to be beautiful today may not be in a few hundred years' time.
ALL Chinese cities are a combination of modernity and ancient/Chinese characteristics, no matter first tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing or smaller cities like Changsha and Guiyang.

Datong City
Northern China


A compilation of 16 cities in Anhui Province
Central China


A county in my province
Central China


Pujiang County
Eastern China


Fuding County
Southern China



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Great video friend.

I remember when I was younger, Shaanxi and others were considered to be the poor interior areas of China compared to booming coast....and only major known industry was coal etc

Glad to see interior China is becoming more and more developed....it has great natural beauty as well for sure....I think thats what I like most about interior China.....also I like the cuisine in interior China more too....its more spicy and good varieties of tasty meat dishes. In Xian area when I was visiting, I especially enjoyed the mutton soup + lamb with the mo bread and pickle garlic. I am sure @Chinese Bamboo will enjoy it too. What is the specific name of the university btw?

Shannxi today, is the representative of the fast-growing China's interior with other cities like Chengdu, Chongqing, Guiyang and Kunming, laying the foundation of the 2-trillion-dollars economy of Western China with a growth rate higher than 8%. I personally have very high expectation on Xi'an, since my cousin marries a local guy from Xi'an and I am really fond of his mother's Xi'an cuisine....

Shannxi is where Qin Dynasty united China 2000 years ago.
I do hope all those ancient provinces such as Shannxi and Henan could provide us a total different image when 2020 comes. Xi'an and other ancient cities will restore the glory of Tang Dynasty. (Chinatown in Chinese is called Tang people street)
 
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Soviet-style houses gain reprieve
By Yang Jian | September 13, 2016, Tuesday |

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A dozen Soviet-style houses built in the early 1950s in Yangpu District will be preserved and turned into innovative stores, offices and exhibition halls, the city’s top planning body said yesterday.

The buildings in the Changbai Sub-district on Yanji Road E. were built as homes for model workers. Today these last remaining Soviet-style houses are in a state of disrepair.

They will be renovated without changing their original appearance, the Shanghai Planning, Land and Resources Administration said.

The two-story buildings are known as the “20 thousand households,” because the city government built a total of 2,000 such buildings in downtown Putuo, Yangpu, Xuhui and Changning districts to be home to 20,000 households in 1952 and 1953.

The dozen buildings to be preserved are the last remaining of the Soviet-style houses.

The former Soviet Union developed these types of two-story houses for farm workers. The ground floor was used to accommodate horses and bulls, while farmers and workers lived on the upper level. The buildings were introduced to Shanghai to house the city’s large number of workers.

People were proud to live in such communities because only model workers could get an apartment in the buildings at that time, said Xue Liyong, a senior local historian.

However, living conditions in the buildings have worsened over the decades as the wooden and brick structures deteriorated. Roofs leaked and mice and termites moved in, said Ju Chunying, a former resident.

Ju and others living in the community buildings have been relocated to modern residential communities. “We still hope the buildings can be kept as a memory,” she said.

Han Yongwei, who was born in one of the buildings in 1960, said the buildings symbolized the friendship among neighbors. His parents had planted a tree in front of their house when he was born, which had since grown as tall as the building.

Han said neighbors cooked in a shared kitchen and often invited each other to dine together. They always chatted and visited each others’ homes. They did not need to lock their doors as neighbors kept an eye on each others’ houses.

According to the plan, parking lots, children’s playgrounds, a wet market and public toilets will also be built in the community to replace residential buildings that have been demolished.
 
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