Wednesday 18 February 2009

Is China really this deluded?

THE VISION:
Every day, I cycle past the above sights on my way to school. As you cycle off the main road into Regent International Garden (where school is), you pass a row of shops - a bakery, an international book store, a cafe, a florist. There are signs promising you that your life will change if you live here, that living in the park will enhance your life. There are pictures of happy families with blond hair, strolling along the treelined boulevardes. Wow! What a nice life you could have if you lived in Regent International Garden, you think. However, the shops are not open, there is no one living in Regent International Garden and it seems unlikely that there will be in the near future. Not just because of the economic crisis, it's been like this in Wuxi since I moved here and from talking to others, long before I moved here too. Are the Chinese really so deluded that they think Wuxi, an huge industrial city, can look like a contemporary European city?
The reality is more like the pictures below. Regent International Garden is not the only place like this in Wuxi, they are popping up all over the place. However, most apartment buildings in Wuxi seem to be empty. 'We're building for the future' I've heard more than once......hmmmm, considering that most buildings don't last that long, how soon do they think they can fill these apartments? In Venice Gardens, the family friendly compound, they totally gut and redo the apartments and houses every two years. Most apartment buildings are demolished after 10 years and new buildings replace them. It totally baffles me, but it seems that the Chinese are addicted to building.
THE REALITY:
View from my office.

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