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For Sale: A Room with a View of a Top School
It isn’t uncommon for young Chinese couples to buy a house for their wedding. Traditionally, young couples would go from living with their parents straight into their new home. A house shows that...
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Gazumped! Tales from China’s Housing Market
Shen Xiaodan, 31, is the face of a new group of speculators who have turned China’s property market into a huge casino, backed by aggressive brokers and lenders who are happy to bend or even break...
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What China’s Gate Debate Says About Trust
Nowa Huta was an unexpected stop on our summer trip to Poland in 2012. We were in Krakow and a local art student suggested we visit the Soviet-era 1950s settlement. Departing from the city’s...
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I Said Goodbye to the Law for Housework
On New Year’s Eve in 2015 I bid farewell to the finance company in Shanghai at which I had been working for the past three years. I hesitated for a moment upon leaving the building, feeling a slight...
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Why Jeju Has China Frothing at the Mouth
The South Korean island of Jeju is a tiny landmass situated around 100 kilometers south of the country’s mainland, with a population of under 1 million. But despite its size, the local airport...
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Chic and Cheap Housing: Only Singles Need Apply
A new residential community has yet to turn a profit, but already it is turning away most of its applicants. To get in, you must be kid-free, under 35, and blessed with an interesting personality....
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Rags to Riches to Nags: New Landlords Can’t Find Tenants
Villagers in Guangdong province, southern China, became — at least on paper — billion-yuan property magnates overnight after the rebuilding of their town. But despite their fortune, many continue to...
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1.5 Million-Yuan Beijing Alleyway ‘With School Access’ for Sale
The jockeying for spots in Beijing’s schools is growing so fierce that estate agents are selling any and all properties they can get their hands on, regardless of whether they are habitable, as long...
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What’s Hidden in Shanghai Tower’s Subterranean Vaults?
“Excuse me ma’am, which floor are you going to?” No sooner had I entered the Shanghai Tower than I was whisked aside by two security guards and asked the nature of my visit. The security guards likely...
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For Sale: Fake Qing-Era Mansion
A remarkable piece of real estate hit the Beijing property market earlier this year, accompanied by a description that read: “The residence where the last royal of the Qing dynasty stayed to avoid...
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Mayor Set on Fire During Land Requisition Protest
A township mayor in eastern China’s Zhejiang province sustained burn injuries on Monday morning after villagers threw gasoline on him during a land acquisition dispute, according to a report by news...
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Solar Power in Urban China Starts Small
China is looking past its clouds of pollution to tap the sun for energy. On Monday, local authorities in Shanghai’s Putuo District showed off the city’s first solar-powered residential complex as part...
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Coal Mines Give Residents Sinking Feeling
It only takes the faintest sound of a crack and Wang Juan jolts awake. “Our house won’t fall down, will it?” she whispers to her husband, looking for reassurance that their family will be safe, at...
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Last Call on Yongkang Lu
Everyone in Shanghai has time for nostalgia, whether they’ve lived in the city for generations or a matter of months. The breakneck pace of change in one of the world’s biggest cities means even the...
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Chinese Heritage Destroyed to Make Way for New Homes
Dilapidated, crowded, and poorly maintained, the former homes of some of China’s most prominent military figures were hardly fit for tourists. Yet these historical buildings, dating from the 1930s and...
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Chic and Cheap Housing: Only Singles Need Apply
A new residential community has yet to turn a profit, but already it is turning away most of its applicants. To get in, you must be kid-free, under 35, and blessed with an interesting personality....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rags to Riches to Nags: New Landlords Can’t Find Tenants
Villagers in Guangdong province, southern China, became — at least on paper — billion-yuan property magnates overnight after the rebuilding of their town. But despite their fortune, many continue to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
1.5 Million-Yuan Beijing Alleyway ‘With School Access’ for Sale
The jockeying for spots in Beijing’s schools is growing so fierce that estate agents are selling any and all properties they can get their hands on, regardless of whether they are habitable, as long...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What’s Hidden in Shanghai Tower’s Subterranean Vaults?
“Excuse me ma’am, which floor are you going to?” No sooner had I entered the Shanghai Tower than I was whisked aside by two security guards and asked the nature of my visit. The security guards likely...
View ArticleClik here to view.
For Sale: Fake Qing-Era Mansion
A remarkable piece of real estate hit the Beijing property market earlier this year, accompanied by a description that read: “The residence where the last royal of the Qing dynasty stayed to avoid...
View Article