Living in this city is different from living in Holland.
In large cities in China people live in apartments. These apartments are usually part of apartment buildings that are placed together in a kind of park. At ground level on the street side, these apartment buildings are usually occupied by stores and for example banks, this causes the park to be closed off from the public road. Where this is not the case, a tall fence or wall is placed. The entrance is a large gate that is watched over by a guard, a kind of doorman. At larger apartment compounds this is a real security service which is operated 24 hours a day. The gate, if present, is closed at night and you will have to ring the bell or knock to get in. This is part of the service everybody in the apartment complex has to pay for, just like most apartments in Holland have service fees. This service includes a gardener and people who sweep and also garbage pickup every day. In short: the garden is maintained. The advantage of this is that even while you live in the middle of the city you can let your kids play outside, you can usually park within the walls (at the complex where I live now there are three underground garages), the elderly can meet each other outside and you can sleep peacefully because security walks around at night and keeps an eye on things.

When you read this as Westerner, you would think I live in an unsafe city but this is not the case. It’s just that the Chinese people are very suspicious and vigilant and this way of living developed over centuries. A closed of courtyard surrounded by buildings and a gate on the street side. To continue this in modern times, this way of building has been developed. Depopulation of the city doesn’t exist.

On the edge of town single-family homes are being built in the same kind of gated communities. In general people think this is a good way of living. This way a lot of needed jobs are being created. China had created “Melkert-jobs” (job creation for the sole benefit of creating jobs) before these types of jobs were introduced in Holland.

The compound where I live is larger than usual and also has three underground parking garages underneath the buildings. The last couple of weeks the trees and scrubs were lighted with Christmas lights that gave it a very nice atmosphere. These parks or common areas are a real selling point for the apartments. Some parks look really spectacular with waterfalls, ponds, fountains, bridges, gazebos etc. etc. Chinese don’t even think twice about planting adult trees that are at least 30 years old, hidden loudspeakers and party decoration.

The apartments are a minimum of 100 square meters (1100 square ft.) but nowadays much larger ones are being built. All newer ones have elevators. Apartments of 170 square meters (1800 square ft) or 240 square meters (2600 square ft.) are no exception.

The apartments are handed of in a completely different state compared to Holland. The apartments have no window frames or doors. Electric lines and water and drainage pipes are left exposed, floors and ceilings are unfinished. The ceilings are higher than in Holland, at least 3 meters (10 feet) is not uncommon, even though Chinese are shorter than Westerners.

The building as a whole looks like an empty frame. The benefit is that you can finish it according to your own taste and design.

Different height ceilings and indirect lighting are very common. A new apartment of 120 square meter ( 1300 square ft.) runs about 40 to 50 thousand Euro ($52.000 to $65.000).  Add about 10 to 15 thousand Euro ($13.000 to $19.500) for renovation, depending on how luxurious you want to make it.

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