Ok, so I couldn't fit the Orange County Register into that post. So I created another post just for that article.

But first, here are the pictures I promised : Picture 1 || Picture 2 || Picture 3 || Picture 4 || Picture 5 || Floorplan of a Home

Now as you're reading these articles and looking at the pictures, PLEASE PLEASE understand that the average annual salary of an average China citizen is only $1000/year. The fact that these NATIVE Chinese people can afford a home that is over $250,000 is simply astounding. Also the people who are buying these homes are not government officials, but your ordinary business citizens that have made it big while living in China. Only the top 1% of China can afford these homes that we consider the local "smurf-village" in Orange County, California. Most people would never think anyone in China can afford these homes, but considering that there are 1.27 billion people in China, and that this is only the top 1% of the population that can afford these homes ... just think about the market potential of China as it opens its doors to Western goods and products as the new century continues. So Orange County, China is only the tip of the ice berg when it comes to Western ideas merging with China. Ok, that's Sunyee's babble, now back to the article ...

Copyright Orange County Register
Jujun is an oasis of America in Beijing, a new lifestyle for the nation's rich.

April 14, 2002

By LISA CHIU
and JOHN GITTELSOHN
The Orange County Register

BEIJING -- THE HOMES HAVE SPANISH TILE ROOFS AND STUCCO WALLS. Front lawns spill onto meandering streets lighted by ornate lamps that look straight out of Disneyland. Back yards come with built-in barbecues. Some have swimming pools.

Like much of Orange County, this is a gated community. To make the Southern California picture even more complete, a golf course, community pool and health spa with juice bar are on the way.

It's called Jujun. "Ju" is the Chinese word for "orange," and "jun" means "county." Orange County, China. (click on read more for the full article)

Extended Entry Below

Copyright Orange County Register

The name is no accident. Inspired by the planned developments of Orange County, it was designed by architects, decorators and landscapers from Orange County.

And its appeal seems to translate well. In China, where the average worker earns less than $1,000 a year, the first 150 homes at Jujun sold in just four days.

Hsiao Qing Chun took only five minutes to decide he wanted to live here.

"The moment I came in, I was dazed," says Hsiao, 25, a documentary filmmaker who travels frequently to America and Europe. "The colors, the scenery, the style, this is Orange County. It was too American. Once you come in, you feel as though it's America, and that's hard to do in China."

The creation of Jujun is a tale of how Orange County's lifestyle industry has found a new market and how a growing number of affluent Chinese are seeking the lifestyle they once saw only in movies. Like the slogan for the recent film "Orange County," this new development is not just a place, it's "a state of mind."

"People in the United States may think of Orange County as a place," says Zhang Bo, chairman of Jujun's developer, SinoCEA. "But in China, people feel Orange County is a brand name, something like Giorgio Armani. It's a kind of people's new lifestyle. It's fresh. It's more like rising, improving, excitement."

Zhang first visited Southern California in 1996, researching ideas for new housing developments after he built a European-inspired community in Beijing called Palace Villas.

In Rancho Cucamonga, he saw acres of tract homes rising in the desert. The speed of construction and comfortable living spaces amazed him. He instantly recognized that many Chinese would prefer such homes to the high-rise concrete jungle where many of the nouveau riche were moving.

Then he drove down Pacific Coast Highway and fell in love with the golden hills and the gracious homes in Corona del Mar and Coto de Caza.

"After that visit, I went to Orange County many times," says Zhang, 39, speaking through an interpreter. "The housing was appropriate for people's lives, for privacy, for relaxing, for good quality living."

Zhang's Los Angeles representative wrote to dozens of architecture firms, inviting them to work on his project in China. Only one responded: Bassenian-Lagoni of Newport Beach, designers of Orange County communities such as Windward at Crystal Cove, the Boardwalk at Huntington Beach and Clifton Heights in Ladera Ranch.

The firm already worked in Japan, Thailand and Indonesia. China, with its 1.3 billion people, seemed like a great opportunity.

"My guess is the market potential is huge," says Aram Bassenian, 59, who founded his firm in 1970.

landscaping is lesson from Orange county

The appeal of Orange County's lifestyle to China comes as no surprise to Bassenian. High cost of land,competition among builders, and enviable climate have made Orange County an incubator for innovation, he says. Features popularized here - mass-produced open-floor plans, backyard pools, big garages, Mediterranean-style detailing - have spread beyond the American Southwest.

"We export design out of Orange County," Bassenian says. "Many things about America find a receptive market off shore: our food, our entertainment, our clothes, our sports."

At Jujun, the California lifestyle extends to public areas, too. A community pool, clubhouse, golf course, supermarket and restaurant - with both Western and Chinese foods - are scheduled to open in 2003.

Although China has a rich history of private gardens, public landscaping is a new concept, says Jim Maloney of SWA Landscape Architecture, the Laguna Beach firm that planned the new community's outdoor spaces. Jujun's design tries to apply lessons from Orange County's mistakes as well as its attractions, says Maloney, whose firm landscaped Soka University, among numerous Orange County projects.

Sidewalks, pocket parks and a jogging path aim to create a pedestrian-friendly, communal environment that is often absent in the original Orange County, where cars, privacy and security dominate planning.

"We had internal conversations like, are we promoting sprawl in China?" he says. "We wanted to bring aspects of Orange County we thought were good."

Jujun's 11 model homes - another new concept in China - are decorated in styles inspired by Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren and other American designers. The developer wanted every detail to look American, says the decorator, Debra Newell, president of Ambrosia Interior Design in Tustin. Wallpaper, carpets and faucets were imported from the United States.

Posters of Britney Spears and Tiger Woods hang in basement rec rooms. Framed photos on bedside tables show a family wearing Mickey Mouse ears at Disneyland.

"They even wanted English-language books on the shelves," Newell says.

Jujun's ad campaign touts "Real Villas, 100 percent American." Brochures are sprinkled with English expressions, such as "Suburb Obsession." The Web site - www.orangecounty.com .cn - features a bird's-eye view of the Newport Beach harbor, even though Jujun is more than 6,000 miles away.

But location is one of Jujun's biggest assets. Situated on prime property on the pristine Wenyu River, 12 miles north of Beijing and just a few miles from the sports facilities that will sprout up in time for the 2008 Olympics, Jujun is a suburb in every sense of the word - complete with city dwellers seeking a haven from urban congestion.

The winding country road to Jujun, which will be widened for the Olympics, is a microcosm of the economic changes in China. Old hutongs, or courtyard peasant homes, are being knocked down while skeletons of massive apartment complexes and housing developments take their place.

In many ways, Jujun has also replicated Orange County's class divisions. Only the wealthiest can afford to buy here, while migrant workers from China's countryside will be called upon to prune its gardens and clean kitchens.

"It's meant for businesspeople, artists, movie stars," says Weighdoon Yang, vice president of SinoCEA.

Yang is confident communities like Jujun will flourish with China's economy, which has quadrupled in size since 1980. As living standards improve, demand for a better lifestyle will follow, and places like Jujun fill that need.

On the drawing board are plans for Changsha-Orange County in Hunan province, Hangzhou-Orange County in Zhejiang province, and Fragrant Hill-Orange County also in Beijing.

"Chinese people like California a lot," says Yang, an impeccably dressed architect- turned-professor-turned- businessman who lives in Jujun himself. "Orange County (China) has opened Chinese people's eyes; they don't think about it, but when they come see it, they love it."

The master plan for Jujun's 50 acres envisions 206 homes, starting at $150,000 for a 1,600 square-foot townhouse. Phase II is called Watermark Long Beach, a name inspired by Watermark Crystal Cove. The 56 luxury homes with river views start at $1.8 million.

Each Watermark Long Beach home will have a backyard barbecue. Some have swimming pools. Kitchens sport garbage disposals and dishwashers, and if anything breaks, there's convenient maintenance service.

Bathrooms have hot tubs - some with fireplaces. Villas include a studio for artists. Basements come with a bar, game room, home theater, gym and wine cellar.

The homes in Jujun were altered to fit Chinese tastes. Because cars are relatively rare in China - only about one per 100 people - Chinese consumers prefer a one-car garage, Yang says. The garage space for a second car is devoted to a maid's quarters.

"Maids are popular and cheap in China," Yang says. "It's a different lifestyle from the States."

california lifestyle touches are appealing

Like California's open floor plans, no doors separate the kitchens, breakfast nooks and family rooms. A specially ventilated kitchen alcove is reserved for wok cooking to prevent the house from flooding with smoke.

Big kitchens and family rooms cater to Chinese communal family values. But extra bedrooms accommodate grandparents and in-laws rather than additional children, because couples can have only one child.

"It's a different family composite," Yang says.

Plans also incorporate some concessions to Feng Shui, the Chinese philosophy that good design brings positive energy to a building.

"Chinese homebuyers want their main rooms to face south; in America, they mainly face west. Chinese people avoid facing west because it is very hot in the afternoon in China, or this is just Chinese people's feelings," Yang says.

While SinoCEA, which is half owned by the Chinese government, has permission to sell the homes to foreigners, all the current buyers are Chinese.

Four families have moved in, but the rest plan to join them this summer, according to Yang.

Hsiao, the documentary filmmaker, says he enjoys the California-style decorative touches in his Jujun home, such as the beach-house style wooden blinds, wallpaper with pictures of grapes and the landscaped back yard with a barbecue. It's a place where he can kick back and relax.

"It's plain but good," he says. "I've visited many friends who have very luxurious homes, but it's like living in a museum. It's not livable. I live here because once I entered the home, I knew it was right for me. I want a home to be comfortable where anyone who comes in can feel at ease."

The casual lifestyle is what makes America and American homes appeal to Hsiao.

"Americans do what they want; that's their living attitude," he says. "You can do what you want in this home, in any space; that's a very good part of the American lifestyle."

But although Hsiao loves his new home, it won't change who he is.

"I am Chinese," he says. "I don't want to be an American."

And that idea is apparent not far from Hsiao's door. In the middle of the main row of homes is a pole with the red People's Republic of China flag, a reminder that you can make Orange County in China, but you can't make China into Orange County.

Copyright Orange County Register

Should any one at Orange County Register object to the posting of this article on my journal, please feel free to contact me and I will remove it.