Anhui Farmers Turn Faux Venice Project into Cabbage Patch

After years of stories of Chinese farmers being forced off their land for new real estate projects locals in eastern China’s Anhui province appear to have turned the tables against at least one developer, after repurposing a failed housing project as a successful vegetable patch.

Five years ago Anqing Xin Tai Properties demolished a former fertiliser plan in Linghu township near the city of Anqing in the hope of creating Tai Xin Venice City, an Italian-themed housing development that would incorporate shopping, dining and entertainment facilities around the shores of a cluster of artificial lakes.

However, after stalling for more than five years over issues with licensing, and with the local housing market still mired in slump, former workers from the fertiliser plant and other locals have seized the opportunity to convert the would-be European city into fields for growing beans and cabbages.

RMB 2.5 Billion Project Put to Work Growing Beans

Although the developer originally announced its intention to invest RMB 2.5 billion ($393 million) in the project, after clearing the 35 hectare (86 acre) site and completing a few buildings the project is reported to have into licensing issues, as well as facing a crushing slowdown in the local housing market.

According to the most recent Chinese government figures, while housing markets in first tier cities have recovered, the average home price in Anqing fell by 0.10 percent in September, compared to the previous month, and was down 4.12 percent compared to the same month a year earlier.

Given the dim hopes for Tai Xin Venice to add much to the local economy in its half-completed state, the local population demonstrated their own commitment to innovation by incorporating the failed urbanisation project back into their own agrarian system.

Vegetables now grow between uncompleted high-rise condominium blocks and mannequins that might have displayed fashions in the planned shopping centre stand guard over bean fields. The highways built to provide access to the new district offer easy access to the fields for tractors and other farm equipment.

While perhaps not the entertainment that developers had envisioned, locals seem particularly pleased with the new lakes dug by Anqing Xin Tai. 74-year-old Mr Huang, a retired fertiliser plant worker, noted that, “The developer dug a huge pit for the project, and now many local swimmers can use it as an open-air swimming pool,” according to a report in the Xinan Evening News.

Asked for comment on the future of the project, Anqing Deputy Secretary for Planning Bi Shengguo Bureau, said the city is studying the issue and may issue a clear opinion this year.

Turning Failed Apartments into Successful Crops