Parvenu Mansion

Zhong Chu Rao, a classmate from high school had not read borrowed books, her books are all bought from the bookstore. She told me that, in her Parvenu Mansion, her father built wooden tatami platform for her. As she rolls forward and back on the tatami she could read books bought from the bookstore.

Parvenu mansion was how Zhong Chu Rao referred to her parents house. Since late 80s and early 90s, her parents quit their state assigned jobs and started up manufacturing businesses. They quickly earn their first bucket of gold, bought their first car in 1998, a Nissan Bluebird.

She also told me about her uncle, an accountant who, during rave of betting on stock market in the 90s, had used his company's money to bet and lost it all. The crime her uncle had committed had a prosecution limitation, during that time, he hid in the Parvenu Mansion and attended for pumpkins in the garden. He was caught eventually when the limitation was nearly due. After he was released, he remarked that life in the prison was more easy than in real life. His calligraphy became much better from daily practices in the prison.

The mansion is built upon a piece called Zhai Ji Di (homestead land), which means this land is collectively owned by a village, and the village residents have the right to use assigned pieces of land to build homes.

Apart from homestead lands, there are lands for designated purpose, such as construction and farming.

Recent Building Height Restriction from Authority

"Villagers building houses on homestead land now face height contraint"

Just as yesterday, villagers of Shunde are subjects of every homeowner's jealousy, as they are free to build houses upon their assigned homestead land, going from as many as five or six storeys, which amounts to over 20 meters.

However, today, the village area construction planning has issued a new policy today, specifying that all privately built residences built upon homestead land should be no higher than 15 meters.

This regulation is to implement landscape metric aesthetics in village environment. It is advised that villagers should build adhering to reuglar needs, rather than ambitiously looking towards scales used in urban planning.

As reported by Sohu News as of Novermber, 2017.