ABSTRACT
For over twenty years, the areas of luxury villas have proliferated around the Chinese cities. For the last ten years they have been the subject of several studies (G. Giroir, Huang Youqin, Pow Choon-Piew, L. Tomba, Fulong Wu). Some research has focused on case studies (e.g. Fontainebleau Villas: G. Giroir, 2006) or examples of different themes (e.g. hyper-luxury gated communities in China: G. Giroir, 2012, 2013). In 2004, journalists from around the world discovered with amazement the château Zhang-Laffitte, a copy of the eponymous French château on the outskirts of Beijing. Since then, other examples of châteaux were born in China. But so far, no research has described as such, across the whole of China, the combination of the two forms of architecture, gated communities composed of châteaux. The objective of this study is to fill this gap.
