ABSTRACT
One day in late 2008 in the chengzhongcun (village in the city) of Guanlan, in the northern district of Shenzhen, we took a lunch break and drove out to the edge of the cun (village). In the surrounding area some of the local government speculative property initiatives have included the Guanlan Lake Golf Club Holiday Inn, a spectacular luxury leisure complex. The hotel is next to another local state-backed initiative, Mission Hills Golf Course, which boasts 11 championship golf courses and was until recently host of the annual Omega Mission Hills World Cup. A major water-based tourist development of holiday homes, also based on a shiqu (city district) local-government investment vehicle, is just up the road focused around a beautiful lake of diminishing depth and an aspirational green tourism.
