Located in Shalao Hutong, in Beijing’s Andingmen area in Dongcheng District, the newly discovered, albeit unfinished, illegal structure was three floors, or ten meters (32.8 feet) deep, with a total floor space of some 700 square meters (2,296 square feet).

Walls and pillars were strengthened with reinforced concrete, and the underground complex resembles a pyramid: the second-level was between two and three times larger than the first underground level. The third level was unfinished.

Built under two adjacent bungalows owned by a 50 year-old man named Li, construction was hidden from neighbors by hiring workers from midnight to dawn, and using shovels to dig the vast underground chamber rather than draw attention by using heavy machinery. Neighbors eventually became suspicious and reported Li to the authorities in October.

Li had big plans for his underground complex: he wanted to use the vast underground space as a garage, to store cars from his car rental service. In its current state, about 50 cars could be stored in the space, but he wanted to build it big enough for 100.

Basement extensions are illegal in Beijing, and no building permits are granted for such renovations. Builders instead rely upon guanxi (special relationships) to help avoid authorities.

Illegal basements in Beijing made headlines last February when one such illegal basement built by a representative of China’s National People’s Congress collapsed and opened up a massive sinkhole that forced 15 local residents to be evacuated from their homes.

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The collapse of an illegal basement belonging to a representative of the National People’s Conference last week revealed a new and disturbing trend in Beijing. In order to increase the size and value of their property, Beijing homeowners are building illegal basements. Mostly seen in the city’s east and west ends, basement construction is most prevalent among siheyuan, a traditional Beijing-style courtyard home.

Homeowners use reinforced concrete and steel to support their basements with ceilings only two meters high. While the doubled floor space can add up to 10 million yuan to the value of the home, the excavation involved in building these basements, risks the collapse of neighbouring properties. Basement expansions are illegal in Beijing, and no building permits are granted for such renovations.

Notwithstanding the risks involved, as well as the illegality of their construction, an industry insider surnamed Wang revealed that nothing is being done to prevent them:

Digging out your own basement is not about how much money you spend. Reinforced concrete isn’t the most valuable (resource here), what’s most valuable is the guanxi (relationships) that a family has that will prevent anyone from filing a report.

Mr. Zhang, a member of the Housing Agency, believes Guanxi is the key unspoken rule: Guanxi ensures that residents don’t inform authorities of the illegal construction and, conversely, prevents authorities from asking about them.

Photos: fznews

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A sinkhole opened up in Xuzhou, Jiangsu, on January 24. It turns out it was created by a basement built illegally by Li Baojun, a representative of China’s National People’s Congress. The sinkhole forced 15 residents to be evacuated from their homes while a four-story house teetered precariously to one side. The hole was so wide it stretched out into the road in front.

Li had previously been penalized for making illegal renovations to his home last July.

Li had not obtained authorizations to build the basement, and many concerned residents had called the local chengguan hotline but their calls were not answered.

Crews have spent three days filling the 1.900-square meter hole with sand and cement. The street has since re-opened, and repairs are underway to fix the teetering home.

Related:

• No Elevator for Your 5th Floor Walkup? Man Builds His Own (Illegal) One
• Guy Builds a Forest on a Guangzhou Apartment Building to Hide Illegal Floors
• Demolition Begins on Hidden Forest House in Guangzhou
• Dongguan “castle in the sky” becomes latest controversial structure
• Police officer busted for having a decked-out illegal gambling den in Shenzhen

Photos: China News Network, iFeng

The post NPC Rep Builds Illegal Basement 18 Meters Deep, Leads to Massive Sinkhole appeared first on The Nanfang.

The newly-renovated South China Mall in Dongguan, long known for being an empty, abandoned behemoth, is once again a commercial success, having served 80,000 customers on June 1. However, it’s recent success is in defiance of its humble beginnings as a white elephant.

Having opened to grand fanfare in 2005, what had once been dubbed “the world’s largest mall” was bereft of customers just a year later as stores abandoned their leases. For seven years, the South China Mall remained largely deserted of any life as its own existence remained a legacy to its failure.

READ: Dongguan’s “Ghost Mall”

This year, however, the South China Mall got a new lease on life. Gao Tiechuan, president of the the South China Mall responsible for its restructuring, changed it from a US-styled mall to one that caters to Chinese interests, reports Want China Times. Namely, the focus was put on food offerings rather than clothing shops.

Gao scaled back the scope of the mall to attract local diners instead of trying to cater to the entire Pearl River Delta. Besides hosting branches of popular local restaurant franchises, the mall now offers more affordable domestic brands to attract budget-minded clientele.

The RMB 200 million (US$32 million) renovation also did away with previous mall fixtures like a fountain and a bridge that only got in the way of the crowds.

Now brimming with shoppers, the South China Mall is operating on a customer strategy whereby 40% of sales are from its restaurants, and 30 percent are from “experience stores”. In this new set-up, traditional retailers only account for 30% of the mall’s sales.

Photos: South China Mall

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The new offices of the Shenzhen-based maker of the popular WeChat app are shown in a pictorial published in Business Insider. Eight-hundred Tencent employees will be enjoying things like a two-story slide to pop downstairs and a wall made out of plants.

We don’t see any Segways that are ubiquitous on high-tech campuses, but we’re still very impressed with this modern design that is practical, elegant, and doesn’t look like a kitchen instrument or a pair of pants.

Photos: Business Insider

The post [Photos] Tencent’s New Guangzhou Offices Are 100% Awesome appeared first on The Nanfang.

The hotel, known as the home of American and other foreign families who come to Guangzhou to adopt Chinese babies, has had a long and storied history. It was one of the first five-star hotels in Guangzhou and has become synonymous with the city.

The Life of Guangzhou tells us what’s in store:

The project will renew the hotel’s facilities and enlarge the rooms to help the first Sino-foreign cooperative five-star hotel to meet the ever-growing needs of patrons. After renovations the 843 rooms in the hotel will be reduced to about 500.

“We had over 90 percent occupancy yesterday,” said Xie Weijie, vice general manager of the hotel. He said many people had come to bid farewell these days.

According to Xie, the basic appearance of the hotel, especially given its unique scenic location, will be kept intact. However, the restaurants and dining halls will undergo work until early February of next year.

The article notes the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou received a similar upgrade last year. Another historic hotel, the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, was also closed for two years for a massive renovation. Like the White Swan, the Peace Hotel was nearly fully booked in the weeks leading up to its closure.

With new luxury hotels seemly opening in Guangzhou by the month, the White Swan was long overdue for a facelift.

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