I’m looking for a permanent place to live. This time, I won’t be staying in an international service apartment, but a real Chinese apartment. Cool! The last place I lived, Portofino, or “Bo Duo Fei Nuo” in Chinese (Get it?   That’s as close as Chinese comes to pronouncing “Portofino”), was enjoyable, but pricey and too far removed from the action of Shenzhen. My requirements for an apartment to live in were simple: 1) Near a subway station, 2) Close to work (tempered with requirement #1) and 3) a good view. Being close to work meant that I’d end up on the western side of the subway. Of course, all the really fun and local stuff is most concentrated on the east side where Hua Qiang Bei, Dong Men, and Luo Hu are located. But, within anywhere along the subway corridor, you have good access to the fun stuff. I ended up looking around three or four subway stops: Shi Jie Zhi Chuang (or the “Window of the World”, near where I lived last time), Hua Qiao Cheng (near the Wal-mart, Theater, and good selection of massage spots), Qiao Cheng Dong (boring residential area east of Hua Qiao Cheng), Xiang Mi Hu (where I live now), or Gou Wu Gong Yuan (one of the new shopping areas, sorta popular with expatriates).

Hua Qiao Cheng was ruled out because there were no apartments newer than 1998. My relocation assistant ruled this out. Apparently, in a country as old as China, anything older than 1998 is just “too old”. I ruled out Qiao Cheng Dong out quickly because there wasn’t anything there but large apartment buildings…no restaurants or reasonable shopping nearby. Nothing much turned up in Xiang Mi Hu. The one place in Gou Wu Gong Yuan didn’t have that good of a view (only into the interior of the gardens). Shi Jie Zhi Chuang had the best stuff.

(above, l-r) A view of Portofino from one of the apartment complexes near Shi Jie Zhi Chuang, these are the apartment towers

There was also a wide variety of quality in the apartments. Some were downright filthy, with huge buildups of dust in areas and a disgusting amount of mildew and mold in the bathroom. My relocation assistant looked embarrassed about a couple of them and told me that many of the landlords simply just inform potential tenants that the places are just messy and dirty now, but that they’d clean them up for you when you moved in. Aw, thanks. Well, I pretty much walked out of those within five minutes, taking that to be an indicative sign of the quality of the landlord. Most of these apartments in Shenzhen are privately owned and privately rented out to tenants. Many people from Hong Kong have bought property in Shenzhen, which is one of the reasons for the boom in real estate. If you thought Seattle was a hot market, you should come check out Shenzhen. So, with a myriad of private owners, you run the gamut of landlord quality. I’ve been warned about this by multiple people.

(above) Some typical Chinese kitchens. You’ll never find an oven.

On top of the landlord quality, I’ve also been warned that the Chinese believe that foreigners basically have the word “sucker” stamped on their forehead. It’s quite common for landlords to double the price when a foreigner comes around. Others are so stubborn that they’ll offer the prices that they want to rent it for to everyone. Whether the market can supply a buyer at that price is another matter and if no renter comes a knockin’, they’re content to just sit on that price with the apartment vacant. Maybe that has something to do with “saving face”. I saw quite a wide range of prices, anywhere from about 7000 RMB, or $930, to 12000 RMB, or $1600. The price usually had nothing to do with quality. These prices seem quite outrageous to the local Chinese. Many of my colleagues rent apartments costing in the neighborhood of $250.

(above) The entrances to apartments are fashioned after Alcatrazz.

(above) Snazzy interior with blue lighting

Some of the apartment complexes have nice “gardens” or a guarded interior area that residents can enjoy. The grounds are usually spotless and well groomed (groundsmen are numerous and cheap in China). Here’s a shot of the area in the apartment complex I visited in Gou Wu Gong Yuan:

(l-r) This reminded me of a bigger version of the “Great Wall”, the pools always are appealing and big…see the larger section behond the trees?, These are typical well-kempt grounds.