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“In the village, we could only eat what we grew and caught, but now everything can be sold and bought. Everything has become mechanized and easy now compared to my parents’ days, â€Wang said.
“I often miss cuttlefish. I imagine I would be very busy this season if I was in the past. Cuttlefish was free and readily available back then, but now it’s very expensive.
Tourists are walking through the village of Houtouwan this week.Credit:Sanghee Liu
According to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Chinese cuttlefish prices saw double-digit growth in the 1990s, as demand for middle-income seafood skyrocketed . It wasn’t the only price spike driven by a burgeoning middle class. The prices of urban properties purchased by those who left villages in the Shengsi Archipelago and other areas have skyrocketed, reaching nearly 13% annual growth in 2016.
Millions of families crammed their savings into apartment towers stacked 12 blocks wide and 20 stories high as the country opened up and investment poured in through the 1990s and 2000s.
They left the villages in droves and found better jobs for themselves and schools for their children. With them, real estate speculators who would ride the wave of worker optimism, pushing prices higher and higher, and developers who would bet on building small towns before people could fill them.
The implosion of real estate giant Evergrande is straining your nerves.Credit:Bloomberg
The rampant growth was not sustainable. The bubble burst when the Chinese government intervened last year, tightening regulations on lending. Today, dozens of other abandoned cities can be found on the Chinese mainland. Few are as picturesque as Houtouwan.
Unlike the village, they are victims not of economic promises but of disappointments. Evergrande, China’s second-largest developer, is on the verge of bankruptcy. He sold more Chinese Dream Orders than he could fill. Evergrande was barred from taking on further debt because he failed three key stress tests implemented by the government last year. He now has $ 400 billion in debt that he will struggle to repay in a declining market. Some 800 of its projects remain unfinished, those that have been built are struggling to find buyers in a market that has fallen 15% for a year.
Vines envelop the buildings of the village of Houtouwan which was abandoned in the 1990s. Credit:Sanghee Liu
Thousands of its own employees and investors are now protesting at its headquarters as the Chinese government questions whether it should intervene.
“In China, 90 percent of people own their homes,†said Roland Houghton, analyst at Milford Asset Management. “And 40 to 60 percent of an individual’s or a family’s balance sheet assets are their homes. It is extremely important to ensure that there are no material impacts of contagion throughout the Chinese economy. “
The Chinese economy has jumped thanks to its real estate sector. Credit:Reuters
Logan Wright, Director of Rhodium Group, said The Financial Times Wednesday that there were enough empty properties in China to accommodate more than 90 million people. That’s four times the population of Australia housed.
If they are left empty, no vines will grow on the buildings left behind. Their fate is rather that of the 15 towers demolished in Kunming in August, reduced to ruins by thousands of controlled explosions.
Cai Yaqin, 69, was the last person to leave Houtouwan. She said her family was reluctant to go, but eventually with no school, limited transportation and everyone left, they had little choice.
Cai Yaqin, 69, the last villager to leave Houtouwan village. Credit:Sanghee Liu
“I have lived in the village for almost 45 years,†she said. “We were the last family to move because we built a beautiful three-story house. It was a waste to abandon him.
Today, local tourists come to the Shengsi Islands to see the remnants of a simple life that has long since disappeared from Chinese metropolises.
Tang Yaxue, 65, and her husband are the only two villagers to return to work in Houtouwan.
She runs a small food and drink stand for tourists in her old two-story house, pointing to the building that nearly collapsed next to them. “Life was pretty good when we lived here,†she said.
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