On Jackson Hole, Hebei Province, China

On Jackson Hole, Hebei Province, China

NB: Warning; the following is pretty long for this blog, but it deals with what I think is a pretty fascinating story about Chinese imitation architecture and the vacation home presence of the Chinese upper class that we more or less accidentally stumbled into while on a hiking trip. Enjoy.

Within the context of a trip to 古崖居 (Guyaju – lit. ‘Ancient Cliff Dwellings' – itself a pretty great trip and the feature of an upcoming blog post), we found ourselves in the farthest northwest reaches of Beijing, in Yanqing County on the border of Hebei Province (a collar province surrounding the Beijing-Tianjin megalopolis area on three sides). We crossed a mountain range (and the Great Wall) to get there, but due to the governmental policy of uniting the biggest metropolitan areas and their exurbs and satellite cities into a single provincial-level administrative division, we were technically still in 北京市. As far as we could tell, however, we had squarely hit the Hinterland—areas of rural character dotted with small cities, covered by expansive grape fields that stretched between the 燕山 (Yān Shān) mountains overlooking Beijing and the 太行山(Tàiháng Shān) mountains across the valley. The Guishui River flowing from Inner Mongolia expanded into the 官厅水库（Guāntīng shuǐkù）Reservoir East of Yanqing and was prominently visible from most raised parts of the valley. This, more or less, is the character of Yanqing County and the areas west towards Zhangjiakou, and the overall effect was one of some natural beauty. Far from the crazy urban heartbeat of Beijing, things were quieter up here.

During our 3-hour trip from 北大, we somehow got on the topic of Chinese imitations of entire Western villages, cities, and architectural styles. The most famous of these are of course the icon of the housing bubble that is the exurb mini version of Paris built outside of Shanghai and (at least to me) the exact copy of Halstatt, Upper Austria, built in Guangdong. One of our group (fellow cool UChicagoan Alicia French) directed us towards an existing body of academic knowledge on the psychology and planning behind these imitations and their place from the point of view of Chinese society, which I won’t pretend to be able to explain here (she recommends Bianca Bosker’s Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China as a good read on the topic). During this discussion, carried out on the Y01 bus from Yanqing Station, a project was mentioned – allegedly a group of developers was attempting to recreate Jackson Hole, the famous Wyoming ski resort town, in the mountains around Beijing.  

When we got off the bus, we still had a few miles to go, but the mountains were already clearly visible, rising over both the ubiquitous grape fields and a surprisingly large housing project. Half a dozen 15-story buildings were under construction, far from the closest larger settlement (the 100,000-strong city of Yanqing we left behind an hour ago) and even further from the closest major job centers in Beijing. Lo and behold, as our road to the 古崖居 passed by the housing development, we saw the signs: “Jackson Hole” and “家乡，美国“ (“Hometown, USA”, the Chinese name of the development). We had accidentally stumbled on the premier ‘imitation American’ housing development in China.

Looking down on Jackson Hole (PC: Alicia French)

After scrambling around the ancient cliff dwellings in the area, we decided we had to take a look into Jackson Hole. A strategically placed stand with representatives from the development was conveniently (?) waiting for us right by the entrance of the national park. Some quick words from Yongpei (who had countless times improved our trip massively with his timely communication skills), and we were off on our very own guided tour, complete with a ride in the traditional all-American golf cart.

Entering Jackson Hole, with the 太行山 in the background (PC: Alicia French)

Honestly, it was very well done. The mountains of the Guishui River's valley looked, if not Teton, at least like some lower ranges of California or Montana, giving some geographical legitimacy to the frontier aesthetic. The development contained row after row of pretty traditional American mountain resort houses (at least, based on my own experiences in Utah and Colorado)  - including 2 to 3 stories, lots of dark wood elements, large family rooms with fireplaces, and large yards, to be had for a few million RMB. The 15-story apartments we saw from afar still incorporated that design aesthetic, and were presumably for the less well-off individual who still wanted an American vacation home experience. There was a main street; presumably to be filled with designed clothing outlets and coffee shops. An upscale French brasserie, Rève, was built, and had apparently attracted a Michelin-starred chef. Most shocking to us, however, was the bona fide Christian church placed at the center of this planned community. This cherry on top of the American aesthetic is actually intended to be used as a normal Christian church. At least one of the current residents (a certain Annie Liu, a Beijing-based lawyer) of the development adopted Christianity in graduate school in the US, and said of the church “This is an ‘American’ community so it’s a necessary element here”.

The (real) church of Jackson Hole, Hebei

So where does this come from? What is its target audience? Somewhat surprisingly (though predictable, considering the incredible accuracy of the upscale modern-ish American vacation home ‘feel’ the development exuded), the brainchild behind this project was an American designer, Allison Smith.  She was brought onto this project in the mid-2000s by a Seattle-based realty management company consulting the developers, who, at the time, had somewhat haphazardly placed a few villas into the dirt in Yanqing. After throwing some broad design ideas past the Chinese team, they settled on Jackson Hole, WY, both because of the aesthetic of the mountains around the development and an already existing fascination with American kitsch among a certain group of younger, well-off educated Chinese. The ‘town center’ was lifted almost directly from ‘Teton Village’, Jackson’s main street, more or less. The vibe the developers and consultants wanted was the ‘small-town America’ feel of close-knit communities with a hint of Wild West and a touch of the American frontier.

The main offices/event space of the development

But the target audience is anything but modest and small-town (to be fair, Jackson Hole’s county is one of the wealthiest in the U.S. as well). The houses start at one million RMB (around $150,000, compared to the average yearly income in Beijing of $4,000) and likely go into the double digit millions for a 3-story mansion with a large yard. From the stories of residents who live here, it seems like the target audience is rich, middle aged, positively affected by American soft power, and with a love of American culture culture (or not; a current resident with a “God Bless America” sign hanging from his mantle admits, “Actually, I don’t really have any strong feelings towards the U.S.”) Annie Liu from above and her husband even have a Declaration of Independence they bought in Florida framed on their wall. The final piece in the puzzle of finding this target audience comes from a quote from the project website: “almost all U.S. presidents, telecoms tycoons, financial magnates, media giants, Hollywood stars have their own private Vacation Home” – this development is for those who want to live like famous Americans they know from the news, TV shows, or movies. They see having a vacation home in the American style as a status symbol, but beyond this are genuinely attracted to what they perceive to be the American way of life. In the words of the head developer, Liu Xiangyang (no relation), "For those who can afford to buy houses here, they have enough money… They want spiritual fulfillment."

All in all, it was a little surreal. Ms. Smith seems to have done an incredible job in getting the feel of American resort towns transplanted into Hebei Province, not in the least due to her apparent sending of authentic Wyoming artifacts to Chinese manufacturers to have reproduced and strategically places inside the homes of the development.  If we didn’t look too hard, it really felt American. The stairs in the buildings even had the right amount of creak in them. Of course, proving (probably thankfully?) that even well built facades can’t fully hide the difference between a few years of master planning and a century of organic cultural and architectural development, there were always a few reminders that what we were seeing wasn’t entirely real, like a closer look at the bookshelves – the books were all fake (ahh yes, the great classic IMPKIAL CROWN) – or at the construction scaffolding (large red banner slogans providing motivation for the toil of the comrades would probably be looked upon strangely at American construction sites). Mind you, Ms. Smith is proud of her work, and makes it clear on her personal blog what she thinks of the cultural and philosophical implications of the development in an entry titled “Inspiration is the Highest Form of Flattery.” In response to the sympathetic Atlantic article linked to above, which was written by someone who grew up in Jackson Hole (WY, USA), she says she’s had an amazing feeling about knowing that someone “gets it," and that the project was "one of the most ... rewarding I've ever done."

This picture could've literally been taken in
SoCal and no one would notice the difference.

The little things.

We left Jackson Hole, the grape fields, the Teton stand-in mountains, and the Yanqing plain behind on our early evening S222 train service back to Beijing, probably never to come back (personally, if I had 1-5 million RMB I’d likely spend it on somewhat different types of housing, though I might see what the local ski resort, yes, there is one, has to offer one of these days….), but taking with us the weird knowledge that this Chinese construct of ‘duplitecture’ that we had previously only chuckled at from afar was actually real (well, as ‘real’ as such a development can be, I guess. What is real, anyway :p ). Without better understanding the cultural and sociological background to developments like this, I hoped to avoid making any judgements about this place beyond my own personal reactions. As the Atlantic article put so well, "...the truth is that Americans who visit the original Jackson Hole are buying into the same fantasies almost as eagerly as the well-off Chinese who buy homes in Jackson Hole, China." To finish off, I have to quote a running theme in Changsha Nights, a fellow foreigner blog (go read it for a completely different experience and perspective than mine), and a short, but perfect encapsulation of much of the 'weird' things we see every day here, “This is China”.

(Thanks to the writers and collaborators behind the CNN, FP, and The Atlantic articles I quoted and paraphrased extensively above)