My House My Home.docVIP

My House My Home 　　FOR people like me in China, roughly 20 or 30 yearsago, the modest apartments allotted to us by the statewere our homes, and I took it for granted that minebelonged to me. At that time, all apartments allottedto people were state-owned, nevertheless we felt more assuredand confident than I think people do today, having to pay astronomical prices to put a house in their name, as verified bytheir property ownership certificates. The deed has a sunsetclause: it expires after a certain periodof time. Some are good for 50 years andothers for 70 years, whereas we couldoccupy the allotted apartments lifelongif we would. Above all, the state allottedresidence was a good bargain for ordinary people-the rent was negligible(several or at most dozens of yuan) forthe security of a place to live. 　　At the end of the last century, Chinabegan to roll out a market system forhousing, allowing people to buy the places they choose to live in, and leaving the price determined bymarket forces. Stoked by acute demand and frenzied speculation, housing prices have soared out of sight in past years. Evenfor public employees like me, who are eligible for governmentsubsidized apartments (a compensatory benefit of modestlypaid public service jobs), a home is now a huge expense, sohuge that we may well have to scrimp for the rest of our lives. 　　At the turn of the century, two huge affordable housingcommunities sprouted up in a northern suburb of Beijing, onecalled Huilongguan and the other Tiantongyuan. At first manypeople were scared away by the remote location and the lackof commercial services and public transport facilities. But thelow price tag on the units was really attractive for those whowanted an apartment but could not afford luxury. I myself belonged to the latter group. 　　In the summer of 2002, my employer organized a homeshopping trip to Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan, drummingup interest in their unrivaled price advantage: about RMB2,000 per square meter.