Mission Hills is undoubtedly the big daddy of golf course property developments in China
Its boosters say Mission Hills is a bit like Texas: everything here is bigger and better. It's hard to argue with that while you are standing in front of a three-storey, 800 sq m house, trying to remember where you have seen such grandiosity before.
The house sits on a short hill overlooking the World Cup golf course, one of 10 here at the world's biggest golf club. A few doors down a bigger unit is under construction, which will be twice the size. It will, quite naturally, give Mission Hills bragging rights to having the biggest house in town.
How anyone could need so much living space -- or opulence -- is beyond a mere mortal like this writer. The Mission Hills in Residence development, with 80 top-end luxury villas in total, has obviously been inspired by a determination to be known as the most ambitious housing project in China. Yet the scale of the ambition on view here is nevertheless surprising at first sight.
The development's marketing slogan, reflected in its advertising, is: 'Every king must have his castle.' The king that buys one of these will not likely be disappointed. There are four garages to park his fleet of cars, two large dining rooms (presumably to entertain nobles from differing factions at court), upstairs and downstairs living rooms, four enormous bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study and a library.
All of that is what might be expected in a big house, especially one with a price tag of 30 million yuan. What makes these 'Italian-Hawaiian' villas really stand out, however, is the extras: an elevator to take guests between its three floors, a TV room that is more of a mini-theatre, a walk-in humidor and wine cellar, a huge attic, an entertainment room complete with pool table, and a servants' quarters bigger than most people's apartments in Hong Kong.
