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Why SOHO is so chic

Soho China

You can't open a newspaper these days without the face of ultra-trendy Beijing developers Zhang Xin or her husband and partner Pan Shiyi smiling out at you.

They have both their vociferous critics and staunch fans, but whichever side of the fence you fall on, it is undeniable that their SOHO home-office model and their daring approach to architecture has made a major impact on Beijing?s luxury housing market and on lifestyles in the city.

'Experiment is the character of China today - from the economic system to the political system to the way of living, the way of doing business, everything is happening for the first time,' says Zhang Xin, a Beijing native who grew up in Hong Kong and London.

She has a master's degree in development economics from Cambridge and has worked for Goldman Sachs and Travelers Group, while he was one of the first private-sector property developers working in China. A match made in real-estate heaven.

SOHO stands for Small Office, Home Office and it has introduced to Beijing the notion of work and living areas existing in harmony.

Ms Zhang is a busy woman. She and Mr Pan built SOHO New Town in 1998, a colourful, mould-breaking development, and recently completed Jianwai SOHO, which is like a self-contained city in the heart of the central business district.

Jianwai SOHO has generated sales of around seven billion yuan (HK$6.6 billion) so far. Ms Zhang has also commissioned top Australian architect Peter Davidson to build a new project called SOHO Shang Du.

And she recently gave British-born Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid a million square metres to create a futuristic swarm of residential blocks, although construction has been put on hold because of re-planning in the area.

Speaking in the group?s headquarters in a newly built cluster of white towers with lots of glass in the central business district, Ms Zhang says Beijing is on a developmental fast track. 'The top avant-garde architects are working in Beijing and their work will represent a different quality of city outlook,' she says.

Around three-quarters of SOHO residents are Chinese, with most of them under 35 years of age and a high percentage educated overseas.

The SOHO message seems to be getting across. Judy Gao, from the company?s corporate communications department, says: 'All of our apartments have been sold out, even those still under construction. The buyers are almost all Chinese, especially the younger generation who have a successful career and entrepreneurs.'

In a recent article in the International Herald Tribune, Michael Li, executive director of Regal Lloyds International Real Estate Consultants in Beijing, said SOHO had transformed the Chinese attitude towards property. 'SOHO China tells Chinese people that a house can be a kind of asset,' he said. This 'will have an immense effect on the Chinese real estate market, especially at a time when the Chinese government is gradually accepting private property.'

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