How a pristine Chinese mountain fell prey to the country’s property boom
- Changyao was once a haven for wildlife on the edge of Kunming, but illegal development has turned it into a ‘concrete mountain’
- Yunnan authorities have ordered the villas to be torn down, but environmentalists say it symbolises a wider problem in the country’s development model
Passengers flying over Changyao Mountain in Yunnan province will see a huge construction site sprawling across what was a lush green landscape a little over a decade ago.
The hillside on the east banks of Dianchi Lake, the largest expanse of fresh water in southwest China, was a natural wonder and a haven for a wide variety of wildlife including squirrels, wolves, bears and all kinds of birds. The majestic pine trees stood there like giants, offering locals sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the nearby provincial capital Kunming.
But now it has been turned into a “concrete mountain”, with cranes towering over dozens of unfinished villas installed like concrete boxes and surrounded by rows of completed apartment blocks. The soil has been dug up and piled here and there, covered with green plastic sheets.
The scandal came to light in May, when environmental inspectors found 813 villas and 294 blocks of flats had been built illegally on the mountainside, occupying 230 hectares (568 acres) of land, or 92 per cent of the mountain’s surface.
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Illegal construction turns lush green hillside at China’s Dianchi Lake into “concrete mountain”
Environmentalists and observers said the destruction of the mountain epitomised a growth-obsessed development model that has been prevalent in Yunnan and other parts of China in the past few decades.
Following an investigation by the environmental police, Yunnan Communist Party chief Ruan Chengfa ordered a “resolute rectification” to correct the “problem of excessive development” as soon as possible.