Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    WHEN in China, live as the Chinese do. Many expats living in Chinese metropolises reside in apartments inside gated communities like the locals, and many of them are satisfied with the current system of closed residential areas.

    China’s Central Government issued a new urban planning directive Sunday saying that new open residential communities will be joined with public roads, and old gated residential communities will gradually open to the public.

    Anna Veremyova from Ukraine said she is happy about the current way of living. “I’m very happy that we have guards there and I prefer it to be a closed community because I feel very safe inside,” said Veremyova.

    Kevin Smith, an American who has been living in Shenzhen for years and used to teach at Shenzhen University, thinks it’s not a practical thing to open gated residential communities.

    “Such closed communities are quite rare in America. In our culture we always get to know and we interact with our neighbors, but it seems Chinese are colder to each other,” said Smith.

    Smith said he would not change the current system.

    “However, there is more safety here and that’s good. Building walls is a deep part of Chinese culture since the Great Wall,” said Smith. “It gives people a sense of security.”

    In many Western countries, gated communities are only homes for rich or prestigious people and most people live in independent houses or apartments.

    Milica Mihajlovic, a Serbian national in Shenzhen, said she prefers to live in closed residential communities too. “The gated communities can keep crazy people from following you into the building and doing bad things because where I come from crazy things nearly happen everyday,” said Mihajlovic.

    The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development defended the new policy on its website by saying that the gated communities have created problems with the layout of the urban public road system, blocking some public roads, which is a major factor in traffic congestion.

    Mihajlovic thinks there are advantages to the policy too.

    “To make it open is in some way good, because people can come without asking the security guards,” said Mihajlovic.

    The Central Government stated the policy will not be implemented in a short time and more legislation regarding the policy is needed.

    An Italian named Gabriele Regazzi said he is curious to see how the new system will work in Shenzhen.

    “I’m sure it depends on how safe the area is,” said Regazzi.

    (Read more on P4: Gated communities will open ‘gradually’)