THE Xili Lake Holiday Resort in Nanshan District, which used to be a popular tourist destination in Shenzhen, will be turned into an educational and scientific research complex for the University Town, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

On Nov. 29, 2019, the resort issued a notice, saying it would suspend business starting Dec. 1, 2019, as the government took back the land ahead of time.

The reporters with the Daily recently made a visit to the resort and were told by the resort’s staff at the entrance that the resort had been shut down. Few people were seen inside except for several security guards standing at the entrance of the resort, the reporters found.

According to the company’s regulations, visitors and vehicles will no longer be allowed to enter the resort.

Built in 1979, the Xili Lake resort was the first tourist resort built after the reform and opening up. It was equipped with recreational facilities, including a singing and dancing hall, a golf course and a fishing center, as well as structures like pavilions, pagodas and towers.

However, the resort has been eclipsed by a new generation of scenic spots and entertainment parks since entering the millennium, as tourist attractions with convenient transportation access and advanced facilities have become the people’s new favorite choices for recreation.

The resort was put into the limelight again in recent years due to the 37 illegal villas found on the property. In October 2018, Guangdong Higher People’s Court ruled that the villas were illegal buildings and should be demolished.

In response to the land retrieval of the resort, the Nanshan branch under the city’s planning and natural resources bureau told the Daily that the Xili Lake Holiday Resort, which covers about 400,000 square meters, had been included in the expansion plan of the University Town.

At present, the Xili Subdistrict Office and the district’s urban renewal authority have been held responsible for the compensatory expropriation and land recovery of the resort, according to the Daily.

(Zhang Yu)