It is common to be sitting on the metro and see a couple of young men almost running down the carriage throwing leaflets onto the laps of the passengers who are busily staring at their mobile phones. Often in the morning, when I get on the metro there are discarded leaflets on the seats and on the floors. I don’t usually look at them because I can’t understand the Chinese but this time the words ‘Narnia Town’ attracted me and I picked one up.
The picture is of a rural idyll on and an artist’s impression of a train speeding to Shanghai from Huangshan. (I have at least learnt the Chinese characters for all the major cities – it helps at the railway station!) The developers show a magnificent rural paradise with lakes and mountains and presumably clean air.
Who wouldn’t want to live here and speed into Shanghai each day? But the reality is surely a long way from the dream. I can envision this Chinese Narnia several years after completion with many of the apartments still awaiting tenants, the inhabited ones with rusty balconies and streams of orange rivulets running from air-conditioning units, down to the face of the buildings. Why does everything in China rust so quickly? (my new bike rusted within 6 months)
There will be constant drilling and banging of renovation and the communal areas will be unloved and shabby. All the grassy areas will have ridiculous signs telling residents to love and tender the green areas by keeping off them and there will be dog mess on the paving under each tree.
The website shows different styles of what they call ‘villas’ in China, available for purchase although it’s not clear if they have already been built or they are examples from a previous development. In the clamour to be homeowners I’m sure many will be tempted to snap up a piece of Narnia although the chances are that it will be far from the fairy tale dreamland of my childhood.
In this Chinese Narnia, the imposing grey stone entrance to the complex becomes the wardrobe and the brave Aslan becomes a toy poodle wearing booties and a pink tutu. Calling this development Narnia Town means it has a lot to live up to! Only time will tell.