A weekend at China's middle-class utopia

likes and dislikes about a controversial beach town

It felt like I had never left Beijing.

I saw the wanghong store Butterful & Creamorous bakery, Arabica coffee, and Tiaohai bar one by one as I made my way in — all the essential sanlitun (Beijing’s central shopping district) landmarks. Then I saw OWSPACE book store and livehouse DDC— two popular hangout choices for Beijingers, day and night.

One weekend this summer, I finally paid a visit to the beach resort town Aranya. Since its founding a few years ago, Aranya has been controversial among China’s young urbanites. Many went to grumble about it on podcasts. Most voices believed Aranya had failed to build a paradise for middle-class escapees that it had been striving for.

They had a reason. For a long time, you could only enter its famous Lonely Library if you knew someone who owned a property there. Food and drinks were expensive for the sake of being expensive and there was a separate line for non-homeowners. Guests paid for overpriced vacation rentals, only to be frown upon.

Their various cultural events have been appealing, though. One of the most international theatre festivals in the country was initiated by Aranya. Every summer, an electronic music festival brings many of Beijing and Shanghai’s ravers. And if you are into art, China’s most reputable contemporary art museum has a branch with special curations. There are also many other edgy and hipster events such as the Xiami Music Festival, which took place this past weekend and a couple of people I know went there. Imagine seeing your favourite band live with the ocean sunrise.

Three hours by car or two hours by train, you will be there at the closest swimmable beach while still maintaining your Beijing lifestyle (Shanghai residents, I believe, have many other convenient choices).

According to its founder Ma Yin, who is now an online personality, Aranya is designed for neighbours to meet each other through events and activities, big or small. Any requests and complaints from residents are sent directly to Mr Ma’s inbox and receive a reply— in a contrast to most Chinese compounds where management and public life are invisible. And for the months when you are away, Aranya will help manage rentals.

I both liked and disliked it. Start with good things. The art exhibition I was there for was interesting and they flew in an artist from Los Angeles. The price of food seemed to have gone down after complaints and a homeowner card was no longer required. And it was also a surprisingly good “city outside city” where I met some friends and their friends whom I didn’t get to see much living in Beijing. You then had all the time to chat about everything. People were more relaxed than a bar in Beijing’s CBD. Having drinks at a familiar brand was easy and safe.

One part of what I don’t like is also that. While I am okay with familiar brands, I could also do a local brewery for good conversations, chill vibes and great views. And disturbingly, the gated community seems to have separated and isolated locals who are originally from the area.

The estate is located in a small town called Changli in Qinhuangdao city. In other scenarios, this could have been a good opportunity to introduce the culture and history of the relatively lesser-known Changli. However, for the entire trip, I didn’t see any hints of that. The local hires for hotels and restaurants, I heard, are not paid very well (despite the average hotel price being 2,000 RMB or $300). This bothered one of my friends who was on the same trip. She ended up making an exhibition out of photos she took in the old town of Changli.

I think to this day one reason why people keep talking about Aranya is its core branding of year-around events and responsive management, which makes it unique among all other real estate projects. If I were a self-sufficient creative worker, I could totally live there to have some quiet space while still keeping up with cultural trends.

In the meantime, one thing to be cautious about is that being there can create some sort of fantasy that you have “made” it. It is pretty easy to develop a sense of ignorance and illusion when surrounded by what represents “middle class” — well-dressed concierges, on-call shuttle buses and all the boutique stores. But there is so much more that could be done to show that it cares about those who were kept out the community as a result. An ideal paradise would be more conscious of its privileges and, less narcissistic. And have the cultural topics explored there touched on core social issues? Maybe.