By Melissa Davies
A New Zealand company has been headhunted by Chinese developers to try and make Shanghai a cleaner, greener city.
The ambitious plan begins with landscaping a large community of mansions that will cater to Shanghai's growing number of millionaires.
It's a fairytale lifestyle come true for China's burgeoning middle class and a New Zealand company is creating the dream.
“We're adding greenery to Shanghai and we're trying to improve the environment of China,” says Chris Bentley of landscape designers Boffa Miskell.
Boffa Miskell are more used to having natural beauty at their fingertips, designing New Zealand's town squares and landscapes.
In Shanghai they are creating rivers and lakes where there was once just clay.
The Kiwis were handpicked by Chinese developers who wanted to associate their brand with New Zealand's environment and they are advertising Dong Jiao villas as the most luxurious development in all of China.
“China is an enormous market; much bigger than New Zealand and all we need is less than one percent of the market in China and it would be bigger than the market for New Zealand so there's huge opportunity,” say Mr Bentley.
At an average price of around $20 million for a mansion may seem exclusive but it's these kinds of developments that the growing middle class are demanding. In just one year the number of millionaires in China has jumped 26 percent and they don't just want the big house, they want the outdoor space too.
The majority of Shanghai residents live in shoebox apartments or cramped townhouses but consumer researcher Violet Chen says Shanghai lifestyles are changing as the rich get richer.
‘The number of middle class is growing and people are moving towards that higher upper class,” says Ms Chen.
So far four of these communities are planned for the little land Shanghai has left to develop, a sign many Chinese are easily keeping up with the Joneses.
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