Peddlers hawk their wares. Women do laundry in a courtyard shared by several families. Old men rattle down alleys on carts loaded with everything from watermelons to charcoal. All over the city, people cram by the dozens into low-lying brick houses without air conditioning or bathrooms. Others live in drab concrete apartment towers that rise high into the smoggy sky.
Some foreigners seek the hurly-burly of Chinese life.
By contrast, Dragon Villas offers North American suburbia. Compounds include restaurants, swimming pools, karaoke rooms and grocery stores stocked with foreign goods. The government retains ownership of the land by leasing it for 10 to 20 years. Rents are pricey, too. The compounds aren't exclusively for foreigners.