Editor's Note:
As many of you know, the president of "Rose Garden Villas", Deng Zhiren, was the first person to criticize the SOHO New Town project...however, Ren Zhiqiang, chairman of the board of Huayuan Group, was the first person to both criticize the project and write a letter. It seems that many people cannot tell the two - Deng Zhiren and Ren Zhiqiang - apart. In fact, one of our own technical staffers here at this very website has confused the two names a number of times. I believe that there are two reasons for the confusion: both Deng Zhiren and Ren Zhiqiang seem to enjoy "sparring" with Pan Shiyi, and both men have the sound "Zhi" in the middle character of their names, which only adds to the confusion.
However, there was no mix-up between the two names in another article by the same journalist, which appeared in the Tianjin Daily on the very same day ("A Conversation with New Town`s Spokesman Pan Shiyi: How the New Economy is Changing the Housing Market"). I wonder why?
Recently, this journalist made the drive into Beijing to inspect SOHO New Town. The sleek SOHO showroom, with its floors of black tile, was the setting for my interview with SOHO`s president, Pan Shiyi, a man who has been described as "alternative" and "pioneering" by his colleagues and competitors in the Chinese real estate industry.
A search on the Chinese-language Internet portal Sina.com for information on "Pan Shiyi" reveals over 200 articles and references to the man In 1999, SOHO went from losing 40 staffers in a massive defection to opening its newest venture, "Commune at the Great Wall", located near the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Considering this, it`s no wonder that 1999 has been dubbed "The Year of Pan Shiyi".
In person, Pan Shiyi is unassuming and polite, a plainly dressed, slightly balding businessman - yet there is something mysterious and unquantifiable about him.
This sense of mystery surrounding Pan Shiyi stems as much from his ability to develop and hype new concepts and his formidable sales savvy (not to mention his Sun Tzu "Art of War"-inspired marketing tactics) as from the unique character of the homes he creates. Ask any taxi driver in Beijing to take you to "New Town", and you can be sure that he or she will know the six large, colorful buildings of SOHO New Town.
Let us turn now to our conversation with Pan Shiyi, in SOHO`s individualistic showroom:
Journalist: Right now, it seems that may property developers are building projects in the European continental style - garden villas, for example. Are the homes at SOHO a new type of style, a new type of design?
Pan: As a businessman, I'm very conscious of the changes and developments taking place in our society today. Every new technological breakthrough eventually finds it way into the world of industry, and it advances industry as a whole. The real estate industry is particularly receptive to these changes, because as an industry, it must respond to the age we live in. The revolution in communications technology has had a profound impact on the real estate industry because it has influenced the concept of "space". In other words, advanced communications technology has linked the home and the workplace together to create a type of space that is more flexible and more full of possibilities. This led to the concept of SOHO, which stands for "Small Office, Home Office". SOHO is a response to people's demands for more eclectic and individual space, a space that is not limited by time constraints. SOHO is all about freedom and individuality.
Journalist: You were the first developer to talk about things such as "brilliant interior decorating" and the "No hassle, no questions return policy". You provided residents with free television sets, made sure the apartments were completely decorated before people moved in, and even said that if residents weren`t satisfied, they could move out, with no hassle and no questions asked! Where did that idea originate?
* Translator's Note:
In China, new homes are generally not pre-decorated. The floors may be concrete, the walls unpainted and the kitchens and bathrooms not equipped with basics such as water heaters or showers or cooking ranges. As a result, most new homebuyers must spend quite a bit of time and money making a new house livable before they can even move in. SOHO is unique in offering apartments that are already decorated and move-in ready.
Pan: New Town`s customer service philosophy is two-fold. The first part of that philosophy is having apartments completely decorated and "move-in ready" for residents. Decorating a home by oneself is an exhausting process, and most people have little or no experience with it. Providing homes that are pre-decorated and "move-in ready" is simply the civilized thing for developers to do, and I see it as a mark of progress in the industry. The second part of our philosophy is the "No hassle, no questions return policy". If buyers are not satisfied with the house for any reason, they can return it and we will even handle all of the paperwork. It is essentially a money-back guarantee, since we will return both the principal and the interest if the buyer is not satisfied with the home.
In the new market economy, one sees a sort of "game" being played - a game between the developer and the consumer. In this game, it is only fair that property developers should cede more ground to the consumer. The developers have the benefit of experience and knowledge; they are intimately familiar with the building process. Consumers, on the other hand, are not as well-informed in that regard. In a mature market, developers will have to give way to consumers. Otherwise, if developers collude - to form a sort of "price-fixing federation", say - consumers will start to suspect that the real estate industry is out to cheat people. Instead of buying houses, consumers will invest their money in the stock market or just keep it in the bank. And if that happens, the real estate industry is finished.
Journalist: When SOHO New Town was introduced, many property developers came out very publicly and very openly in criticism of the project. One newspaper even ran the large headline, "SOHO, who are you trying to fool?" What on earth made you decide to collect these critical reviews and publish them in a book?
Pan: I think that the process of "criticizing" is, in reality, just a process of discussion and debate. In Europe, every city or town has a town square where people can gather and relax, or discuss the issues of the day. This sort of discussion and debate leads to social progress.
Why has Beijing's real estate market managed to develop so quickly in the space of only two or three years? Well, I think it has a great deal to do with the competition and constant arguing that takes place between rival real estate developers. As many people know, the president of "Rose Garden Villas", Deng Zhiren, was the first person to criticize the SOHO New Town project. But afterwards, when we published "Criticizing New Town", Deng Zhiren asked me to autograph his copy of the book! I thought to myself, then wrote, "Mr. Deng - our mutual criticisms and arguments have broken new ground in the Beijing real estate world. I think it`s fair to say that these disputes have contributed to the development of the industry as a whole." So, you see, we`ve both been shaped by criticism.
Journalist: New Town, with its "Small Office, Home Office" (SOHO) concept, has received considerable fame for its uniqueness. But in Japan only 2% of all households are SOHO-style home-offices. Do you think SOHO is a concept with staying power?
Pan: New and innovative products are not created in a vacuum; instead, they keep pace with the changes in society. You have to consider the future when you think about the present. That`s the way fortunes are made. I don`t think that the "avant-garde" is necessarily a minority. Very few people would consider themselves lacking in sophistication or taste. New Town`s extraordinary sales performance is proof positive of this, I believe. New Town has already sold more than 2,000 units, and the price per square meter has risen from the initial price of 7,000 yuan per square meter to 15,000 yuan per square meter. The upcoming Jian Wai SOHO project will be three times as large as SOHO New Town and it will continue the same SOHO spirit.
As many of you know, the president of "Rose Garden Villas", Deng Zhiren, was the first person to criticize the SOHO New Town project...however, Ren Zhiqiang, chairman of the board of Huayuan Group, was the first person to both criticize the project and write a letter. It seems that many people cannot tell the two - Deng Zhiren and Ren Zhiqiang - apart. In fact, one of our own technical staffers here at this very website has confused the two names a number of times. I believe that there are two reasons for the confusion: both Deng Zhiren and Ren Zhiqiang seem to enjoy "sparring" with Pan Shiyi, and both men have the sound "Zhi" in the middle character of their names, which only adds to the confusion.
However, there was no mix-up between the two names in another article by the same journalist, which appeared in the Tianjin Daily on the very same day ("A Conversation with New Town`s Spokesman Pan Shiyi: How the New Economy is Changing the Housing Market"). I wonder why?
Recently, this journalist made the drive into Beijing to inspect SOHO New Town. The sleek SOHO showroom, with its floors of black tile, was the setting for my interview with SOHO`s president, Pan Shiyi, a man who has been described as "alternative" and "pioneering" by his colleagues and competitors in the Chinese real estate industry.
A search on the Chinese-language Internet portal Sina.com for information on "Pan Shiyi" reveals over 200 articles and references to the man In 1999, SOHO went from losing 40 staffers in a massive defection to opening its newest venture, "Commune at the Great Wall", located near the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Considering this, it`s no wonder that 1999 has been dubbed "The Year of Pan Shiyi".
In person, Pan Shiyi is unassuming and polite, a plainly dressed, slightly balding businessman - yet there is something mysterious and unquantifiable about him.
This sense of mystery surrounding Pan Shiyi stems as much from his ability to develop and hype new concepts and his formidable sales savvy (not to mention his Sun Tzu "Art of War"-inspired marketing tactics) as from the unique character of the homes he creates. Ask any taxi driver in Beijing to take you to "New Town", and you can be sure that he or she will know the six large, colorful buildings of SOHO New Town.
Let us turn now to our conversation with Pan Shiyi, in SOHO`s individualistic showroom:
Journalist: Right now, it seems that may property developers are building projects in the European continental style - garden villas, for example. Are the homes at SOHO a new type of style, a new type of design?
Pan: As a businessman, I'm very conscious of the changes and developments taking place in our society today. Every new technological breakthrough eventually finds it way into the world of industry, and it advances industry as a whole. The real estate industry is particularly receptive to these changes, because as an industry, it must respond to the age we live in. The revolution in communications technology has had a profound impact on the real estate industry because it has influenced the concept of "space". In other words, advanced communications technology has linked the home and the workplace together to create a type of space that is more flexible and more full of possibilities. This led to the concept of SOHO, which stands for "Small Office, Home Office". SOHO is a response to people's demands for more eclectic and individual space, a space that is not limited by time constraints. SOHO is all about freedom and individuality.
Journalist: You were the first developer to talk about things such as "brilliant interior decorating" and the "No hassle, no questions return policy". You provided residents with free television sets, made sure the apartments were completely decorated before people moved in, and even said that if residents weren`t satisfied, they could move out, with no hassle and no questions asked! Where did that idea originate?
* Translator's Note:
In China, new homes are generally not pre-decorated. The floors may be concrete, the walls unpainted and the kitchens and bathrooms not equipped with basics such as water heaters or showers or cooking ranges. As a result, most new homebuyers must spend quite a bit of time and money making a new house livable before they can even move in. SOHO is unique in offering apartments that are already decorated and move-in ready.
Pan: New Town`s customer service philosophy is two-fold. The first part of that philosophy is having apartments completely decorated and "move-in ready" for residents. Decorating a home by oneself is an exhausting process, and most people have little or no experience with it. Providing homes that are pre-decorated and "move-in ready" is simply the civilized thing for developers to do, and I see it as a mark of progress in the industry. The second part of our philosophy is the "No hassle, no questions return policy". If buyers are not satisfied with the house for any reason, they can return it and we will even handle all of the paperwork. It is essentially a money-back guarantee, since we will return both the principal and the interest if the buyer is not satisfied with the home.
In the new market economy, one sees a sort of "game" being played - a game between the developer and the consumer. In this game, it is only fair that property developers should cede more ground to the consumer. The developers have the benefit of experience and knowledge; they are intimately familiar with the building process. Consumers, on the other hand, are not as well-informed in that regard. In a mature market, developers will have to give way to consumers. Otherwise, if developers collude - to form a sort of "price-fixing federation", say - consumers will start to suspect that the real estate industry is out to cheat people. Instead of buying houses, consumers will invest their money in the stock market or just keep it in the bank. And if that happens, the real estate industry is finished.
Journalist: When SOHO New Town was introduced, many property developers came out very publicly and very openly in criticism of the project. One newspaper even ran the large headline, "SOHO, who are you trying to fool?" What on earth made you decide to collect these critical reviews and publish them in a book?
Pan: I think that the process of "criticizing" is, in reality, just a process of discussion and debate. In Europe, every city or town has a town square where people can gather and relax, or discuss the issues of the day. This sort of discussion and debate leads to social progress.
Why has Beijing's real estate market managed to develop so quickly in the space of only two or three years? Well, I think it has a great deal to do with the competition and constant arguing that takes place between rival real estate developers. As many people know, the president of "Rose Garden Villas", Deng Zhiren, was the first person to criticize the SOHO New Town project. But afterwards, when we published "Criticizing New Town", Deng Zhiren asked me to autograph his copy of the book! I thought to myself, then wrote, "Mr. Deng - our mutual criticisms and arguments have broken new ground in the Beijing real estate world. I think it`s fair to say that these disputes have contributed to the development of the industry as a whole." So, you see, we`ve both been shaped by criticism.
Journalist: New Town, with its "Small Office, Home Office" (SOHO) concept, has received considerable fame for its uniqueness. But in Japan only 2% of all households are SOHO-style home-offices. Do you think SOHO is a concept with staying power?
Pan: New and innovative products are not created in a vacuum; instead, they keep pace with the changes in society. You have to consider the future when you think about the present. That`s the way fortunes are made. I don`t think that the "avant-garde" is necessarily a minority. Very few people would consider themselves lacking in sophistication or taste. New Town`s extraordinary sales performance is proof positive of this, I believe. New Town has already sold more than 2,000 units, and the price per square meter has risen from the initial price of 7,000 yuan per square meter to 15,000 yuan per square meter. The upcoming Jian Wai SOHO project will be three times as large as SOHO New Town and it will continue the same SOHO spirit.
