Come check out a community with me in Wuhan, China.
In the US, residential communities are generally just houses.
But in bigger Chinese cities,
you’ll likely find many newer communities that look like this.
Developers will put commercial areas
literally right below the residence.
Apartments like the shops
are built right into the first floor of the apartment building.
Some things that you are
for sure to expect in these kinds of communities
are package delivery pickup centers
where all of your online shopping
or groceries
will ship here for you to grab on your way home from work.
There will also be convenience stores,
a pharmacy, breakfast restaurants
and an overpriced grocery shop
just in case you urgently need some spring onions.
Some places you’ll also find are hair salons and a yoga studio.
Another interesting
common type of business are these cigarette and liquor stores.
The purpose of these places are for guests to buy a quick gift
when visiting friends. Funny thing is,
is if the host doesn’t like the gift,
they can bring it back and sell it second hand to the same shop.
Lastly, you’re likely to find a mahjong room
for the elderly people to spend their free time.
While not every community may look as nice as this newly built one,
many people in the inner cities still live in Lao Pou Shao,
this style of residential community is becoming more and more popular
in recent years.