Taitou, Gaocun

Taitou Xinyuan 台头新苑社区
Residential community
Taitou Xinyuan Location of Taitou Xinyuan in China
Coordinates: 39.6371°N 116.8533°E / 39.6371; 116.8533
Country	China
Direct-administered municipality	Tianjin
District	Wuqing
Town	Gaocun
Elevation	12 m (39 ft)
Population  (August 2018)
• Total	1,000
	Includes around 30 expatriates
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)

Taitou (simplified Chinese: 台头新苑社区; traditional Chinese: 臺頭新苑社區; pinyin: Táitóu Xīnyuàn Shèqū), formerly (simplified Chinese: 台头村; traditional Chinese: 臺頭村; pinyin: Táitóu Cūn), is a newly-built village in Gaocun township, Wuqing District, Tianjin Municipality, People's Republic of China.

Location

Located just two kilometres from the Gaocun exit of the Jingjintang Expressway, Taitou offers excellent transportation links to Beijing and Tianjin.

Taitou is a vibrant community of relocated farmers surrounded by agricultural land and thousands of vacant new buildings. Many of the empty buildings in the surrounding area were constructed during a speculative real estate bubble in the early 2010s. While occupancy rates in Taitou are very high, occupancy rates of housing and shopping malls in the surrounding area is still extremely low. The surrounding area could be described as a Chinese ghost city.

In late 2018, house prices dropped from 15,384 Chinese yuan per square metre to just 11,771 Chinese yuan per square metre in just two months.

Commercial activity

Within Taitou residential compound

• Printing and photocopying, building 10
• Sauna, spa and massage parlour, building 11
• Hairdresser, building 17

In Taitou building 21 (commercial space)

• Medical clinic (basic supplies and limited opening hours)
• China Post
• Agricultural Bank of China
• Broadband service centre

Outside Taitou North Gate

• Family Destiny Restaurant (known colloquially by the expatriate community as the "Dirty Dragon")
• Beef hotpot restaurant
• Real estate agent
• Lanzhou Lamian restaurant (halal)
• Massage parlour
• Two mobile jianbing vendors (mornings only)
• Electric rickshaws waiting for passengers

For safety reasons, no cars are permitted to enter this gate. Pedestrians, bicycles (including electric bikes) and electric rickshaws are allowed.

Outside Taitou West Gate

• Guard sentry
• Intercity bus stop

Around Taitou

• Crematorium
• Work yard with agricultural equipment and farm animals
• Road corn

Widsom Plaza

• Face-to-Face Noodle Bar
• Beijing Institute of Big Data Research
• Apple'tree (restaurant and yoga studio)
• GreenGo electric car rental service

Online retailers

Most couriers do not ship to Taitou due to its remote location. Only SF Express, JD.com and China Post deliver mail to addresses in Taitou. Other couriers usually deposit Taitou-addressed mail at Hexiwu (11 km away), Gaocun (3 km away) or Haileybury International School (1.25 km away) and notify the intended recipient of the item's location by SMS.

JD.com has a near monopoly for online groceries because it is the only online grocery company willing to ship to Taitou. JD.com's produce including cabbages, eggs, electronic items and frozen fish) are available for same-day or next-day delivery to Taitou.

Map

Annotated map of Taitou residential compound

Air quality

The air quality as measured by the air quality index (AQI) in nearby Langfang varies from excellent to severely polluted. In summer months, the AQI is usually around 100, while in winter months, AQI of 300+ is common. In May 2017, the AQI of Langfang and other cities in the Jingjinji area exceeded an extremely hazardous 1000 points.

Green: lowest AQI each month; blue: average AQI each month; maroon: highest AQI each month. Higher numbers indicate more polluted air.

The lack of an extremely polluted winter in 2017/18 is owed to policies from the central Chinese government that places severe restrictions on the heavily-polluting manufacturing plants and coal furnaces used for heating.

AQI and Health Implications (HJ 633—2012)

AQI	Air Pollution Level	Air Pollution Category	Health Implications	Recommended Precautions
0–50	Level 1	Excellent	No health implications.	Everyone can continue their outdoor activities normally.
51–100	Level 2	Good	Some pollutants may slightly affect very few hypersensitive individuals.	Only very few hypersensitive people should reduce outdoor activities.
101–150	Level 3	Lightly Polluted	Healthy people may experience slight irritations and sensitive individuals will be slightly affected to a larger extent.	Children, seniors and individuals with respiratory or heart diseases should reduce sustained and high-intensity outdoor exercises.
151–200	Level 4	Moderately Polluted	Sensitive individuals will experience more serious conditions. The hearts and respiratory systems of healthy people may be affected.	Children, seniors and individuals with respiratory or heart diseases should avoid sustained and high-intensity outdoor exercises. General population should moderately reduce outdoor activities.
201–300	Level 5	Heavily Polluted	Healthy people will commonly show symptoms. People with respiratory or heart diseases will be significantly affected and will experience reduced endurance in activities.	Children, seniors and individuals with heart or lung diseases should stay indoors and avoid outdoor activities. General population should reduce outdoor activities.
>300	Level 6	Severely Polluted	Healthy people will experience reduced endurance in activities and may also show noticeably strong symptoms. Other illnesses may be triggered in healthy people. Elders and the sick should remain indoors and avoid exercise. Healthy individuals should avoid outdoor activities.	Children, seniors and the sick should stay indoors and avoid physical exertion. General population should avoid outdoor activities.

Renovation process of 2016-17

Black waterproof layer has been applied to the exterior walls of all 21 buildings at Taitou residential compound. Walls are now ready for stencilling with masking tape and beige paint.

Major renovation works were carried out at Taitou residential compound from 2016-17

Shortly after construction of the Taitou residential compound was completed, and after residents had moved in, major renovation works were carried out on the exterior walls of all 21 buildings at Taitou.

The process included:

1. Chipping away the existing stone cladding
2. Removing the old Rockwool insulation material from the external walls
3. Installing new, upgraded Rockwool insulation material to the external walls
4. Painting the exterior walls white
5. Painting the exterior walls black
6. Placing masking tape on the face of each building to look like bricks
7. Painting the buildings beige then peeling off the masking tape to reveal a brickwork pattern

The exterior wall renovation process took nearly 12 months to complete. After the exterior wall insulation was finished, workers planted hundreds of trees and bushes around the residential compound.

Trees being planted around Taitou residential compound after the completion of renovation works in 2017