I had a dream which was to live at the foot of the Great Wall
I have no house in the U.S.
This is my only one
I have renovated nearly 40 houses
I have made up my mind
That I will live here until the day I die
I’m American
I came to study in China in 1981
I went to Peking University
Then I worked for a medical company for years
I was the senior VP
In 2005 I was tired of the job
So I moved here
Huairou is the biggest county of Beijing
With the least population
It enjoy gorgeous views
It takes less than two hours driving from the downtown to here
I envy the villagers of Mutian Yu
Because they live in such a heaven on the Earth
In March, 1986
I went to Mutian Yu for the first time
Accidentally
I met the guy who was selling vests
He said he could help me find a house
It must be fate
Our house is at the foot of the Great Wall in Mutian Yu
It covers an area of around 7 mu
It was a traditional farmer house
We have lived here for more than 25 years
My wife is Chinese
She was my Chinese teacher
When I studied in the university
We have married for 39 years
We have two children and they both grew up here
It has undergone five major renovations
On the left
There’s an open study of Tang Liang(wife)
The living room was built directly on the mountain foot
It’s really comfortable to stay here and enjoy the sceneries of the Great Wall
I installed the art glass designed by myself
It looks amazing when the sun shines in
There’s a guest’s bedroom
Our friends all like staying here
And they even ask me to design their houses
I have designed nearly 40 houses
We love staying here on weekends
I have a foreign client
He has gone back to his motherland
And he hires local people to manage the house for him
Which brings benefits to the farmers
This villa is the first project
That I have completed
The owner is French
He really likes the shape of the old house
So we keep the original tile roof
The same materials are used on the floor outdoors and indoors
The Great Wall tiles
The smallest house covers an area of 80m2
I designed it for my mother and it’s called Grandma’s
Because when my mother comes to visit me in China
She would be more comfortable living in her own place
Eagle Nest is special
It covers an area of 1,200 m2
We had 17 revisions of drawings
5,000 m2 of rock was dug out
It can stay safe in an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude
All the roofs are green seen from above
Which makes you feel there’s no house there
My name is Yang Jie
Now I live in the Shunyi District of Beijing
I rented it five or six years ago
Mainly for spending weekends and holidays
Sometimes I come here with my children and sometimes juts by myself
We stay in the living room and the kitchen during the day
If the child want to play, she can also run around
We were born in the 1950s
We had some rural experiences
Such as harvesting wheat
If you have ever been through it, you would not be able to forget it
Urban life make people anxious and stressful
And we really want to run away from it
When we go back to the rural area again
I think everyone would want to pursue such a life
Baili Xiangju was an old village
I was invited to do the first renovation project
To turn over 20 houses into guest houses
To kind of bring the village back to life
It was awarded the best new hotel around the world in 2018
I’ve never studied architecture
It’s the best thing of my life
To be part of the rural community development
We’re farmers
We live a simple life
We get up when it’s still dark
And we start working very early
We have dinner together for many years
For an old couple like us
We feel more comfortable being apart for some time
I firmly believe
That husband and wife are also friends
I have made a will
They should just scatter my ashes under the big pine tree after I die
And they can throw a party there
To send me off happily
Now more and more middle classes in Beijing
They love such a rural life
I think we will live here for the next years