A 600 million yuan project spanning 8 years transforms Guizhou's spectacular Shuisi Building into a resort hotel
Costing 200 million yet stalled, one of the ten ugliest buildings... This is the label for the "Water Commissioner's Mansion," a landmark in Guizhou's Du'shan County. Now, this well-known unfinished building finally has new progress and is expected to debut this year as the Jingxin Valley Hotel.
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Author | MISS
Editor | Yang Ming
Editor in charge | Jing Xiangyuan
Source | Bund Design Hotel
The Water Commissioner's Mansion was built in 2016, but since the completion of its main structure in May 2017, the planned hotel and exhibition areas have been slow to materialize, turning it into an unfinished building.
Last year, Du'shan County announced plans to renovate and revitalize the Water Commissioner's Mansion. According to the tender announcement, the project, named Jingxin Valley Hotel, has an investment of 150 million yuan and a planned construction period of 213 days.
Currently, the renovation of the entire hotel is basically complete, and it is expected to open and operate this year. Whether this transformation is a perfect turnaround or a repeat of past mistakes remains unknown.
The Number One Water Commissioner's Building in the World
Du'shan County, where the Water Commissioner's Mansion is located, is in southeastern Guizhou and has always been a national-level poverty-stricken county.
In order to develop tourism, in 2016, this small county with an annual income of only 10 billion yuan built the Water Commissioner's Building in the Jingxin Valley Scenic Area, covering an area of 5,900 square meters and a total construction area of 60,000 square meters.
This building has 24 floors and a depth of 240 meters, built according to the traditional customs of the Shui people of living by mountains and water. Shui script, dry bean curd, and horsetail embroidery, etc., Shui cultural totems are used in the design.
Its designer is Li Hongjin, known as the "Ghost Genius of Xiangxi," who was called a national architect by the Hunan Daily in 2015 and is skilled in creating various tourism wonders.
The grand imitation ancient buildings such as the "Nine-Story Hereditary Hall" in Zhangjiajie's Tu Si City, the "Nine-Entry Hall" in Hubei Enshi's Tu Si City, and the "Chi You Jiu Li City" in Chongqing Pengshui County are all from his design.
○ Nine-Story Hereditary Hall
Li Hongjin's design concept is to "create the tallest and largest national architecture." All buildings named after nine
have a height of 99.9 meters, and the addition of stacked local traditional residential elements creates a stunning visual effect.
This has earned him many Guinness World Records, such as the tallest stilt house and the longest Tujia wind and rain bridge. The Water Commissioner's Building alone has won the "World's Largest Archway, Largest Shui Architecture, and Tallest Glazed Tile Architecture" awards.
With various gimmicks, Li Hongjin's works have become popular attractions in many scenic areas in Southwest China, and are must-visit and photo-taking spots.
However, with the improvement of tourists' aesthetics, these exaggerated wonders have begun to be despised. For example, the Water Commissioner's Mansion was selected by netizens as one of the top ten ugliest buildings in China.
The reason for being listed is "fabricating rural cultural landscapes, abusing local historical symbols, and seriously damaging natural landscapes."
With the capital chain breaking down leading to the shutdown of construction and the local government pointing out serious problems with the project, Li Hongjin's dream of creating the "World's Number One Water Commissioner's Building" was completely shattered.
Simplification Brings Rebirth
However, Du'shan County did not abandon this landmark, but instead attracted non-governmental investment to fulfill the original mission of the Water Commissioner's Building—to become the best hotel in the area.
As early as when the Water Commissioner's Mansion was established, it was mentioned that a super-large-scale resort hotel would be opened, combining large-scale exhibitions and conferences, health and leisure, and other compound functions, and it was planned to be affiliated with InterContinental.
○ The originally planned hotel lobby
The hotel's interior design was undertaken by Hongtao Decoration, the construction contractor of the Water Commissioner's Building. MISS found relevant design plans, allowing us to see the original grand vision.
The cloud patterns and fish patterns of ethnic minorities are the main design elements. Combined with the unique and majestic appearance of the building, the lobby alone has a seven-story height, showing grandeur.
The guest rooms are in a modern luxury style, forming a strong contrast with the exterior. In addition, the hotel has a Chinese restaurant, an all-day dining restaurant, and a banquet hall of over 1,000 square meters. There is even a luxurious KTV area planned on the fourth floor.
Unfortunately, no matter how good the idea was, it ultimately came to nothing. The Water Commissioner's Building is gone, replaced by the Jingxin Valley Hotel.
From recent on-site videos, we can see that the original folk-style exterior of the Water Commissioner's Building has undergone a major transformation, becoming an ordinary modern building.
The glazed tiles on the walls and the external wooden structures have all disappeared, and the suspended pavilions and towers are also gone. The central pagoda has been removed and replaced with a circle of wooden barrier screens.
With white walls and blue roofs, square and rectangular, it doesn't look as outstanding as the original Water Commissioner's Building at first glance, but it is more harmonious with the surrounding environment and not so abrupt.
One of the new owners of the hotel is Gemei Group, which owns the well-known GreenTree Inn. Last year, the group signed a cooperation agreement with Guizhou Province, striving to add 240 hotels in Guizhou within three years, and the Jingxin Valley Hotel is a key project.
The local government claims that the Jingxin Valley Hotel is expected to open this year. Can this hotel revitalize Du'shan County's tourism industry?
Spending Hundreds of Millions to Create Wonders
The tall Water Commissioner's Building is just a corner of Jingxin Valley. The entire Jingxin Valley Scenic Area covers an area of 207 square kilometers and consists of three major parts: a humanistic scenic area, a mortal ecological agricultural scenic area, and a nine-day natural scenic area.
The Jingxin Valley project has an estimated investment of 7 billion yuan. Since its operation in 2018, it has been in poor condition and has suffered significant losses.
The construction of the scenic area can be described as extravagant. The Dushan Pavilion, directly opposite the Jingxin Valley Hotel, is said to have eight pillars made of high-quality timber imported from South Africa. The ten-meter-high pavilion stands on a high platform, offering neither wind nor rain protection.
A large, movable viewing platform is also located nearby. The plan was for tourists to watch mountain-based song and dance performances from it, but it is now abandoned and rusty.
In fact, this is just the tip of the iceberg of Dushan County's tourism; the entire county is filled with a magical atmosphere.
The Forbidden City, a giant bell tower, a Catholic church, the Grand View Garden, Pangu Zhuang, the Great Man Mountain... Walking through Dushan County, one can see a large number of unrelated imitation landmarks, resembling a world park.
There is even a university town built for 2 billion yuan, a science and technology museum costing 120 million yuan, and various museums. However, upon entering the open-style ancient museum, only low-quality imitations are on display, seemingly wholesale from a small YiWu market to make up the numbers.
Of course, most of the buildings are unfinished, and the sites remain construction sites. Steel bars and cement are exposed, and the grand spectacle is not in harmony with the surrounding environment.
These wonders have burdened Dushan County with a debt of 40 billion yuan, a tremendously heavy number for a poor county with an annual revenue of only 10 billion yuan.
The rebirth of the Jingxin Valley Hotel shows the local government's desire to revitalize the tourism industry. But Dushan County can no longer afford to repeat its mistakes.
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