Palais De Fortune

Mega-Mansion Quiz:

Where would you expect to find the new gated community called Palais De Fortune?
1) Norway
2) Wisconsin
3) Los Angeles
4) Beijing
5) New Orleans
6) Inside the Beltline

On a tour of a model home in Palais De Fortune, sales manager [Madam Doe] points out features one might expect in any French-style chateau. There are sculptures of cherubs adorning the front gate, a Swarovski crystal chandelier hanging above a sweeping central staircase, and a maid in a lace-ruffled uniform waiting at the front door.

The answer and complete story can be found here.

WSJ | Oct 19 : A look inside [these] "villa compounds," gated communities of multi-million dollar homes that give a view of what it's like to be rich in a country that's coming to terms with being communist in name only. WSJ's Geoffrey Fowler reports.

Just 10 meters away, another miniature Versailles rises out of the Beijing smog, and down the road there are 172 more like it. The sight is a jarring reminder that this gated community, where houses cost about $5 million and measure approximately 15,000 square feet, isn't in France. It's one of the most exclusive, if architecturally incongruous, neighborhoods in China. ...