After a prolonged research and analysis period highly implicated by HomeShop's search for a new space, our newfound expertise led to the temporary return of the current space at Xiaojingchang hutong to its former status as real estate agency (pre-2007 era). Replicating the typology of Beijing's countless real estate agencies, HomeShop took up a new role as an off-shoot office of the well-known chain 我爱我家 Wo Ai Wo Jia (“I Love My Home”), henceforth named 我爱你家 Wo Ai Ni Jia (“I Love Your Home”). For a period of two months in the Spring/Summer of 2010, “我爱你家 I Love Your Home” presented information on over thirty of Beijing's hottest properties, with its multilingual agents advising passersby on the real estate market and private life in the capital—free of commission.


我爱你家草场地分店 “I Love Your Home” caochangdi branch
Commissioned by 站台中国 Platform China for “The Third Party, Part Two: The Stranger”, curated by Beatrice Leanza
beijing, december 2010

click to view sample properties

Broadening our market and horizons, in December 2010 “我爱你家 I Love Your Home’ expanded to the Caochangdi village-cum-arts district, where the pop-up real estate agency was transformed into an art display, complete with framed photographs and a video installed in a white cube space.

A video interview with Sun NING, owner of Platform China art space and manager of several properties in the area, recounts her history and views of the Caochangdi arts district, from its beginnings as a dusty village on the outskirts of the city to its current status as a trendy off-site for 798 aficionados, cheap lodging for beipiao (Beijing's young, precarious population) and home to migrant workers.

Further fieldwork contributed to a selection of Caochangdi's most recent available properties (from warehouse and gallery spaces to 12 m² rooms without heating), along with the full information regarding particular details unique to each space, their layout, size and telephone contact for renting.