Alessandro Digaetano Photographer

Less than one year ago Huangbaiyu was set to become an experiment in ecologically balanced living, and American architect and industrial designer William McDonough was the visionary behind it. He and a team of Chinese and Americans have been charged with turning the village into a model of environmentally sound living. The team expected to build about 40 houses by November 2005 to house some of the town's 400 families. The families, according the plan, moving into a new town center would increase the amount of land available for farming. . Today the houses are far to be over, maybe they will be ready for November 2006. Instead of being a demonstration model for sustainable growth ready to be replicated throughout the country, Huangbaiyu appears to be a village in limbo. In the old village districts of Huangbaiyu, many farmers subsidize their yearly harvest earnings with small flocks of sheep, backyard gardens and trout aquaculture. Meanwhile, the new villageÍs neat rows of 42 eco-dwellings ? outfitted with rooftop solar panels, radiant heat floors and pipes for methane heating and cooking fuel from a nearby biomass gasification plant ? but with no provision for sheep pens and vegetable garden, currently sit empty. No villagers have yet agreed to cash in their old homesteads in order to purchase the comfort of a McDonough-designed bungalow. McDonough designed the houses to cost around $3,000 (U.S.), already a high price for farmers, but the move-in price is now estimated by local developer Dai Xialong to top $5,000, local rumors raise it now to $7.000. Most householders recognized that the new houses are an improvement but there no room outside the houses for gardens and animals. Then again, there are other improvements that take priority, including health care, care for the elderly, and education for children. *** Local Caption *** The new eco village under construction.