BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhuanet)-- A typical New York-style housing
project will be built in Beijing under a project jointly sponsored
by the Chinese and US governments which was launched Saturday.
   Shen Jianzhong, deputy director of the department of housing
and real estate industry of the Ministry of Construction (MOC),
told the opening ceremony that it marked a new step in the housing
cooperation between the two governments.
   Chinese and U.S. authorities have chosen two housing districts
in Beijing and Shanghai as the basis for housing cooperation,
under the "construction agreement of the China-U.S. housing
industrial demonstration" signed by the MOC and the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development in May, 2000.
   Huang Jiankun, head of the project, announced that Beijing's
Longzeyuan district had invited top New York architect Frank
Williams and the eldest son of famous architect Ieoh Ming Pei, who
is also an American urban planning architect to work on the
project. The district landscape and community building were also
drawn up by noted U.S. designers.    
   Shen hoped the district would set an example for future housing
styles in China in the 21st century, and play an important role in
initiating housing improvements and living environments for the
Chinese people.
   Thomas Lee Boam, minister counselor of the U.S. Embassy in 
China, expressed his hope that cooperation between the Chinese and
U.S. governments would expand, especially in the housing area.
   China and the U.S. first mooted cooperation on housing in June
1998, when former U.S. President Bill Clinton held talks with
Chinese President Jiang Zemin during a visit to China.
   The MOC made a series of consultations with the U.S. Department
of Commerce and Department of Housing and Urban Development before
both sides signed a formal entente memo on housing cooperation in
1999 and a housing industrial demonstration in 2000.  Enditem