Located in White Horse Lake, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, the Chinese real estate developer SOHO has built a new complex featuring characteristics of ordinary Chinese farmhouses and fashionable modern architectural concepts including a recent renovation by designers from the China Fine Art Institute. As a result, the complex has attracted business icons and celebrities.

For instance, Ding Lei, the founder of Netease, is one of the new householders in the SOHO area. His “farmhouse” is built with typical grey bricks with a black-white door. Outside hangs a wooden sign that reads, "Netease Lanting Workshop".

But the workshop has nothing to do with the internet business model that made Netease a success. Instead, the workshop focuses on something else a little less modern: porcelain design. The goal is is make China a world leader in porcelain design again, the project’s manager Mr. Ma, said.

When why he chose to place the workshop in one of the Hangzhou farmhouse SOHO buildings, he explained that the combination of traditional culture and innovation visible in the architecture compliments their goal perfectly.

Zhu Deyong, the famous cartoonist from Taiwan, and Cui Yongyuan, a CCTV anchorman are also renting places in the complex. According to Yu Weizhong, the chief manager of Innovation Industry Development Company in China Fine Art Institute, over 100 elites in innovation industry are on a waitlist to get space there. Many of them are from Beijing.

At this point, around 25 companies have rented space in the farmhouses. This year, Binjiang District will add another 500 houses to meet the growing demand.

Renting space there requires a 3-year project proposal. Yu said the proposal must meet three requirements: it must be related to traditional culture, it must be an original idea, and it must be marketable. Anyone who can provide such project proposal will be able to enjoy a reduction of rental (free of rental in first several years and RMB0.66 per square meter per day afterwards) as well as access to capital and low interest loans.

The farmhouse SOHO program is part of the strategy of developing Hanghzou’s culture and creative industry. According to Hangzhou government’s website's rough calculation, Hangzhou culture and creative industry was worth RMB28.4 billion from January to June 2009, a 15.2% increase over the previous year, and accounts for 12.8% of Hangzhou’s total GDP. The rate is even 8.6% higher than the municipal GDP growth rate.