Australia Garden Village

Australia Garden Village is a real estate development project located in Jinkeng Village, Xinlong Town, Huangpu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. The project was developed by the Guangzhou Aomei Real Estate Development Company. Originally envisioned as a high-end residential complex combining living, leisure, entertainment, and vacation amenities, the development was planned to cover a construction area of 202,000 square metres (2,170,000 sq ft). Construction began in 1992, but the project was halted in 2001 due to a financial collapse within the Aomei Company, at which time only 225 of the 292 villas (or residential tower blocks) had been fully topped out and structurally completed.

In an effort to raise capital following the suspension of the project, the Aomei Company transferred, mortgaged, or sold portions of the land, housing units, and other assets of the development to Guangzhou Fangxing Real Estate Construction Co., Ltd. This led to the subdivision of the site and triggered land ownership disputes that are still ongoing. Fangxing subsequently sold part of the land to Guangzhou Yuhu Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, while Aomei introduced Guangdong Hongyu Group into negotiations, further entangling the ownership structure.

In 2011 and 2016, rumors circulated about plans to redevelop Australia Garden Village, but the land ownership conflicts prevented any re-commencement of development. In 2021, several departments of the Guangzhou Municipal Government issued a joint directive terminating the land transfer agreement between Aomei Company and Jinkeng Forestry Park. The termination was based on Aomei's unauthorized transfer of land to Fangxing, resulting in substantial losses of state-owned assets. This effectively marked the repossession of the Australia Garden Village site by the government. In November 2023, a representative of the homeowners reported that the district government would take the lead in redeveloping the site, with the intention of providing housing for buyers who had originally purchased unfinished units.

Since the collapse of Aomei Company's capital chain in 1998, Australia Garden Village has remained unfinished for over 25 years. The development is widely covered by media outlets, including Guangzhou Daily, Yangcheng Evening News, Chongqing Daily, and Ming Pao, as "the largest unfinished building project in Guangzhou". A total of 2,386 units were sold within the development. Of these, 865 contracts were eventually terminated, and another 139 units were suspended. The prolonged abandonment of the site has had a significant and lasting impact on the homeowners, many of whom have been engaged in rights defense efforts for more than two decades. The sustained efforts of Australia Garden Village's homeowners have drawn widespread attention and have been officially listed as a key destabilizing factor in major housing-related risk cases across Guangdong Province, as well as in municipal and district-level reports. According to data from the Homeowners' Committee, fewer than 300 owners remained actively involved in rights defense activities during the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2020.