Yippee-kai-yay!

You're in luck - north of Beijing, about 30 km beyond the Badaling Great Wall, is Jackson Hole, a massive resort development currently under construction.

Jackson Hole's Chinese name, 原乡美利坚, translates as "Hometown USA," conjuring up images of white picket fences and the Stars and Stripes out on the mailbox. But a full-page ad in The Beijing News invokes the standard romanticized history of the American west instead: wide-open spaces, rustic construction, and a fierce lust for life.

"The weekend is coming. Let's migrate to Jackson Hole," it says, and promises "theme holiday villas of western American style" along with "exquisite decoration in Cowboy, Buffalo, and Indian styles." With a golf course, a ski club, and an executive retreat center, of course.

The developer's website is a hoot. At first glance it looks like a multi-media site about traditional culture in the American west - the landscape, cowboy culture, and the town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A little gimmicky, perhaps - menu items are selected by firing a six-shooter - but it doesn't look anything like a promo for a Beijing housing development.

But then, it's not really intended to be. The ad quotes a commenter on an online BBS who gives one of 100 reasons to live in Jackson Hole: "No need to emigrate!"

If Google Video is available in your country (or if you have a good proxy), here's a one-minute drive-by video of some of the unfinished homes.