The gated communities in Shanghai

No closed gates in Shanghai

I'm a bit confused by the concept of "gated communities" in Shanghai as they show up in some media reports, like this one in the Financial Times. They are presented as something special, and seem to refer to similar communities in the US. But when I take the Wikipedia definition, there is actually nothing special going on.
All communities in Shanghai have been "gated communities" as far as I know, and are not a special feature for the well-to-do. On top of that, the gates would always be open.
In the past we would call them 'neighborhood committees', and they have been replaced in more modern buildings by 'management committees', but their tasks would have been similar: doing very little for the little money they are being paid.
In the neighborhood committees the old ladies would have an official status added to their ongoing gossiping, but since about 1993 they have actually no function apart from drinking tea. Before that they were an extension of the government, checking the one-child policy, guarding against prostitution, solving conflicts, but they remained rather empty handed after those tasks were taken away around 1993. They were shortly revived during the SARS-crisis.
The management committees have replace the old women by less old men in gray uniforms, who would sit at front doors, also doing actually nothing. Associating those neighborhoods with real "gated communities" would be too much honor for those guards.