The Eiffel tower in Hangzhou. A French chateau just outside of Beijing. And the charming Austrian alpine village of Hallstat, plunked down in Boluo, a small town of less than a million people about an hour and half’s drive from Guangzhou. Across the Middle Kingdom, replicas of famous Western monuments, landscapes, even entire towns are appearing at a frantic pace.
Some argue the carbon copies are simply a manifestation of modern China’s penchant for copyright infringement; others, that they represent an obsession with Western styles and tastes. But archaeologist Jack Carlson, writing in FP, argues it is only the latest example of a broader theme in Chinese history: co-opting duplicates from distant lands to demonstrate China’s place at the center, and as heir to all the world’s achievements. "Then, as now, the projects were intended to showcase China’s own worldliness, wealth, and global supremacy,” Carlson writes.
Here are some of the most striking reproductions to arise out of this modern copycat wave.
Above, a woman braves the elements in front of a replica Eiffel Tower in the outskirts of Hangzhou, China, in September 2007.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
The sun sets over a colonnade at the Laffitte
Chateau hotel in Beijing on June 10, 2012. The hotel is a multi-million dollar replica
of France's Chateau Maison-Laffitte, which is located in a northwest suburb of Paris.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Above, the French baroque style buildings of the Beijing
Laffitte Chateau stands beyond the hotel's expansive courtyard.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
A luxurious dining room in the Beijing Laffitte
Chateau hotel.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
A
view of the Hallstatt village's replica in Boluo, about 60 miles northeast of Hong Kong
in China's Guangdong Province. The original, located on the shores of
the Hallstätter See in Austria, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Minmetals Land Limited
Jackson Hole,
a cowboy-inspired resort town near Beijing, named
after the Wyoming vacation mecca, offers around 900 cabins furnished
with both fireplaces and Western charm. This idyllic town offers a weekend
escape from the over-crowded and heavily polluted streets of China's
urban neighborhoods.
Beijing Resplendency Great Exploit Real Estate Co. LTD
Jackson Hole's rustic Americana is a breath of fresh air for
Chinese city-dwellers.
Beijing Resplendency Great Exploit Real Estate Co. LTD
A tourist poses next to a replica of the House wing of the U.S. Capitol building
in the Beijing World Park.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
A
pair of tourists spar in front of a replica of the U.S. Capitol building in
Beijing.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
Chinese
newlyweds walk past a statue of Winston Churchill in Thames Town, a replica
British village located in Songjiang near Shanghai.
Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
A
street view of Thames Town, with newlyweds posing for a photograph.
Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
