Here is a link to an interesting article in Spiegel magazine. http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-69274.html Apparently the Chinese like Hallstatt so much, they've decide to build their own. To people who have read the recent exchange on Chinese tours in Europe, this may come as no surprise. For people who've visited Hallstatt and were swarmed by hordes of Chinese tourists, this may be a welcome relief. It's a curiosity, any way you look at it.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Actually I'm not surprised. The Chinese are excellent copiers with low-end quality and cost...not my idea of a vacation place. Yes, I've been there and don't ever want to go back.
Posted by
Cary, NC
687 posts
Thanks for the link. I suppose it's not really a surprise, as the Chinese have been busy building fake Chinese historical sites, having destroyed so much during the Cultural Revolution. They've even knocked down existing historical areas in order to rebuild them... (And we don't want to get into what's been happening to places like Lhasa and Kashgar).
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Near Xi'an, there is a park where Chinese tourists can see copies of pyramids and the Sphinx, too.
Posted by
Chevy Chase, MD, US
18 posts
It sounds like Epcot center at Walt Disney in Orlando. I was in Orlando recently for a conference and visited their (our?) fake France, England, Norway, Morocco, China, Mexico, Japan. The place was swarmed by hordes of people riding motorized scooters.
Posted by
Clawson, MI, USA
199 posts
Looks like you can go Dutch in Shanghai too. http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/visit/nederland-holland-shanghai-500553
Posted by
Marseille
150 posts
There are also two British replicas: Chengdu British Town (based on Dorchester) and Thames Town; there's a sort of Paris in Tienducheng, Hangzhou (with a boulevard lined with haussmannian buildings and a 2/3 Eiffel Tower); and there are wine domains complete with French-style chateaux (one of which has a Louvre pyramid in front of it and a French village at the back complete with a church, village square, boulangerie etc.). Apparently these places are quite popular as wedding venues, they sometimes even get a Caucasian expat to dress up as a priest to officiate at the wedding.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I'm not against replicas at all. To me, they serve as an inspiration to see the real thing. Worked for me that way when I visited Epcot at age 7. And that was pretty much the idea behind the World's Fairs on which Disney based his concept of Epcot.
Posted by
Atlanta
1358 posts
Hey, it looks MUCH better than Helen, Georgia's little alpine village.