Re-made in China: How the world’s most iconic landmarks from Big Ben to the Eiffel Tower have been rebuilt brick by brick in the Far East
From Tower Bridge to the Eiffel Tower, China has recreated an astonishing number of the world’s most famous landmarks in its own back yard.
It has also copied the famous Austrian town of Hallstatt, the Ronchamp chapel in France and even the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt, the world’s most ancient site.
And as well as recreating international treasures, it also has a theme park with 130 miniature versions of the world’s most recognisable sights that visitors can get through in a single day.
However, it has not always proved popular, with China being forced to rip down a copy of the Ronchamp chapel, better known as Le Corbusier, and architect Zaha Hadid taking legal action against a company that built something that strongly resembles the Wangjing Soho Building in Beijing.
And while building cities and landmarks from other countries may seem strange to people in other parts of the world, it is a tradition that dates back to dynastic China, when leaders would rebuild settlements in conquered lands within their own territory.
And despite some controversy, replicas of towns and buildings around the world continue to be recreated in China with attention paid to the most minute detail.
There is a replica of Hallstatt, the UNESCO-listed Austrian resort, called Welcome, in Huizhou city in Southern China.
The original Alpine buildings have been copied and reproduced with startling precision and horse-drawn carriages and flocks of white doves have been imported to lend authenticity.
A new villa built in the style of a 300-year-old lakeside home was offered at between £200,000 and £500,000, higher than the real thing in Austria.
From France, a 354-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower has been made in Tianducheng – a French-style city in 2007 – on the outskirts of Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
The gated community also has a replica of the fountain in Luxemburg Gardens in a main square called Champs Elysées, the name of the famous boulevard in Paris.
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