Paris, Made in China.

Impressive or just completely obsessive?

RECENT WEB RESEARCH has found me stumbling upon some very strange things…

We’re all used to turning over our new purchases and seeing the “Made in China” logo affixed to the bottom of a mug, stitched in a clothing label or printed on packaging. When anyone asks us “where’s that from?” we reply jokingly “probably China!”

The “Made in China” logo is probably the most distinctive logo on products due to the rapidly developing manufacturing industry in China and its rapid economic and technological developments, making it the largest exporter of goods in the world.

We’re also all accustomed to knock-offs; fake designer bags, shoes, clothes, perfumes etc. sold cheaply in China, much of the time indistinguishable from the real deal but at 90% of the price – don’t lie we’ve all been there, done that.

But what if I told you, what I stumbled upon on Google recently is that China have taken ‘copying’ to a whole new level, is this possible?  

Research shows that located near Hangzhou, in 2007, a Chinese real estate company built their very own knock-off Paris… From the Palace de Versailles to the Eiffel Tower, it’s all there. You can look down the replica Champs de Mars and over the counterfeit Haussmann style Parisian buildings which house up to 10,000 people.

Photo credit: Reuters

Justification? The Chinese developers said that they wanted to give the rich and wealthy citizens of China the opportunity to visit the European city and experience the culture without the dreaded trek half way across the world. Ok, so the replica Eiffel Tower doesn’t quite match up to the height and standards of its Father original at only 108m as opposed to 324m but yes it’s still there!

So a fake Paris is one thing, but what if I go on to tell you that dotted around China you’ll find Thames Town – a little London featuring old English style houses and architecture as well as Italian, German and Austrian architecturally inspired towns.

Thames town

This and above photo credit: Marc van der Chijs

The question remains to me though, if these were built for the purpose of the rich and wealthy Chinese to be able to appreciate these European cities, why do theses ‘rich and wealthy’ not merely travel across the world with their hard earned money to see the real deal? Or is this just another cyber myth?

Only one way to find out I guess...

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