Chinese Developer Clones Austrian Village
June 6th, 2012I beg you to listen to, Joe Frank’s, An Enterprising Man, before reading this.
Via: Stuff:
A US$940 million (NZ$1.2 billion) Chinese clone of one of Austria’s most picturesque villages, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hallstatt, recently opened its doors to visitors in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong amidst some controversy.
In a nation known for its skill in manufacturing knock-offs ranging iPhones to Hermes Birkins, the replica village is perhaps the most ambitious attempt at Chinese reproduction yet.
The “Made in China” version of the lakeside European village known for tourism and salt includes an exact replica of its church clock tower, European style wooden houses and other properties that will be sold to investors.
The project, conceived by a Chinese mining tycoon, initially sparked outrage and surprise among some Hallstatt villagers, who weren’t at first aware of the attempt to copy their unique, centuries-old home.
Half an hour’s ride away from the gritty city of Huizhou, close to China’s “world factory” of the Pearl River Delta, China’s Hallstatt hopes to become a new tourist attraction.
Disney-themed photo spots are scattered around the village’s main plaza, which is modeled after Hallstatt’s marketplace.
That’s funny but they also miss the point of these tourist attractions. I would rather spend money seeing the real thing rather than an imitation. It is the history behind the place that attracts people not just the buildings themselves. Very few people want to pay money to see a fake pyramid or village built a year ago no matter how good a replica it is. To know you are sitting in a chair that somebody 500 years ago sat in is to make you feel as if you have travelled back in time. You don’t get that feeling from a replica.
Damned straight, sapphire. It’s the history. They can build a gorgeous replica of, say, Stinsford or Dorchester a few miles from me, but I wouldn’t spend a dime visiting it. If I have the dough to burn, I head to England to experience the places Thomas Hardy wrote about, or lived in.