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Sep 20, 2013 · September 20, 2013. Feedloader (Limelight Networks) China has replicas of Venice, the White House, the World Trade Towers and the London-like Thames town—and once you know that it does not seem...
In 2023, Yes Theory visited it and published a Youtube video titled "I Explored China's Failed $1 Billion Copy of Paris (real city)" showing that, while it was less crowded than many other Chinese cities, it certainly wasn't a ghost town.
- 30 km² (12 sq mi)
- People’s Republic of China
- ~30,000
- Zhejiang
- Overview
- “Duplitecture”
- Socialist Core Values
Tianducheng isn’t the only city in China with an uncanny familiarity.
On the eastern coast of China—some 6,000 miles from the City of Light—a 354-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower dominates Tianducheng’s skyline.
Known as the “Paris of the East”, the luxury real estate development in Zhejiang province was designed to evoke classical European charm. Its residents have their own Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées main square, French neoclassical-style buildings, a fountain from the Luxembourg Gardens, and the centerpiece of the city: the second largest replica of the Eiffel Tower in the world after the Paris Las Vegas Hotel in Nevada.
When Tianducheng first opened its gates more than a decade ago, it was described as a ghost town. While many of its homes remain vacant, the population has grown into the thousands, and it attracts a steady stream of Chinese and international tourists, including newlyweds looking for a picture-perfect backdrop.
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Tianducheng isn’t the only city in China with an uncanny familiarity.
On the outskirts of Beijing, a replica of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is outfitted with cowboys and a Route 66. Red telephone booths, pubs, and statues of Winston Churchill pepper the corridors of Shanghai’s Thames Town. The city of Fuzhou is constructing a replica of Stratford-upon-Avon in tribute to Shakespeare, Fuyang built their own U.S. Capitol building, and the Austrian UNESCO World Heritage town of Hallstatt has a second home in Guangdong.
An aerial view of Tianducheng (right) is reminiscent of Paris (right).
Photographs by Francois Prost
Geometrical designs weave through the gardens of Versailles in Paris (left) and Tianchudeng (right).
Photographs by Francois Prost
“While it once considered itself to be the center of the world, now China is making itself into the center that actually contains the world,” according to Bosker.
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Visitors can now see authentic cultural icons like the Great Wall and Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor alongside a mini Versailles or Paris in the same trip–but the government is pushing back against the proliferation of these Western facsimiles.
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Feb 13, 2018 · This suburb of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province is a life size replica of Paris, France. Prost produced a photo series comparing the two locations, titled "Paris Syndrome." Pictured here: Left --...
Sep 25, 2013 · Tianducheng is a beautiful replica of Paris, complete with an Eiffel Tower and a Champs Elysees, but the luxury development has turned into a ghost town. - Articles from The Weather...
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Aug 7, 2013 · China's Replica of Paris Is Now an Eerily Depressing Ghost Town. By. Ashley Feinberg. Published August 7, 2013. Comments ( 85) There's no denying China's place among the topmost world...
Aug 19, 2013 · Welcome to Tianducheng, the pre-planned community in the middle of rural China that was built as an otherworldly reproduction of Paris right down to cigarette smoking mimes on every corner the...