Do you remember our blog post about the Chinese replica of the Austrian village of Hallstatt? They built a full scale replica of the Apline village in the Guangdong province of China. Well, it doesn’t stop there – the Chinese have also designed replicas of Italian, German, English and French towns.

One such place is Tianducheng, modelled on the capital city of Paris. It comes complete with a 354-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower (the real Tower is actually about three times as high) and a fountain inspired by the famous fountain in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. The development began in 2007 but the city remains something of a ghost town with only about 2,000 residents, when 10,000 were planned for, and is symptomatic of a large property bubble.

Rather than becoming a thriving residential area, it is today little more than a venue that newlyweds like to visit for photographs. All rather odd, don’t you think?! If you are interested in seeing and hearing more, have a look at the videos below: