If you visit Tianducheng, a day trip from Shanghai, in China’s Zhejiang province, you will be confronted by a 354 foot replica of the Eiffel tower.

Development on this Paris replica in China began in 2007, but local media say it is a ghost town now.

Everyone points to China’s ghost towns as proof of a malaise in China’s property sector.

But some, like Stephen Roach, former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia have argued that these cities will become “thriving metropolitan areas” as China continues to urbanize.

What’s truly quirky about these ghost towns though is that some of them have been designed as replicas of Italian, German, English and French towns.

We drew on photos from Reuters photographer Aly Song to give you a peek at Tianducheng.

Tianducheng, a Paris replica, began to be developed in China in 2007. A residential area was built around a replica of the Eiffel tower. The replica of the Eiffel tower is 108 meters (354 feet) tall. The actual Eiffel tower is 3x as tall. The town was designed to accommodate 10,000 people. There's even a 'gated community' that occupies 12 square miles. But now, according to local media, city is largely a ghost town. As few as 2,000 are said to be there but there is very little information available on Tianducheng. The company that developed the town is called Zhejiang Guangsha Co. Ltd. The developers also planned to create a school, hospital, and a country club. Newlyweds often visit Tianducheng and have photographs taken here. So that's one thing going for it. You can stay in the Paris of the East at the Tianducheng Resort starting at $US82 a night. They even built a fountain inspired by the famous fountain in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. The town was 'spurred by common notions of France as a romantic destination,' according to Reuters. Look how European it is. Tianducheng isn't the only replica of a European city in China. We also have towns inspired by Italian, German and English towns. Critics of China's growth model have said these ghost towns are symptomatic of a largely property bubble.

Caspar Stracke has a video tour of Tianducheng.

Tianducheng from caspar stracke on Vimeo.

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