Will a copy enhance or detract from the original?

Residents of the Austrian mountain town of Hallstatt, population 800, are scandalized. A Chinese firm has plans to replicate the village – including its famous lake – in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, Austrian media reported this week. 

The mayor said he’s stunned but not outraged, and has alerted authorities. But it might have a positive effect on tourism – already at 800,000 visitors yearly – because the duplicate town could act as an advertisement in the Chinese market.

Another Chinese copycat town

In 2006, Thames Town opened near Shanghai. This recreation of a London village, copied after elements from many English towns, is a popular background for many Chinese wedding photos, but has been less successful as an actual town.

– Link found thanks to Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution>>
– Xeroxed Village – Chinese Secretly Copy Austrian UNESCO Town, Spiegel Online>>
– Life in a Carbon-Copy Town, Utne Reader>>