Desiring China: Thames Town, "Hallstatt" and Copycat Architecture

• In Event: The People's Republic of Copycat: Shanzhai Culture in Contemporary China

Abstract

Similar to Disneyland or the tourist attractions in Las Vegas, parts of contemporary China resemble a theme park, as copycat architecture and towns can be found throughout the country. From the "Sphinx" on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province to the French aristocratic "Chateau Laffitte Hotel" (a reproduction of the 17th-century baroque Chateau de Maisons-Laffitte) in Beijing's suburbs, from the "Eiffel Tower" in the Paris-styled town of Tianducheng in Hangzhou's suburbs to the "London Bridge" in Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, Chinese tourists can travel around the world without leaving their own country. The list can extend to replicas of European towns such as Florence town in Tianjin and Venice town in Dalian. One can also discover several knock-off "White Houses" and "Capitol Hills" built by Chinese governmental officials and businessmen. It is said that a copycat version of Manhattan will be completed in Tianjin in 2019. It appears that China is coming to resemble a film set! This presentation introduces Thames Town (an English-themed town in Shanghai's suburbs) and "Hallstatt" (an imitation of the Austrian village Hallstatt in Huizhou in Guangdong Province). I will also present and comment on how these towns have been received by English and Austrian journalists, Chinese residents and tourists, as well as Chinese nationalists and their interlocutors. I show that the construction of these European towns is as much Orientalized as it is Occidentalized. Such images, I argue, reveal the traffic of desire between China and the West in the age of globalization.

Author

• Calvin Hui, College of William and Mary