China is the most populated country in the world, probably the most hard working country in the world and well on its way toward becoming the richest one as well. Considering how they’ve managed to achieve such a feat is considerably less fun than making snide remarks at their legendary knockoff business.
Millions of brands around the world saw their products replicated cheaply and brands like Mike, Abidas, iFone appeared from nowhere. Though still considerably involved in the replica production China has since come a long way. Just about every manufacturer on Earth has plants there and, more importantly, most of their products are being sold there as well. You’d imagine that once the Asian country got a real taste of proper products, started making some real money and was looking for what to spend it on, they’d forget about the cheap fakes right?Well, sort of, rather unusually, the Chinese have now acquired a taste for expensive fakes. A prime example would be the country’s richest village.
Replica of the Sydney Opera House
Think of it as a safe haven where wallets and banks get to do most of the work. It’s natural to see that none of the residents lives in a villa that’s got less than 400 square meters and the number of cars very rarely stops at one. What is totally weird is the fact that they’ve chosen to come up with public buildings, landscaping ideas and all sort of monuments that are copies of other famous bits from around the world. That’s right folks, if you ever plan on visiting Huaxi Village, you’ll be able to spot some of the most famous buildings all over the world, almost. There’s a fake US Capitol building, a fake Arc de Triomphe and even a fake Sydney Opera House. The latter if I’m honest is really the worst knockoff ever, even by Chinese standards.
Replica of the Arc de Triomphe
What is even weirder than these buildings put together is that the Huaxi Village is building a fake wall. Can you guess who the Chinese are faking this time? Nope, not the Germans, but themselves. The entire village will be surrounded by a replica Great Wall of China. It will be expensive, but the richest village in China can easily spend 100 million yuan (roughly 1.6 million dollars) on a 10 kilometer long rip-off one of their greatest world heritage sights.
Replica of the Five Booth Bridge, in Yangzhou
To top it off, they’ve built an enormous skyscraper in the center of Huaxi that looks just like… a FIFA World Cup trophy.
Replica of the Great Wall
Replica of Tian’anmen Rostrum
Sources: China Daily, China Hush
