China's knock-off wonders
Laborers work on scaffolding near a full-scale replica of the Sphinx at an unfinished movie and animation tourism theme park, in Chuzhou, Anhui province, March 27, 2015.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A Chinese worker walks past a replica of the leaning Tower of Pisa in Shanghai September 8, 2004. The financial hub of Shanghai in eastern China will host a "Roman Holiday" carnival featuring Italian culture, architecture, fashion and food from September 10 to October 24.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
Visitors to Beijing's World Park walk across a replica of the Sydney Harbour Bridge situated next a replica of the Sydney Opera House in Beijing July 16, 2008. The park is hoping they will enjoy a large influx of visitors when the estimated 500,000 foreign tourists arrive during the Olympic Games in August.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A farmer carrying a rake walks down a dirt road past a replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Tianducheng development in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province August 1, 2013. Tianducheng, developed by Zhejiang Guangsha Co. Ltd., started construction in 2007 and was known as a knockoff of Paris with a scaled replica of the Eiffel Tower standing at 108 metres (354 ft) and Parisian houses. Although designed to accommodate at least 10 thousand people, Tianducheng remains sparsely populated and is now considered as a "ghost town", according to local media.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A newly-built government building housing several departments including the Mentougou Weather Bureau is seen in Mentougou district of Beijing, December 22, 2013. Local residents said the new building resembles Moscow's Kremlin. According to a public bid-winning notice online, the total investment of the building was 9.34 million yuan (1.54 million USD), local media reported.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A motorcyclist rides past a 10-meter-high miniature replica of the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris, in Jiangyan, Jiangsu province, August 10, 2014.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
Workers build a pavement outside a replica of the Roman Colosseum at the Fisherman's Wharf, a local invested entertainment park with a casino, which is under construction at the Outer Harbour area in Macau October 19, 2005. Companies around the world are pumping billions of dollars into this former Portuguese enclave to build new casinos, hotels and shopping malls to tap a growing flood of Chinese tourists. The territory is the only place in China where casinos are legal.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A man poses for photographs on a full-scale replica of the Sphinx, that is part of an unfinished theme park that will also accommodate the production of movies, television shows and animation, on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province May 10, 2014. The replica is a venue of a film studio which is already functioning. The theme park is scheduled to open this October, local media reported.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A cleaner works in front of a building that makes up the luxurious Chateau Laffitte Hotel, an imitation of the 1650 Château Maisons-Laffitte by the French architect François Mansart, located on the outskirts of Beijing August 20, 2010. In 2004, when the hotel was under construction, the owners were accused of forcing local farmers off their land, and offering them low-paid jobs as compensation. China's richest citizens are even wealthier than the statistics suggest, and may hold as much as 9.3 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) of hidden assets, according to a Credit Suisse-sponsored study by a top economic think-tank. And nearly two thirds of that unreported income goes into the pockets of the richest 10 percent, widening China's already troubling wealth gap, said Wang Xiaolu, the economist at the China Society of Economic Reform (CSER), who headed the survey.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A delivery man rides past replicas of Moai statues at a business district in Beijing May 22, 2013.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A visitor takes a photograph of a carved structure, which is a replica of the Karnak Temple in Egypt, at the abandoned Wanguo park in Wuhan, Hubei province March 12, 2013. The park was abandoned during the course of construction 14 years ago, according to local media.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A visitor takes photographs of a replica of the White House at Beijing World Park, one of the three designated "protest parks" in Beijing July 25, 2008. China has designated areas in three Beijing parks for demonstrations during the Olympics, an official said, with the Games already a lightning rod for protest over issues ranging from Darfur to Tibet. Designating "protest pens" is in line with practice at past Games because the International Olympic Committee charter prohibits demonstrations or "political, religious or racial propaganda" at Olympic venues or sites.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A construction worker walks with a ladder in the replica village of Austria's UNESCO heritage site, Hallstatt, in China's southern city of Huizhou, in Guangdong province June 1, 2012. Metals and mining company China Minmetals Corporation spent $940 million to build this controversial site and hopes to attract both tourists and property investors alike, according to local newspaper reports.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
Children pose for pictures at the replica of Austria's UNESCO heritage site, Hallstatt village, in China's southern city of Huizhou in Guangdong province June 1, 2012. Metals and mining company China Minmetals Corporation spent $940 million to build this controversial site and hopes to attract both tourists and property investors alike, according to local newspaper reports.
China's Knock-Off Wonders
A canal flows through the center of the Florentia Village in the district of Wuqing, located on the outskirts of the city of Tianjin June 13, 2012. The shopping center, which covers an area of some 200,000 square meters, was constructed on a former corn field at an estimated cost of US$220 million and copies old Italian-style architecture with Florentine arcades, a grand canal, bridges, and a building that resembles a Roman Coliseum.