If you took a one day trip from from Shanghai to Tianducheng in China’s Zhejiang province, you will be confronted by a 354-foot mini replica of the Eiffel tower.
Development on this Paris replica in China began in 2007, at the same time as other replicas (like a mini version of London, Thames, and Hallstatt). If you watch the video below, by Caspar Stracke, you will see the sheer scale and detail that has gone into this project. In spite of this, local media says it is a ghost town now. Observers around the world point to China’s ghost towns as proof of a malaise in China’s property sector.
But not everyone agrees. 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.
Original Video. Stats via Financial Post.
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