Chinese 'Copy Towns' - Living Replicas of Europe

That is indeed Tower Bridge next to the Eiffel Tower

This is either really cool, or really weird.  It's probably somewhere in the middle. I first heard of Chinese copy towns a few years ago when researching the westernisation of Chinese architecture and interior design. Thinking it was just some weird gimmick, targeted at tourists, I thought nothing of it and forgot about it.

That was, until I stumbled upon this online Q&A session with an artist who travelled to China with the sole purpose seeing these Chinese 'Copy Towns'. You can view their indiegogo campaign here.

Thames Town

No prizes for guessing where this is supposed to be. If it wasn't full of space-age Hondas, there would be nothing to distinguish between this and an ordinary London suburb. Why London though? It could be a number of reasons, but the Chinese have always had a fascination with London and England as a whole. To go and study in England is viewed as a prestigious opportunity, so this could be an extension of that same pedestal. Who knows?

Halstatt

Over the road to Austria. This one might be even more bizarre; it feels like a model village which has been given growth hormones. It might be partly that the photos doesn't feature any of the locals, but it definitely has an eerie 'ghost town' feeling to it. Do they hire Austrians to live there?

All image credit goes to http://ackerthompson.tumblr.com/