Austrian Village Faked in China

The real Hallstatt, Austria, by Imagno / Getty Images

Anyone who has been shopping in Asia can confirm: The Chinese are incredibly skilled at reverse engineering products and creating cheap fakes. From iPhones and gadgets to American cigarettes and fast food, nothing is immune from being copied. Even purchasing an item from a posh mall does not guarantee its authenticity.

But this time they've managed to outdo themselves!

To the shock of the residents living there, China has managed to replicate an entire UNESCO World Heritage village in Austria. Brick for brick, the entire village of Hallstatt, Austria, has been cloned into a tourist attraction in Guangdong, China.

The tourist village is complete down to the brick streets, wooden houses, and vine-covered terraces. Only, unlike the real village in Austria which has a majestic mountain backdrop, the Hallstatt in China is offset by a few hills and plenty of cranes rising up from the industrial city of Huizhou only 30 minutes away.

Hallstatt, China, is now open to the public and tourists are flocking in for their European experience.

The clone village cost an estimated US $940 million and is funded by investors buying into the wild scheme. Unbelievably, the Chinese completed the project in only one year; Austrians had no idea their town was being analyzed and scanned for 3D modeling and replication later.

While most Hallstatt residents were against the idea once they found out, the real village is enjoying a boost in tourism as more people go to see what inspired the audacious Chinese project.

Hallstatt won't be the last Western city to be copied in China. Already an undertaking to replicate downtown Manhattan at full scale has been mired in budget problems -- perhaps a little too ambitious of a project. Unlike the fake Hallstatt, the fake Manhattan is meant to be a fully functional business district with the feel and buzz of New York City.

What's your opinion on the fakes? Personally, I wouldn't want to risk ticking off a few million New Yorkers!

• Read about some real UNESCO World Heritage sites in Asia.