See Paris in China and die
A photographer from Paris, François Prost, created a photo project called "Paris Syndrome". It is a series of paired shots of Paris and the Chinese city of Tianducheng. The most interesting thing is that in some pictures it is difficult to understand where which city is.
The Chinese do not stop at faking branded clothing and electronics, now they are building replicas of European cities. One of these copies was the city of Tianducheng, imitating the capital of France. It has the Eiffel Tower (though three times smaller than the original), Parisian-style buildings and a park inspired by the gardens and park of Versailles.
Tianducheng was built back in 2007 for wealthy Chinese who at first did not want to move there. Tianducheng used to be called a ghost town, but now its population is growing.
Tianducheng is popular among tourists and newlyweds who come here to take photos against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, albeit fake. Francois Prost said that during his stay in "Chinese Paris" he saw at least ten couples taking pictures every day. And, according to the photographer, it was very similar to his hometown. And indeed, some of the pictures show that the similarity is very strong. In the pairs of photos on the left is Tianducheng, and on the right is Paris.
Tianducheng is not the only imitation of a European city in China. There is also a small English village with traditional red telephone booths, French castles and fake Venice, where Francois Prost is going to make a continuation of a series of photos.
Keywords: China | Paris | Photographer