MADE IN CHINA?

It is almost unbelievable what the Chinese will not do.

Not content with knock offs of Gucci and Prada and other iconic fashion names,
now they 'erect authentically' reproduced old world villages!

HALLSTATT

Just read about them copying - cm by cm - the Unesco listed World Heritage site of HALLSTATT in the Salzkammergut to join

an English village and others already 'xeroxed', in China!

An English Tudor style Village already in China

Picture a bunch of Chinese architects, builders and others crawling among the century old houses in the village with tape measures, cameras and tablets to record the specs of lanes, alleys, houses, gables, windows, window flower boxes, paint, inscriptions, 

and much more?

And the villagers had no clue? According to the article the villagers just recently found out!

Meanwhile the building of Made in China Hallstatt, ca. 60 miles/100km  north of the border with Hongkong is already well on the way. Most likely to be sold to ever wealthier Chinese wanting to live in an, undoubtedly ultra-chic and equipped with all the latest gadgets, piece of Old World Charm.

There even is a lake nearby which according to reports is murky and boasts dead fish.

And there are hills! Majestic they are not!



Another View of Hallstadt

So yes, the village nestled at the Hallstaetter Lake among tall mountains, is very picturesque.

In this video you see the true beauty of this site. You see the mountainside cemetary where the depth of soil allows only shallow graves, so after a while bodies are exhumed and the bones stored in a Karner-Ossuary - done in an honorable way to make room for others in the shallow soil. It is a way when space is very limited as in the steep mountains of Austria, for one!

Shoe and drinking horn preserved by salt

FYI Hallstatt gives its name to the Hallstaetter Culture. Going way back in time. Finds of treasured salt in the mines of the mountains at Hallstatt enriched the region through trades that may have reached as far a Greece and more.

Probably the most important sight of this mine is the Mann im Salz (man in salt) who was discovered in 1734. The body of an   Celtic miner about 2,500 years ago was preserved by salt. 

Transporting the salt was done by donkey and boat.Thus the name of the city of Salzburg, the Salzach river, the Salzkammergut, Salzberg, etc.

Finds of jewelry made of amber points to trade with northern areas of Europe as well.

 

Maybe we ought think of it as back-handed kinda compliment - I don't think so.

To me it leaves a rather bad taste!

 

What's next on the MADE IN CHINA agenda to copycat?

The TAJ MAHAL - a faux cemetery site for the wealthy :-)!

Or a Golden Gate Bridge spanning the nearby faux lake?
Or Gaudi's Sagrada Familia - a faux place of worship?
Or El Escorial - a faux town mayor's abode?
Or Macchu Picchu - a faux historic refuge site?
Or what about Capri with its blue grotto - a faux weekend escape site?

Or St. Moritz for Chinese skiers  a  faux winter destination?

The mind bogles with the choices that could, and maybe will be MADE IN CHINA :-)! 

                                                   The gall of it all!