China's Fake Paris
The way to Tiandoucheng is a fascinating view of modern China: after driving through the high-rises and huge housing towers of down- town Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, traffic gets less dense, then almost nonexistent. Before long, about 15 kilometers later, something un- believable appears: the tip of an Eiffel Tower, peeking through between newly built residential skyscrapers. Nine thousand kilometers from Paris, France, a developer has decided to sell the European dream to the Chinese customer. A stroll in this city where the word “Paris” is no- where to be seen produces one of the strangest feelings China has to offer. Tiandoucheng, like it is called here, was built for 10 000 inhabitants. Construction started in 2007, and seems finished today, even though a few builders still live around the Eiffel Tower, where they grow fruits and vegetables, for their meals to be eat- en in small dorms nearby. Leftover pot noodles are randomly thrown from the windows creating mounds of trash next to the Eiffel Tower. Only 1500 people live there now, in the neo-classical style buildings.
The city itself is built around a central pedestrian avenue, dubbed “Xiangshie”, a short name in Chinese for the Champs-Elysées, Paris’ world famous avenue. To the North of it stands a repli- ca of the Eiffel Tower, 108 meters high (a third of the original). A security guard lives on site, waving any potential intruders away, tending to the rotting gate surrounding the edifice. To the south, the entrance to the “Tiandou Gardens” is a sight to behold: a near perfect copy of the Fountain of Apollo leads to a balcony overlook-
ing the gardens on one side, and the Champs- Elysées on the other. For only 30 yuans, you can see a copy inspired by the Versailles gardens, as well as a French village where dozens of newlyweds get their photo taken. “It’s beautiful and I like Europe. My parents are going to love this!” tells Mr. Wang, who came to get his pho- to taken with the bride, at the top of the stairs overlooking the gardens.
The gardens themselves sport an interesting array of attractions. A sign pointing towards vineyards leads to a pile of rubble. Shops are only- façades, lacking any kind of actual depth, and most of the signs stuck to the walls are in Italian, English, German... none of them in French.
In the part of the neighborhood where few people actually live, some details give away that this is actually Paris, China. Air Conditioning units, designed to help cope with the region’s warm, long and sultry summers, dot the Haussmann-style buildings. Cages, protecting apartments from China’s nationally notorious climbing burglars, cover some windows. The shops along the “Champs-Elysées” are desperately empty, selling silk, Hangzhou’s staple product. You’ll have to look very hard to find a European restaurant though: the most popular eatery is theMuslim hand-made noodles shop, and other businesses offer typical Chinese food.Not a single bakery in sight.
What could explain the project’s apparent fail- ure is its geographical position. It is located far from urban centers, whether from nearby Hangzhou or neighboring Shanghai. Connection to
public transportation is practically nonexistent, as it needs about two hours, two buses and a bit of walking to get there from central Hangzhou. Not exactly practical. Today, the neighborhood spans about 4.5 square kilometers, and life isn’t as busy as it was obviously designed to be. A few grandmothers walk witht heir grandchildren, or squeeze on benches enjoying the mid-winter sun.The project was originally advertised to be able to house about 100000 people, costing a whooping 80 billion yuans. But the project that was actually executed can only house a tenth of this number, costing a fraction of the original budget.Rents span from 800 yuan for a single room apartment, to 2800 yuan for a well situated, 3 rooms family home. The target seems to be the emergingChinese middle class, seek- ing more comfortable living at a fair price. Tiandoucheng is an illustration of the “wild west” aspect of Chinese urbanization. However, an economic argument might also help explain why such a huge project was started there, right where farmers were tending fields just 8years ago. Stephen Roach, a Yale University professor, thinks these “ghost towns” are merely a sign of foresight coming from Chinese real estate developers: “China cannot afford to wait to build its new cities. Instead, investment and construction must be aligned with the future of urban dwellers.” Tiandoucheng, dubbed a “satellite city” by its real estate developer, might have good days ahead if itself. But this is only if Hangzhou, of which it is part, branches out to its French copycat.