Comments on: Paris in China

By: Paul H.

Paul H. — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 23:46:01 +0000

Well I meant only the Eiffel tower replica in Shanghai represents the same idea as the one in Vegas; didn’t mean to imply that Vegas real estate developers would spend money on constructing hundreds of French-style apartments for an uncertain demand.

How about a racing track, something that could be used by “the people” for recreation, instead of a 1/3 size white elephant replica of the Eiffel tower? Something out of the history of France-in-China, seeing as how the original has been demolished:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....hanghai%29

Didn’t know about this facility, was quite interested to read about it, particularly its post-1949 bloody history.

By: hardyandtiny

hardyandtiny — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:24:28 +0000

Here are the coordinates
30°23′26.70″N,120°14′31.22″E

By: hardyandtiny

hardyandtiny — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:20:10 +0000

It’s not like Vegas at all. It’s a huge complex (town) with hundreds of apartment buildings. Check it out on google earth.

By: user-81

user-81 — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:25:18 +0000

It’s 108 meters, 1/3 the height of the original.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/economi.....paris.html

The one in Las Vegas is 165 meters. Las Vegas’s replica of New York City is also much smaller than the original.

By: Paul H.

Paul H. — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:23:24 +0000

Well, Vegas is the first thing I thought about as well. Seems understandable for America the nation of immigrants to import a potpourri of architectural styles, to include bad-taste copies, but I would have thought proud Chinese nationalism would mandate only Chinese themes for luxury apartments.

Never could have happened under the Chairman, mindful as he would have been of the former French concessions in Shanghai:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....ina#French

as well as the former French colonial presence in Indochina.

Well, if China can have MacDonald’s and KFC’s why not a little of la gaite Parisienne. I hope there’s at least one good sidewalk cafe with croissants and non-Starbucks cafe for the residents.

By: wjk

wjk — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:38:55 +0000

Like Vegas.

By: dokdoforever

dokdoforever — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:48:56 +0000

True, the idea seems silly of constructing replica Parisian buildings in China, but at least it’s more interesting than hundreds of identical apartment blocks. It might be kind of interesting if they copied buildings from major cities all over the world.

By: MigukNamja

MigukNamja — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:59:02 +0000

Paul,

For the Chinese copy of the Eiffel Tower, I’m guessing the latter. Even today, it would be a major engineering and construction undertaking to (re)build the Eiffel Tower, especially with elevators and a restaurant. I doubt this would be done for just 2,000 people.

Besides that, it seems from the pictures that it’s quite a bit smaller than the actual one. On the main picture, for instance, the first deck of the actual Eiffel Tower would, well, “tower” over the relatively short 4 and 5-story buildings. However, the first level does not even crest the roofs of those buildings. In total, I’d guess the copy to be between 25 and 30 stories (250 feet to 300 feet) tall. However, at 324m, the actual Eiffel Tower is therefor 3 to 4 times taller.

In the close-up picture, it would be difficult to fit a elevator in there without it being seen. So, at best, they have stairs and an observation deck (on what level ?), but no restaurant.

As a side note, to construct a full-size replica of the actual Eiffel Tower would take an enormous amount of steel and be extremely expensive.

By: Paul H.

Paul H. — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:42:49 +0000

To what extent are the replicas “real”?

I.e. is that a full-size exact duplicate of the Eiffel Tower or is it just a somewhat scaled down replica with no elevator, no stairs, no expensive restaurants, etc etc.

Looks like the latter but it’s hard to tell for sure from the photos.

I assume the apartments are just duplicate facades on the outside or do they have interiors that duplicate the originals as well?

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:45:34 +0000

The parents of a former student in China were developers of housing estates like the one in the photo. They would go to Europe for architectural inspiration and then come back and build replicas for the new upper class of Chinese with lots of money and no sense of style or taste. Apparently, business was very good. The woman gave our school’s owner a car as a gift.