Boluo, Guangdong / China: Chinese Copy Austrian Town Hallstatt

A copy of the Austrian village Hallstatt has been inaugurated in the Chinese city of Boluo, belonging to the province of Guangdong in the South of China after a construction phase of only one year. A lake, a church, houses and other details have been copied and built on an area of one square kilometer. The new housing area was designed for wealthy Chinese people. Although there are some differences between the copy and the original (e.g. palms in front of the church or goldfish in the village well), Hallstatt’s mayor was very pleased with the result during the inauguration at the beginning of this month. Nevertheless, community leaders and inhabitants of the Austrian town with Unesco World Heritage status were not amused when they heard about the project about one year ago. But now all anger seems to have vanished among certain people as tourism is expected to increase in Hallstatt: The region expects an increase of 50 percent in 2012 – mainly due to the bookings of Asian tourists. (eap)