Tiny Austrian hamlet is stunned at plans to build a Chinese copy
June 18, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
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It's a scenic jewel, a hamlet of hill-hugging chalets, elegant church spires and ancient inns all reflected in the deep still waters of an Alpine lake.
Hallstatt's beauty has earned it a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site but some villagers are less happy about a more recent distinction - plans to copy their hamlet in China.
After taking photos and collecting other data on the village, a Chinese firm has started to rebuild much of Hallstatt in Guangdong Province.
Publicly, Hallstatters say they are proud their village caught they eye of Minmetals Land Ltd, the real estate development arm of China Minmetals Corp, China's largest metals trader. With most of them dependent on the hundreds of thousands of tourists who overrun Hallstatt's 900 inhabitants each year, they see the project as good for business.
"We're happy they find it beautiful enough to copy," said souvenir store owner Ingrid Janu. Hallstatt Mayor Alexander Scheutz described the plan as "a compliment to our village," while hotel owner Monika Wenger thought some Chinese who had seen the copy of Hallstatt would want to visit the original place.
But in a deeply traditional part of Austria shielded for centuries from much of the rest of the world by towering mountains and steep valleys, the apparent secrecy surrounding the project has revived suspicions of outsiders.
Although the Chinese developers say construction began in April, Scheutz and Wenger said the village knew nothing about the plan until early this month.
They said a Chinese guest involved in the project spilled the beans, showing Wenger drawings and plans of the central market place, Wenger's 400-year old hotel and other landmarks that were mirror images of the originals.
Scheutz disputed local media accounts citing him as furiously vowing to prevent the Chinese project, but acknowledgee being "definitely a bit stunned."
Wenger was more outspoken. She said most of the villagers she had talked to were "outraged - not about the fact but the approach." "I don't like the idea of knowing that a team was present here for years measuring, and photographing and studying us," she said. "I would have expected them to approach us directly."
The Chinese developers are advertising the project as a residential development "surrounded by mountains with mountain and lake views," to be built "in a European architectural style, with a commercial street built with the characteristics of an Austrian-style town."
But at the Chinese site, in the city of Huizhou about 60 kilometers north of Hong Kong, there is little to indicate that the copycat version will ever approximate the beauty of the original.
Though the area is hilly, there is not an alpine peak in sight and the waters of a nearby lake are green and murky. Instead of mirroring majestic mountaintops, several dead fish floated on the surface.
"Hallstatt has a centuries-old culture," said Scheutz. "This is something you cannot copy."
Such sentiments were shared by some of the Chinese visitors.
"It feels as if I'm going to heaven," said 22-year-old Yuan Xianoquan of Shandong Province in east China.
Chen Yixin agreed. "They can never make it as perfect as here," said the Shanghai 23-year old.
Hallstatt's beauty has earned it a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site but some villagers are less happy about a more recent distinction - plans to copy their hamlet in China.
After taking photos and collecting other data on the village, a Chinese firm has started to rebuild much of Hallstatt in Guangdong Province.
Publicly, Hallstatters say they are proud their village caught they eye of Minmetals Land Ltd, the real estate development arm of China Minmetals Corp, China's largest metals trader. With most of them dependent on the hundreds of thousands of tourists who overrun Hallstatt's 900 inhabitants each year, they see the project as good for business.
"We're happy they find it beautiful enough to copy," said souvenir store owner Ingrid Janu. Hallstatt Mayor Alexander Scheutz described the plan as "a compliment to our village," while hotel owner Monika Wenger thought some Chinese who had seen the copy of Hallstatt would want to visit the original place.
But in a deeply traditional part of Austria shielded for centuries from much of the rest of the world by towering mountains and steep valleys, the apparent secrecy surrounding the project has revived suspicions of outsiders.
Although the Chinese developers say construction began in April, Scheutz and Wenger said the village knew nothing about the plan until early this month.
They said a Chinese guest involved in the project spilled the beans, showing Wenger drawings and plans of the central market place, Wenger's 400-year old hotel and other landmarks that were mirror images of the originals.
Scheutz disputed local media accounts citing him as furiously vowing to prevent the Chinese project, but acknowledgee being "definitely a bit stunned."
Wenger was more outspoken. She said most of the villagers she had talked to were "outraged - not about the fact but the approach." "I don't like the idea of knowing that a team was present here for years measuring, and photographing and studying us," she said. "I would have expected them to approach us directly."
The Chinese developers are advertising the project as a residential development "surrounded by mountains with mountain and lake views," to be built "in a European architectural style, with a commercial street built with the characteristics of an Austrian-style town."
But at the Chinese site, in the city of Huizhou about 60 kilometers north of Hong Kong, there is little to indicate that the copycat version will ever approximate the beauty of the original.
Though the area is hilly, there is not an alpine peak in sight and the waters of a nearby lake are green and murky. Instead of mirroring majestic mountaintops, several dead fish floated on the surface.
"Hallstatt has a centuries-old culture," said Scheutz. "This is something you cannot copy."
Such sentiments were shared by some of the Chinese visitors.
"It feels as if I'm going to heaven," said 22-year-old Yuan Xianoquan of Shandong Province in east China.
Chen Yixin agreed. "They can never make it as perfect as here," said the Shanghai 23-year old.
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