Seeing double: Chinese cloning Austrian village of Hallstatt

Hallstatt, Austria, is a picturesque village of 800, built on a lake surrounded by the snow-capped Alps .

The local tourist board calls it "the most beautiful lakeside village in the world."

UNESCO named the pretty village a World Heritage Site.

Now, China has deemed it to be worthy of replication.

In the middle of Guangdong, China, a copy of Hallstatt is in the works, including an identical lake. A souvenir shop of Austrian trinkets for "homesick Caucasians" will be found among the quaint, but unoriginal, buildings.

The development corporation responsible for the replication calls the cloned village a "low density, high-end residential development with mountain and lake views" in its advertising.

Reactions from Hallstatt residents are understandably mixed, with citizens uncomfortable more with the approach — they had no idea buildings were being photographed and measured — than with the replication itself.

"The people are not very amused that this has happened behind their backs," Hallstatt's mayor, Alexander Scheutz, told The Independent.

Monika Wenger, the proprietor of a 400-year-old inn in Hallstatt said, "I don't like the idea a team was here for years measuring, photographing and studying us. I would have expected them to approach us directly — the whole thing reminds me of Big Brother."

While copying buildings from photos is legal, measuring without permission isn't, Austrian authorities claim. The legal situation "still needs to be examined," UNESCO spokesman Hans-Jörg Kaiser said.

Some Hallstatt residents find the replication flattering, while others are counting on a boost to tourism.

"We are happy they find it beautiful enough to copy," one souvenir-stall owner told The Independent.

China's city of Chengdu completed "British Town" in 2005, modelled after Dorchester. European clones are big business. Shanghaiist says that China also boasts a mini-Barcelona, a mini-Venice and an homage to a Scandinavian town.

(Photo credit: Kerstin Joensson/AP via CP)