China's Novel Architecture: Foreign Replicas, Alcohol Bottles and Toilet Seats

China's Novel Architecture: Foreign Replicas, Alcohol Bottles and Toilet Seats
Jan 13, 2013 By eChinacities.com

In China, the land of never-ending construction, skyscrapers are becoming a dime a dozen. With the constant competition to become the tallest structure already more than a little tiresome, the real stars of the show are now the growing number of  "novel architecture" projects going up around the country. Replicas of famous foreign landmarks, a giant bottle of alcohol, mind-bending structures that resemble toilet seats; this country's got it all.

1) Capitol Hills
How many replicas of Capitol Hill exist in China? According to various media reports, there's something like 16 of them here. The majority of these Chinese knock-offs were constructed to act as county and municipal government buildings. And surprisingly, many of these were built at a scale and a cost far exceeding the genuine Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. In the top left is the Changsha Customs Office; bottom left is the Yingquan District Government Building in Fuyang, Anhui Province (30 million RMB); top right is the Jiujiang Intermediate People's Court; bottom right is the Loudi Municipal Government Office in Hunan Province (20 million RMB).

2) Taying Bridge
Apparently not content to simply building another Capitol Hill, Suzhou instead found the inspiration for its latest building project across the pond from the United States: the "Taying Bridge" is modeled after one of London's most famous architectural marvels: Tower Bridge.

3) Laffitte Chateau Hotel
When Zhang Yuchen, a multi-millionaire real-estate developer, first saw the Chateau de Maisons-Laffitte in Paris, he liked what he saw. He liked it so much, in fact, that he built one in Beijing's Changping District. Employing the original blueprints and 10,000 detailed photographs, Zhang's crew built an exact replica of the esteemed abode, at the cool cost of 50 million USD.

 

4) Eiffel Towers
China is currently home to two replica Eiffel Towers. Seen on the left, Hangzhou's "French Town" community features a 3:1 scale model. Seen on the right, is its knock-off cousin in Fuqing, Fujian Province. 

5) Sydney Opera Houses
Travel to the Huaxi Village in Jiangsu Province (left) and what will you see? A replica of the Sydney Opera House hiding in the trees! But it's not alone: another copy awaits you in Baitian Swan Park in Funing City, Jiangsu Province (right). 

6) Florence
Feel like doing some shopping in Italy, but stuck in China? Not to worry: Tianjin's Wuqing Rural District has recreated the city of Florence in the form of a huge retail outlet mall. Time will tell if this becomes a true shopper's paradise.

 

7) Hallstatt
China's most impressive full-city replica is of the quaint Austrian town of Hallstatt, located in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. The project cost 6 billion RMB and opened to the public in June 2012. Yet, despite being a near exact copy, Hallstatt's residents have been quite critical of the project, claiming that it lacks soul and that it was done without their consent.

8) Emperor Hotel
Located in Sanhe, Hebei Province, the Emperor Hotel entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2001 as the "biggest image building". In 2011, an informal survey voted it as the ugliest building in China.

9) Wuliangye Liquor Bottle
Not surprisingly, the Wuliangye Group's bottle-shaped office building, located in Yibin, Sichuan Province, was also voted as one of the ugliest buildings in China.

 

10) Shenyang Fangyuan Mansion
Built by renowned architect C.Y. Lee (who also build Taipei 101) to resemble an old Chinese coin, Shenyang Fangyuan was the only structure in Asia to win an award at the 2000 Venice Architecture Design Exhibition, where it was hailed as "the most innovative and revolutionary construction project in the world". However, since then opinions have changed: a foreign media site selected it as the ninth ugliest building in the world in 2012.

11) Galaxy SOHO
Recent data suggests that about half of the new buildings currently being constructed worldwide are located in China. But this is not a purely domestic effort, as foreign designers are responsible for many of these new Chinese landmarks. According for foreign media, due to strict monitoring of architectural design in Western countries, those looking to think more outside of the box have been heading over to China. However, this phenomenon has spawned a number of "fake foreign architects"—non-professionals who set up bogus foreign companies to receive building contracts and then outsource the actual work out to domestic design firms for a hefty profit. Pictured is the Galaxy SOHO building in Beijing, designed by famous British architect, Zaha Hadid.

12) Hefei Art Museum
Nick-named the Hefei's very own "Bird's Nest" for its resemblance to a pile of twigs, the Hefei Art Museum was also named one of the ugliest buildings in China in a 2011 online survey.

 

13) Ring of Life
Located in Fushun, Liaoning Province, the Ring of Life is 50-stories tall, features 12,000 LED lights and used 3000 tones of steel in construction, all at the cost of more than 100 million RMB. It is currently nearing completion.

14) Huzhou Sheraton Hotel
Taking a page out of the ‘Ring of Life' design book, the Sheraton Hotel in Huzhou has subsequently been given the less-than-flattering nickname "Toilet Seat" by onlookers.

Source: city.ifeng.com

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Keywords: China ugliest buildings China novel architecture Unusual buildings in China Replica buildings China

2 Comments

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jamesgillis

I know, I know . . . aren't you tired of this competition to be the tallest building . . .. Might I make a suggestion? Is this trend, here in China, not part of what I like to call our Western tendancy to 'dump' second-rate thinking into other countries. What I mean, is: as it is true that western countries have, for a long time, been looked to as the shining example of what is best and brightest in the world (we can argue the truth of that elsewhere); and, as it is often the case, that we in the West rethink our past/contemporary ideals and often find them wanting; isn't it fair to say that, if the Chinese are now working so hard to build taller and taller that they have taken this example from the West. And, therefore, aren't we Westerners responsible for the fact that this 'second-rate' thinking has been dumped into China. When I first came to China, MP4 players had hit the market in the West but the manufaturers of this technology - intent on maximizing profits from obsolete technology, took to dumping MP3 players here in China. In the past, in the West, managers were paid huge bonuses based on end-term profits rather than on mid-term growth in real assets. After the global financial crisis, and a rethinking of management/business practices, we in the West very nearly outlawed this sort of bonus scheme. But here in China, similar profit based bonus schemes are all the rage and are promoted by many, so-called, Western companies. This is the sort of thing I am referring to when I talk about dumping second-rate thinking in China. So, that is my comment on Western culpability in matters such as I have described and matters such as the desire to build taller and taller. But what about China's own culpability. Well, it seems to me that China wants to be a world leader. Hmmm, to do that, China needs to lead . . . and that means China must stop copying from others because that which they copy is often as much as 20 years out of date (this point withstanding the hilarious observation made here about who will win the building race, the original builders or the copiers here in China). And doesn't contemporary Chinese pop music - seen as cutting edge here in China, sound like really bad 1980s early 1990s Western pop. But, it seems to me, the problem that China faces is that the Chinese are not very comfortable striking out on their own, trying things that have not been tried before. And isn't that the reason why sidewalks and cars don't really 'work' in China -- it was the development of the automobile that allowed the growth of cities but Chinese cities are not really built for automobiles, nor sidewalks designed for a Chinese habits. Last year, the local government, here in Shanghai, spent what looked to be millions of RMB building new sidewalks in my neighborhood -- for months the sidewalks were blocked off for construction. Then one day, the barricades came down and, my what a pretty sight, all these cleaming new sidewalks. The next day you couldn't walk on half the sidwalk area because of the crowds of vendors and parked cars and . . . well you know the scene. So, China, if you want to be a leader, you have to lead. And isn't this the point that many countries are making now . . . that it is time for China to take a role in world leadership, a role befitting China's wealth. Yet, it seems that China is taking its cues, as to what are appropriate symbols of that wealth, from the bygone days of ever taller and taller buildings in the West. Yet, aren't they doing htis because we are 'teacing' them or prompting them to follow ideas which have become out-dated in our own countries. And one more point about the buildings . . . the sidewalks around the Jin Mao Tower are already cracking because of the strain on the bedrock caused by all these massive structures. So . . . I predict, that in about twenty these gleaming towers will be removed. Hmmm, everything, everyplace, goes through cycles, China is going through the same cycles as in the west, only at a faster pace. I guess that is to be expected, here in the 'land of the exponential'

Jan 20, 2013 21:21 Report Abuse

Guest569580

Well said.

Jan 29, 2013 20:39 Report Abuse