YouTubers Reveal Truth Behind China's Failed $1 Bn Imitation of 'Paris'

China's achievements have gained a lot of publicity over the years, and so have its failures. The country has rivaled superpowers in terms of technology, economy, and infrastructure, but in some cases, their ambitious plans have fallen flat. Tianducheng is one of those projects, that didn't reach the heights, the country envisioned for it, LADBible reported.

The country was supposed to be China's version of 'Paris,' but due to certain factors, could not achieve the goals set for it by the authorities. Yes Theory, a YouTube channel decided to explore this city in 2024, to understand what exactly went wrong, and how close was it to 'The City of Light.'

Tianducheng

Tianducheng is a suburb located in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, CNN reported. The place contains replicas of many Parisian sights like the Eiffel Tower, Haussmann buildings, and the Gardens of Versailles. This is not China's first attempt at "duplitecture," a practice of replicating the design of European cities.

Parisian photographer, Francois Prost, in his visit to the suburb was impressed by the architecture. He realized that even though the city was built to imitate Paris, there was nothing particularly 'French' about it. The people of the suburb had made it their own with their culture and practices. "What I quite liked in the end is, the place is made by the people living in the place," Prost explained. "To me, what I saw there, was people just living there as they would live anywhere else."

Failure of Tianducheng

Tianducheng project was launched in 2007 as an effort by real estate companies to transform farmlands into sprawling cities, LADBible reported. Previously, Chinese authorities had created a replica of Venice as well as Tower Bridge, this time they went with Paris.

Despite the best efforts of officials, the city did not attract the attention and revenue the organizations targeted. The suburb's remote location and low population were the main reasons for the project's ultimate failure at becoming China's Paris. 

Exploration of Tianducheng

Yes Theory uploaded a video about their visit to Tianducheng in which they cleared plenty of misconceptions about the suburb. Thomas, one of the YouTubers behind the channel, opens the video by talking about how being from France, drew him to this suburb in China. He had read many reports about this billion-dollar imitation, but could not get his hands on the establishment's current state.

"Online, it seems like this place is abandoned. However, it's impossible to get any up-to-date, reliable insight into what goes on in this city. Like, not many people go to this place, there aren't any updated videos or anything from it, so I don't know," he explained.

The YouTuber was accompanied by his fellow team members, Matt Dalhia as well as Derin Emre, and also collaborated with a local content creator, Yan. 

Truth About Tianducheng

The group noted that the rumor of Tianducheng being a 'ghost city' was false. The team saw many people, in the suburb, going about their daily life. They visited the replicated Eiffel Tower, and it was an eerie experience for Thomas. He was surprised to see the miniature version of the iconic tower and that too without a crowd around it.

The team also interacted with the locals, who were both friendly and welcoming. For them, the best part of the visit was the moments they got to spend with the local population. "In a story where we were expecting to be exploring an abandoned city, we found ourselves dancing with locals in front of a copy of my home country’s most famous landmark," Thomas said.