China to Clone Austrian Hamlet

A state corporation in China has announced plans to reproduce exactly the Austrian village of Halllstadt, down to the smallest detail. Hallstad residents are both flattered and creeped out.

1 minute read

June 24, 2011, 9:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Evidently a team of people has been documenting Hallstadt down to the brick to prepare for the reconstruction. Locals have considered suing China to protect the city's rights. Columnist David Brussat thinks this would be too bad:

"Attempts to copy beauty used to be the dominant basis for the advance of every art in every place and every era (except our own). Copying whole townscapes might not be entirely edifying, but it obviously brings pleasure to multitudes, and endows designers and builders with practice in the crafts required to invest new architecture with more originality."

Thursday, June 23, 2011 in The Providence Journal

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