Hallstatt () is a housing development in the town of

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

located in

Boluo County Boluo County () is a county of east-central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Huizhou, and in 2009, had a population of 813,700 residing in an area of . It borders Yuanc ...

within the city of

Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyua ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, China. Its urban core is modelled after the small town of

Hallstatt Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. The center of the area contains a replica of the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, the fountain and various other objects from the original Hallstatt town centre. The housing project was built by the China Minmetals Ltd., a wholly owned Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of China's largest steel and mining company, China Minmetals Corp. The name officially used by the operator is "Hallstatt See - Huizhou".

Transport links

Hallstatt See is located in the economic region of the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Mac ...

, in the prefecture of Huizhou and here directly in front of the city of Huizhou. Due to the direct affiliation to the city of Huizhou and its infrastructure network, it can also be reached consciously from the nearby southern Chinese economic metropolises such as Guangzhuo, Shenzhen or Hong Kong. Huizhou has an airport, highways and high-speed trains. 6 pairs of high speed trains have been in service for passengers travelling from Hong Kong to Huizhou or from to Hong Kong. It takes around 70 - 80 minutes to finish the distance of between

Hong Kong West Kowloon station West Kowloon station (abbreviated WEK), also known as Hong Kong West Kowloon, is the southern terminus of and the only station on the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link (HSR). The station con ...

and Huizhou South station. It takes 30-70 minutes for the nearly 70 Shenzhen to Huizhou high speed trains to finish a distance of . Most of these bullet trains start from

Shenzhen North railway station Shenzhenbei (Shenzhen North) Railway Station () is one of the four large intercity railway stations of Shenzhen, located in Longhua District. It has 11 platforms and 20 lines. It is an interchange station between the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong ...

, and only 4 start from

Futian railway station Futian station () is a station on the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link, and the final station in mainland China before trains enter Hong Kong. Futian District is in southern Shenzhen, where the central business district i ...

. In the other side, most of them arrive at

Huizhou South railway station Huiyang railway station (), formerly known as Huizhou South railway station () before April 2023, is a railway station located in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, China, on the Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway operated by the China Railway Guangzhou G ...

, and a few arrive at Huidong railway station. About 20 normal trains are also operated on this route. It takes them 1.5-2 hours to finish the journey.

Reception in Austria

Hallstatt's mayor Alexander Scheutz first heard about the plans to build a replica of his town in 2011. At that point, the construction was already in an advanced state. While parts of the Hallstatt population viewed the Chinese plans with scepticism, Scheutz said that he saw a chance in the project for the tourism in the "original" Hallstatt. He personally visited the opening ceremony in 2012 and signed an agreement for cultural exchange.

Similar projects in China

The construction of Hallstatt is part of a trend in China to mimic or rebuild other parts of the world. While this is one of only a few examples where a whole town layout has been partly replicated (the second being Venice), there are many similar places in China. Other examples include a copy of the Eiffel Tower in

Tianducheng Tianducheng (), also called Sky City, is a housing estate in Xingqiao Subdistrict, Linping District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China that imitates many design features of Paris. History Construction at Tianducheng began around 2007. Its centra ...

and European castles built by cake magnate Liu Chonghua in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

. There is also a copy of

Jackson Hole, Wyoming Jackson Hole (originally called Jackson's Hole by mountain men) is a valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, one of the richest counties in the Unite ...

, in

Hebei province Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

(

Jackson Hole, China Jackson Hole is a resort town on the border between Huailai County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China, and Yanqing District, Beijing, wedged between Taihang and Yan mountain ranges. Its architecture and design is inspired by the town of Jackson, W ...

) and a replica of Venice in

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

Liaoning province Liaoning () is a coastal provinces of China, province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and i ...

, which freezes over in winter. The Huawei Ox Horn Campus in

Dongguan Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the s ...

also features twelve groups of buildings based on European cities or regions, including

Heidelberg Castle Heidelberg Castle (german: Heidelberger Schloss) is a ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demoli ...

, buildings of

Český Krumlov Český Krumlov (; german: Krumau, , or ''Böhmisch Krumau'') is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. The historic centre with the Český Krumlov Castle complex is protected by law as an urban monument reservation, and sin ...

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, and

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

References

{{Reflist Boluo County Replica constructions in China

Transport links

Reception in Austria

Similar projects in China

See also

References