China’s Replica Of The City Of Venice Is Now A Ghost Town

Visiting the Italian city of Venice is a must for travel enthusiasts who want to explore the world. The impressive and aesthetic architecture of the city has attracted global attention for decades. But did you know that China came up with an easy solution for its citizens who wanted to visit Venice, but did not have the means to do so? They brought Venice into their own country. China is building replicas of some of the world’s best tourist places in its own country so that its tourism can increase. For this reason, a ‘fake’ Venice worth 507 million pounds or Rs 53 billion 82 crore 73 lakh was built there to become a center of attraction for tourists.

The project may sound impressive but recent experiences of travel vloggers who visited the destination were anything but impressive. They found the town to be empty, with buildings still unused and empty canals which are full of sludges. Venice of China has now turned into a derelict ghost town.

The idea behind building a little Venice near the port city of Dalian in China’s northeastern Liaoning province was to incorporate European-style architecture and culture, where Chinese citizens would not have to travel far to enjoy Italy. It took four years to build but in contrast to expectations, instead of being able to attract crowds and reduce pollution, the ‘floating city’ has turned out to be a lifeless and dry place. Visitors to the town were left disappointed.

The town’s half-finished buildings and sparse streets left a bitter impression on them. A travel vlogger, who posts regularly under the name Chopsticks and Trains, was particularly shocked by the state of the city. The vlogger posted that the city is desolate and lifeless, noting that everything is closed and the buildings appear to have never been used.

Further, it was noted that the buildings were not only empty but were left with wires and other appliances dangling. The canal which was constructed with a 4 km length was also left with sludges in many places. The city was opened to the public in 2015.