China has announced plans to ban copycat buildings such as the Great Sphinx of Giza, London’s Tower Bridge and the Moscow Kremlin which are located in many of the countries smaller cities and towns.
A joint notice released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and National Development and Reform Commission said that the government will ban the plagiarising, imitation and copycat designs of other buildings considered famous around the world.
Chinese netizens welcomed the ban, with many saying they have grown tired of the fake foreign landmarks located in many third and fourth-tier cities in the country.
Weibo user ‘Kuxiaohaier’ commented: “The ban is a great idea. It’s much better to protect our historical architecture than build fake copycat ones.”
Netizen ‘Huanhuahua’ said that a copycat version of the White House in the province of Jiangsu “burned my eyes”.
According to local media, copycat versions of famous foreign landmarks such as Tower Bridge, the Kremlin and the Sydney Opera House have popped up in many of China’s smallest cities and towns in recent years.
A replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza in the northern Chinese province of Hebei was reportedly demolished in 2016 after the Egyptian authorities complained two years previously.
However, the Hebei authorities rebuilt it in exactly the same place in 2018 despite the international criticism, according to local media.
Han Feng, head of Landscape Architecture of the Tongji University in Shanghai, said: “China itself has lots of outstanding works in history with its rich architectural culture.
“Rather than simply imitating and copying foreign buildings, it is important for architects and the public to know about and learn from our own profound architectural art.”
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Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Asia Wire Report
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