Research and Other Investigations from China

Counterfeit Paradises in GEO France

October 25, 2012

Counterfeit Paradise debuts in GEO France - Chateau Montaigne

My Counterfeit Paradises series made made a strong appearance in GEO France this summer. Fourteen pages of shanzhai awesomeness. The magazine commissioned me to shoot all of my favorite ersatz European developments around China. This is only part of the Counterfeit Paradises oeuvre as China’s grand development strategies continue to spread at an unrelenting pace. The series explores the cracks in “harmonious” cities coming into being throughout China, as well as sites of leisure and luxury now enjoyed by the urban elite. This nouveau riche partake in an imagined space of contentment and growth even as a gap widens between the promising rhetoric espoused by municipal governments regarding urban planning and actual implementation. This fantastical future plays out in many spaces including newfangled urban districts, cultural institutions, amusement parks, and themed residential developments. In practice, many remain underused, fanciful but alien terrains. Most of the hopes and dreams woven into this urban fabric remain false in nature. These are only a smattering of the many Counterfeit Paradises in China.

Counterfeit Paradise debuts in GEO France - Tianducheng
Counterfeit Paradise debuts in GEO France - Florentia Village
Counterfeit Paradise debuts in GEO France - Little Holland
Counterfeit Paradise debuts in GEO France - Thames Town
Counterfeit Paradise debuts in GEO France - Weimar Town
Counterfeit Paradise debuts in GEO France - Broad Corporate Campus