Copycat buildings ooze lack of culture (2)

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Yet the designers of these copycats literally leave no stone unturned, molding buildings into doppelgangers of the original, without even a pretense of originality.

The upsurge in pumping out exotic carbon copies is partly driven by China's name-dropping nouveau riche, who call for bricks and mortar to solidify their upper crust status.

An eight-figure waterfront mansion with a Mediterranean facade, vintage Spanish chandeliers, the finest Italian marbles and a Rococo carved bed provides just that.

Savvy marketers bank on the deep pockets of the filthy rich, selling their clients an image of European luxury and sophisticated ironically belied by the kitschy nature of the products.

But for these newly minted snobs, economic clout matters more than culture. For instance, Prague, a time-honored city with a motley collection of architectural grandiosity and ethereal beauty, is never on the list for Chinese plagiarists since it is not an economic powerhouse.

It is not simply climbing on the bandwagon of mimicking things abroad, but a manifestation of the shallowness of popular culture in China.

China's economic boom has not come with a boost in spirituality. Instead, it sets the stage for legions of wildcatters in a society of fast bucks and instant gratification.

Small wonder thinking outside the box is compromised by being stuck in a rut or playing it safe; the time-consuming, nerve-fraying creative process is streamlined into copy and paste, architects knuckle under the will of hoi polloi, abasing themselves to the whims of the nouveau riche.

Moreover, there is virtually no chemistry between the secondhand copycats and the local setting. They are an unlikely couple saddled with a forced marriage.

A bevy of towering White House duplicates loom large in China's lesser known counties, a jarring juxtaposition with the surrounding shimmering green hills, gurgling waterfalls, and indigenous architecture.

China, with architectural splendors that have seen better days, boasts a galaxy of feats of engineering that can put to rout the kitschy churned-out white elephants.

Alas various domestic places have been through a sea-change in the skyline as traditional traits have flatlined.

These replicated regions, invariably landlocked in the middle of nowhere, are out of sync with local cycles. Coupled with a poor transport infrastructure and deficient public services, they give rise to unsold flats, unlet stores, untouched offices and phantom malls.

The glut of forlorn ghost towns is a malady in today's reckless urban sprawl: local authorities bent on embellishing city image wishfully think "Build it and they will come."

Famed US architect Eero Saarinen once commented that he could tell a city's culture from the nature of its architecture. How would he react if he sauntered around a deserted Chinese town that looks like a twin of his own hometown?

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