So now one of the strangest real estate stories you may ever see. Entire cities designed to look like Paris, Venice, London, even Jackson hole, Wyoming. So why doesn't anybody want to live there? Here's ABC's bob woodruff. Reporter: Ah, Paris. One of the most beautiful cities in the world. . ♪ Reporter: The eiffel tower. Look at that place. But wait a minute. Paris in well, not exactly. Welcome to tiendru Chung, China. An entire city built to look like Paris, France. Complete with iconic architecture, picturesque fountains, spacious public squares, and thousands of apartments to live in. Meet one of the inhabitants. Rachel moved here six years ago. So what do you think of this being Paris right here? Yeah. How do you think? Reporter: Is it strange to you? Yes. I think a little strange. Reporter: You live here? I don't like it here. Reporter: She says she is not exactly feeling the Joie de vivre. And apparently almost no one else is either. These developers, while they may have copied so much else about the west in these developments, they may have forgotten the most important thing of all, which is the role of supply and demand. Reporter: A victim of the speculative real estate bubble currently gripping China and roiling stock markets worldwide. Paris now virtually a ghost town. Streets empty. Stores vacant. They've got the laundry hanging right in front of their house. For so few people there seems to be quite a lot of laundry hanging almost everywhere. There's laundry on the tree. Fourth floor. Yeah. Reporter: So you have the penthouse. Yeah. You want to see? Reporter: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The very top. In Paris it would be a dream to have this view. Wow. The view is good. Reporter: Yeah. The view. Reporter: In fact, the view is getting better and better because this is no isolated phenomenon. All over China copycat european cities from mock London to faux Venice sprouting up by the hundreds. These are not just cheap knockoffs. Reporter: Bianca bosker, an author and journalist, says in China these communities function almost like designer logos. Even if undervalued right now. These are brands. These landmarks, these icons, they are status symbols in their own way. Reporter: In the classical Chinese city of sujo, known for its unique architecture and waterways, this Venice of China has felt the need to add dozens of clone bridges. Paris's pont dead Alexander iii. And their crowning glory, a version of London's tower bridge. Why do they do this? One reason, says boscer, is a reaction against a long history of communism. Even a generation ago, for example, it wasn't up to individuals and families to really decide how they were living, where and in what way. And be able to make that chase is in its own way a very important kind of revolutionary option for contemporary Chinese families. Reporter: If you want to get away from communism, just drive out of beijing, past China's great wall, into the hills. It's Wyoming. Ish. We are here. That's right. Jackson hole. Cowboys and of course route 66. It doesn't actually go through Wyoming. But they are trying. So if you really want to americanize this place, put route 66 on the street. They did get the snow right. But even that's a duplication. If you thought this was real snow, well, here's the secret. They make it, fake. Unlike other duplitecture towns, this one sold well. This one the realtor showed us cost almost $2 million. This is gigantic. Reporter: Perhaps because it's only about an hour and a half away from the often polluted Chinese capital. Why is it a lot of people want to live in an American type town? The lifestyle. Reporter: Oh, you want the lifestyle. This is very, very American. If you want something slightly more refined, head to the suburbs of Shanghai. This is the Thames town. As in the river Thames of London. I don't know this place before. Reporter: Do you like it? Yeah. Reporter: It's more like a british theme park. Harry potter statue, check. Winston Churchill, of course. You don't know who he is? He's Winston Churchill. Then there's the Tudor architecture. Little neighborhoods like this remind me a lot of London from when I lived there. It's got the same doors, the same walls. Reporter: The iconic red phone booths. And security guards dressed in british uniforms. What's it like to wear a british uniform like this? Like Paris, it was supposed to be a busy town, filled with residents. But they never came. It's mostly now for wedding pictures. Everywhere. Let's count the number of wedding photographs. I'm counting them now. One. Two down there. Three. Four. Five. Six. Six. And now these ghost towns are endangered in a whole new way. The Chinese government has recently announced that these knockoff cities are at odds with socialist core values and says it wants to give them more Chinese traditional names. But for now if you come to China -- You're Finnish.

• published: 14 Apr 2016
• views: 1396