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Q: What's the deal with that fake Swiss village near Guomao?
Passed it in a taxi over the weekend and was quite shocked. It looked so out of place. What's it for and WHY?
Your question peaked my interest.... so I googled it and came up with this. It's an article from echinacities. I don't know if this is the specific construction you are talking about, but it sounds like it fits.
http://www.echinacities.com/expat-corner/offbeat-china-glass-bombs-eroti...
If you can’t buy it or import it, do it yourself. Such is the long-serving motto a Chinese real estate firm has decided to put into effect for the small town of Hallstatt, in Austria. More specifically, the firm has drawn plans to build a replica of the town in Huizhou, in Guangdong province.
Architects were supposedly sent to Hallstatt to take pictures and measurements of buildings in view of duplicating them. Such conspicuous behavior would have gone unnoticed in the town of 900 habitants and 800,000 yearly tourists.
Reactions were mixed from the local population: inn keepers were outraged, the local priest voiced his concern that the replicated church be built for religious use only, and the mayor appeared optimistic at the anticipated touristic ripples.
It is not known whether or not such an endeavor can stand legally, however past examples in Anting (copy of a typical German town), Chengdu (copy of Dorchester) and numerous others around Shanghai (copies of Barcelona, Venice, Scandinavian Nordic town) leave little doubt as to whether or not the plans will go through.
These destinations have been popular tourist destinations for the Chinese middle class, many of who take their wedding pictures in these ‘original’ attractions.
The "Swiss Village" you saw is called Tonghui International Bar Street and is modelled after the Swiss town of Interlaken. It's got to be one of the most mis-placed eye-sores in Beijing to date.
Absurd? it is; Out of place? For sure; Worth going to? Only to shake your head at the ridiculous projects that receive funding here.
Pics and more info in this article:
You have to remember that most Chinese won't go abroad for various reasons, but they want to see what it is like. They work 7 days a week and have limited holidays, so someone building a replica here gives them a chance to see at least a copy. They are curious people, how do you feel on the bus by yourself?
denny18:
I love nothing more than sitting in a bus by myself....never happens here in China though :(
hvn't checked the place...does it look pretty ugly, i guess so. 
..when i heard they are going to do that kind of COPY thing in BIG BEIJING city...im shocked by their farmer-ish ideas...
that shuangjin, guomao, etc CBD area are not beijing area now...only people are from outside of beijing build an area for themselves to live with....whole area become more and more ugly now...who the heck will go to a swiss town in a shit area... 
