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    Cloned version of Austrian village opens in China

    Cloned version of Austrian village opens in China

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    An entire Austrian village has been cloned in China, with the result serving as a tourist attraction.

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    Flickr Hallstatt
    Flickr Hallstatt

    The picturesque Austrian town Hallstatt now has a twin, thanks to a cloned version of the village that recently opened up in China. The $940 million copy spans one million square meters, and includes exact replicas of homes, the church clock tower, and other buildings, while more construction is planned to expand even further. It's located in the Guangdong province, and residents of the Austrian town first learned of the plan about a year ago when employees from Chinese firm Minmetals began taking pictures and gathering data. The cloned version is being used as a tourist attraction, but it's also attracting visitors to the real thing — thousands of Chinese tourists reportedly now visit the original Hallstatt annually, up from just 50 in 2005.