A Chinese mining company liked the idyllic Austrian town of Hallstatt so much they decided to build an exact replica of it in Guangdong province for $940 million. A delegation from the original town was invited for the fake village’s official opening, apparently so they could know what it feels like to be in a scene from The Matrix (a cheap knock-off DVD of The Matrix).

A few naysayers notwithstanding, most of the Austrian delegation seemed unperturbed.

“It was not so controversial,” said Hallstatt mayor Alexander Scheutz. “We were only surprised that a small village in Austria was built.”

The mayor was shockingly composed and showed no signs of the existential crisis that would completely zonk out a lesser diplomat. Maybe that’s because the pretend town is apparently a lousy copy.

“I saw a report and the photos, and the copy seems different,” said Hallstatt citizen Karin Höll.

As a new low in Chinese rip-offs of Western products, the counterfeit village has even failed to convince people from the nearby city of Huizhou. “Chinese architecture is very characteristic and stylish. Just work on your own style,” said Huizhou’s Zhong Ping, seeming fearful of his whole region being pegged as posers. “Why do you have to copy others? Even the flowers are fake, I can tell they are fake at first glance.”

Reuters // News24BBC