We'll always have Paris? Farmers reclaim deserted Chinese replica of the city of love

Rusted giant: the 350ft replica Eiffel Tower is a centrepiece to the failing 2007 development project in Tianducheng. Photo / Guillaume Payen, Getty

Leigh McManus made an excursion to Sky City in in 2015, away from thriving metropolis of Hangzhou. Writing for the Daily Mail, he discovered surprisingly quiet replica of the French 'City of Light'

How would you like to have the Champs-Elysees all to yourself? Or to peer down from the Eiffel Tower on to the City of Love, but without the hordes of tourists?

Well, you can. All you have to do is fly to Hangzhou in south-eastern China.

Hangzhou is the closest city to a development called 'Sky City', or originally, Tianducheng. What makes this place so astonishing is that it's a mini replica of Paris. What's more, it was built for 10,000 - but no one turned up.

Sans culottes: Farmers have begun reclaiming land outside the fantasy Parisian houses. Photo / Guillaume Payen, Getty

The lack of Paris enthusiasts hit developers' pockets hard and helped to create a truly extraordinary atmosphere, like a post-apocalyptic version of the City of Love.

Leaving the high-rise flats behind and hurtling through the picturesque Chinese countryside I began to see something familiar piercing the sky. It was the Eiffel Tower, in a desolate corner of the Far East!

A model Versailles stands unloved outside Tianducheng, the failed residential community. Photo / Guillaume Payen, Getty

In reality, it was actually a rusty replica standing at 350ft. The extraordinary thing about this eroding structure was that it was rising up out of overgrown grass in the incapacitating Chinese humidity with a gaggle of female farmers tending to crops at its base in their straw hats.

The replica of the famous structure took pride of place at the start of China's very own Champs-Elysees.

Walking down the Chinese version of the famous avenue, it's not love that's in the air. It's the sound of silence.

Estimates suggest that 2,000 people came to live in the development to escape the hefty prices of renting in nearby Hangzhou, and many of them work in a nearby French-themed amusement park.

An abandoned theater in Tianducheng. Photo / Guillaume Payen, Getty

I struggled to fathom where these people were, as when I walked around I saw nothing but empty shell buildings and eroded facades. The avenue boasted everything else Paris has, its famous Haussmann architecture, wide boulevards, meticulous fountains and of course the famous Parisian boulangeries and cafes.

Upon inspection of this beautiful scene, however, I found that the fruit outside the empty shops was rotten – a metaphor for the whole place. It was just an echo chamber version that lacked any of the real grandeur and class of the original.

I visited the exhibition centre and this is where I found some of the only human life I saw in Sky City. It was fully staffed with people readily available to protect the vision of the developers. I saw scale models of the plans for the city, blueprints for greatness, all from 2007.

I found a Chinese man leading an excursion of English speakers and asked him what the deal was with Tianducheng. He said: 'Actually it is very common in China, everywhere has seen the rise of real estate.'

I reminded him that in England we have a lot of buildings springing up too, but not necessarily a replica Pagoda on Oxford Street.

The develpers' nighmare has become a playground for remaining residents. Photo / Guillaume Payen, Getty

And it is lined with beautiful oil paintings and grand chandeliers - and I was surprised to find a manmade beach at the back after slipping through a barrier to investigate.

This is where China collides with Paris, and I don't mean international relations. Further out is a quintessentially French château perched on top of lush, rolling Chinese hills.

The hills leaped backwards to the horizon, each casting the other into shadow, like the layers of a beautiful landscape painting. Looking at the French imagery and feeling the Chinese heat was certainly confusing for the senses.

I inspected the hill-top château. It was boarded up and crumbling but that did nothing to take away from the view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, battling for skyline space with the cranes working on the next sky scraper in Hangzhou.

The sight was obscured by fluttering lines of heat and thick, humid air, but it helped to paint the picture of China and its love for replicas in its own special way.

If you want to feel surprised, amazed, confused, amused and completely out of this world, I recommend a visit to Tianducheng, the post-apocalyptic Paris.