How is the project "Paris version 2" after 17 years?

In 2007, the urban residential project named Guangxia Tianducheng was started construction in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, China. Unlike many other projects, Thien Do Thanh attracts public attention because of the goal of "rebuilding" the magnificent capital of France, Paris.

Investors have spent more than 1 billion USD (more than 22.000 billion VND) to build the urban area with the ambition of becoming "Paris of the East". Built on a large area of ​​31km2 not far from Hangzhou city, Thien Do Thanh has houses and architecture in a typical French style.

Each street, row of trees and public buildings resemble many famous places in Paris. Haussmann-style apartment buildings and boulevards are invested and built at huge costs, targeting rich home buyers who like European style.

The most distinctive feature of the billion-dollar project is the 108-meter-high replica of the Eiffel Tower, about 1/3 the size of the original tower. The identical architecture of the "Chinese version of Eiffel" with the original makes many people excited and predict that Thien Do Thanh will become a tourist attraction.

The urban area officially opened in 2007 and could be home to more than 10.000 residents. Although heavily promoted, "Oriental Paris" initially did not sell as many apartments and villas as expected.

In 2013, there were an estimated 2.000 people living in Thien Do Thanh. The main reason why the urban area does not attract buyers is said to be because of its inconvenient geographical location.

However, by 2017, the population of “Chinese Paris” had increased to 30.000 people and the project had also expanded many times over. In 2023, Yes Theory - a Canadian media channel visited Thien Do Thanh and returned to the current scene of this town. It can be seen that this place is not as bustling and crowded as many other Chinese cities.

Thien Do Thanh, like many other urban projects in the area, mainly attracts elderly people to retire.

Although built with the purpose of becoming a tourist destination, Thien Do Thanh did not attract visitors as expected. Nowadays, other than Chinese couples coming to take wedding photos, the small version of the Eiffel Tower doesn't seem to attract many tourists after 17 years.