What on earth were they thinking?

In their swishy floral skirts and colourful tops, a group of middle-aged "dancing queens", teetering on 5cm-high heels, practise their choreographed moves at a breezy public square in Chongqing's Shaping Park.

What they are doing is nothing out of the ordinary, for dancing in public is a popular Chinese activity - except for the steady gaze on them of four former American presidents from on high.

The four gigantic heads are a replica of Mount Rushmore - the iconic American symbol of presidential greatness carved into a granite mountain range in South Dakota. The miniature version now sits, quite out of place, in the heart of this south-western Chinese city.

And so do life-size copies of well-known sculptures such as Michelangelo's David, Rodin's Thinker and the Venus de Milo, an ancient statue of Aphrodite. These are scattered throughout the "culture area" of the popular park in the city's Shapingba district.

They are just some of the many examples of China's notorious "copycat culture", which seems no longer content with churning out counterfeits of brand-name handbags and champagne but has turned to copying famous monuments and features of foreign cities.

Elsewhere in the municipality of roughly 30 million people, for instance, a privately run theme park features a miniature New York, Venice-like canals and a statue of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer rotating atop a ride.

Most of the visitors to Shaping park, however, were not only unimpressed but also not even aware that the replicas are of some of the world's finest art pieces.

"They are probably some famous historical people but there are no labels on them so we don't know who they are exactly," Mr Li Chengxun, 48, told The Sunday Times, adding that they were placed in the park "years ago".

When filled in on the details by this reporter, Mr Li, a retiree, only laughed and added: "I guess they are nice then, if we get to see famous art work without having to leave Chongqing."

But it is not just Chongqing - sprawling metropolis famous for its fiery hotpot and hilly terrain - that has a penchant for aping the West.

All across the country, property developers have built residential communities based on famous architectural works as a marketing hook.

These include a copy of the Austrian alpine village and Unesco World Heritage site, Hallstatt, in southern Guangdong province and homes built around clones of French monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and a fountain in Versailles in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province.

Thames Town, a residential project outside the coastal financial hub Shanghai, features an English- themed suburb with a statue of Winston Churchill and men dressed as Buckingham Palace guards, while northern Hebei province has a replica of Egypt's Great Sphinx of Giza.

The last is reportedly part of a new theme park to attract tourists but also intended for use as a movie set backed by a Hangzhou-based entertainment conglomerate.

Experts say the blatant copying of Western cultural products, despite the rich themes that Chinese culture offers, is because it is a quick and practical solution given the breakneck speed at which the country is urbanising.

But as the country rises in stature, China must work on strengthening innovation and creativity in its economy to influence global ideas before its superpower status can truly be cemented, they add.

Mr Song Ding, director of the tourism and real estate industry research centre of Shenzhen-based think tank China Development Institute, said Europe's economic strength and China's relative weakness in the last century have made the Chinese perceive foreign goods as superior and symbols of prestige.

The Cultural Revolution unleashed by late leader Mao Zedong also had a negative effect on creativity as it destroyed much of the country's cultural assets, which could have been sources of inspiration today.

During that tumultuous decade, from the 1960s to early 1970s, China's age-old traditions were attacked, with ancient relics, calligraphic works, paintings, classic books and scriptures burned, temple friezes and murals defaced and statues smashed.

"But since reform and opening up (from 1978), China has been regaining its confidence and in the next 10 to 20 years, we are likely to see more original architecture that is inspired by Chinese culture and history instead," Mr Song said.

The government seems to be cognisant of the undesirable trend of copying others and the touchy issue of national pride that it raises.

"The country's rapid urbanisation has fuelled a massive building boom, but the lack of cultural protection and improper use of historical and cultural (objects) have left many cities with an eerie copycat architectural landscape," said state-run Xinhua news agency in a report in March.

Renmin University president Chen Yulu was quoted in the report as saying "local authorities should refrain from copying European architectural styles and work harder to promote local culture" instead.

And while imitation is said to be the best sort of compliment, it seems that some countries are not taking too kindly to the audacious clones of their national symbols.

The 30m-tall Sphinx replica in Hebei province is set to be dismantled after a complaint by the Egyptian government, state media reports said last month.

This move is one that Mr Yang Jianguo, 60, a retiree who dances daily at Shaping park, is likely to approve of.

"It would be nice to have some Chinese art in the park instead," he said. "Shaping park was built more than 50 years ago and the next generation that enjoys it should be able to learn more about our culture, rather than just taking in Western influences."

Chongqing resident Tang Zepeng, 48, added: "Maybe we could have sculptures of Confucius or even Guan Yu, who represents loyalty, instead."

He was referring respectively to the Chinese philosopher and a character from Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, seen as one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature.

This article was first published on June 29, 2014.
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