In this project, I explore British-style architecture constructed in various cities across China. Starting from a Big Ben replica in a university campus in my hometown Zhengzhou, I document the former British concession in Tianjin, the Thames Town residential complex on the outskirts of Shanghai, and the World Park in Beijing.
The faux British-style facades of these architectures function as pure symbols, aligning with Baudrillard’s concept of simulacra — replicas devoid of an original referent, offering a ‘hyperreal’ experience where imitation overtakes authenticity. Such places also distort place and cultural identity, offering a hyperreal vision of ‘elsewhere’ that is at once familiar and estranged. Moreover, the medium of digital photography allows the images to accentuate visual markers that evoke ‘authentic’ Britishness while intentionally revealing their staged and postmodern qualities, inviting viewers to reconsider the authenticity of cultural experience in the globalised and hyperreal cityscape of modern China.
