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.

我极力想看看这些人在哪里，就在我四处走动时，我看到的只是空空的房子和被侵蚀的外墙。这条大街自诩拥有巴黎的一切，著名的奥斯曼式建筑，宽阔的林荫大道，精致的喷泉，当然还有著名的巴黎面包房和咖啡馆。

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.

然而，当我看到这美丽的景色时，我发现空荡荡的商店外面摆放的水果已经腐烂了——这是整个地方的缩影。这只是一个拙劣的模仿，没有真正抓住原版的精髓。

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.

我参观了展览中心，这是我在天都城看到的唯一有人类生活的地方。它的工作人员配备充足，随时可以保护开发者的视野。我看到了小区从2007年以来的规划模型与宏伟蓝图。

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.’

我看到一个人正带着一个说英语的人参观，就问他这是怎么回事。他说:“实际上这种现象在很普遍，到处都在开发房产项目。”

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

我提醒他，在英国我们也有很多建筑拔地而起，但并不一定得是牛津街的一座复制品。

Now on the same wavelength, he said: ‘I think it was an attempt to get people interested in living here, it’s also just £700 per square metre to live here and in Hangzhou it’s £30,000. The developers it appears just want to make money.’

英雄所见略同。他说：“我认为这么做是为了让人们对这里感兴趣，这里的房价700英镑一平米，杭州的房价是30000英镑一平米。开发商都是为了赚钱。”

This admission made it clear that the flop was another money-driven ploy to attract investors. But despite its ghost town feel the city actually succeeds in making you feel like you’re on another world, and isn’t that the point of travelling?

这表明这失败的模仿只是另一种吸引投资者资金的策略。然而，这种鬼城一般的体验实际上成功地让你感觉身处另一个世界，而这不是旅行的意义吗？

Sky City does, by the way, have its fair share of surprises, including a five-star hotel with all the pomp and ceremony of the famous Hotel de Crillon on Paris’s Place de la Concorde.

顺便提一下，天都城也有意想不到的地方。这里有一家可媲美巴黎协和广场Hotel de Crillon的五星级酒店。

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

美丽的油画，华丽的吊灯，更惊奇的是，当我穿过一道栅栏之后，入目的是一片人造海滩。

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.

这是与巴黎冲突的地方，当然，我指的不是国际关系。再远一点，一座典型的法国城堡坐落在郁郁葱葱的丘陵上。

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.

群山在地平线上跳跃，层次分明，就像一幅美丽的山水画。法国的街区，的热度，真是令人困惑。