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30. 01. 13. - 15:00

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30. 01. 13. - 15:00

Phar-ground Attraction

Kathryn Quinn

At first sight, they look like the ancient ruins of some lost civilisation.

But anyone with even a basic knowledge of history might wonder whether the Egyptians built their pyramids quite so close to Greek temples thousands of years ago.

And on closer inspection, it turns out that the ruins - found outside Wuhan, Hubei province, in central China - were abandoned quite a bit more recently than that.

The ruins are, in fact, all that remains of an derelict tourist attraction which was supposed to pull in tens of thousands of Chinese visitors keen to soak up foreign culture.

"They were built about 10 years ago and then the developers seemed to run out of money," said one local.

"One day they were working all out, the next nothing. They just abandoned them" they added.

Ironically, now they've been overgrown by weeds and started to fall apart, the fake ruins look far more authentic than they ever did when they were built.

Locals use them as picnic spot or as a backdrop for wedding photos.

"Maybe one day in five thousand years time someone will dig them up and wonder what the Egyptians were doing in China," laughed one.

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