Hallstatt''s beauty, popular with Asian tourists, particularly the Chinese, has earned it a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site but some villagers are less happy about a more recent distinction - plans to build a replica of their hamlet in China.

After taking photos and collecting other data on the village while mingling with tourists, a Chinese firm has started to rebuild much of Hallstatt in faraway Guandong province.

The Chinese developers are advertising the project as low-density high end residential development "surrounded by mountains with mountain and lake views," to be built "in a European architectural style, with a commercial street built with the characteristics of an Austrian-style town."

But at the Chinese site, in the city of Huizhou about 60 kilometres (100miles) north of the border with Hong Kong, there is little to indicate that the copycat version will ever approximate the beauty of the original.

Hallstatt residents, heavily outnumbered by tourists every year and dependant on their custom, see the project with mixed emotions.

The local mayor, flipping through several pages of plans for the new village, said he was taken aback by the detail of the project.

"I saw these pictures, the most in-depth documents with the most detailed plans, of houses, of balconies, even of gables, windows, everything," said Alexander Scheutz.

"Let''s just say I was little bit surprised," he added.

Tourists'' views on the planned village varied, with one woman finding it "bit of an odd thing to do."

Another couple, however, thought it was a way for Chinese that can''t afford to travel to learn about other cultures.

Hotel owner Monika Wenger said she was none too pleased to know the Chinese had been in the village for years collecting data for their project in apparent secrecy.

Although the Chinese developers say construction started in April, Scheutz and Wenger say the village knew nothing about the plan to replicate Hallstatt until early this month.

Even if the project is raising some eyebrows, some feel it might boost tourism.

Wenger hopes at least some Chinese who have seen the copy cat version of Hallstatt will want to visit the original.

"They will never own the original. The original is us. This place is seven thousand years old. They can''t catch up, no way," she said on Thursday, at her 400 year-old hotel''s terrace against the stunning backdrop of Lake Hallstatt, its surface mirroring nearby peaks of granite.

The Chinese village where the replica is to be built, however, is currently far from resembles the idyllic Hallstatt.

Though the area is hilly, there was not an alpine peak in sight and the waters of a nearby lake - apparently the faux Lake Hallstatt to be - were green and murky.

Instead of mirroring majestic alpine mountaintops, several dead fish floated on the surface.

Officials with the construction company Minmetals Land Ltd say the developer plans to copy all of Hallstatt''s touristic core, spreading over 20,000 square meters - nearly five acres.

Once completed, it will include a shop selling Austrian style glass crystal and other souvenirs.

A Minmetals executive said the subdevelopment will likely appeal not only to upscale Chinese but also Caucasian people living in Hong Kong who are homesick.