China has quite a number of famous international landmarks, but hasn’t been content by just having the Great Wall of China or the Bund in Shanghai. The latest Chinese copycat of an international landmark is a version of the infamous artificially-made Palm Islands in Jinzhou, Liaoning in China’s northeast.
First noticed by eagle-eyed redditor named rockyrainy, a Google Map perspective of the Chinese-version does bear an uncanny resemblance to the authentic version. However, the Chinese counterfeit is not an artificial island that juts out into the sea. While Jinzhou is near water, the fake Palm Island is land-locked with water from a nearby tributary.
The Chinese-Palm Island was made by digging an artificial lake around the outline of the “palm”, and then allowing the water to come in and act like a “moat”. The fake Palm Island remains a mystery, as it doesn’t show up in Baidu Maps even though its neighbor to the south, Mianzhou World Expo Park, is clearly represented.
For comparison, here’s the fake Palm Island and Dubai’s real one: