Shenzhen Tourist Traps

Splendid China is a theme park featuring all of the famous tourist destinations reduced to miniature size. You can cross the border from Hong Kong and soon be walking around the Tibetan Potala, Beijing's Forbidden City, Leshan's Giant Buddha, Luoyang's Longmen Grottoes, and the Great Wall of China. Oh! I almost forgot...Taiwan's Ali Shan mountain is also included.

Unique Suggestions: At least go next door to the China Folk Culture Village where you can see genuine life size living ethnic minorities on display in colorful native costume and doing things that you've seen them do in National Geographic.

Fun Alternatives: The alternative to Shenzhen's theme park is the Splendid China in Florida.
See Hexepatty's Kissimmee page for photos and commentary of Shenzhen's joint venture just down the road from Disney World.
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UPDATE December 31, 2003
Splendid China in Florida has just closed and is out of business. (You can still see a little bit of China at Disney's Epcot Center.)

"Windows of the World" provides an opportunity for Chinese domestic tourists to go around the world on a photo safari without the trouble of applying for a passport.
For foreigners, it's an amusing checklist of "been there, done that" icons as you stroll around miniature replicas of everything from Sydney Harbor Opera House to Mt. Fuji and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There's even a life sized Easter Island statue which may be the only global thing you haven't yet actually "done" and here is your big chance!

Unique Suggestions: If you have to go to Shenzhen on a business trip across the Hong Kong border, or to catch a cheap domestic flight the next morning to Xian, then plan on a couple hours here in the afternoon.
If you look and speak Chinese, remember to suddenly forget your Mandarin if hassled by security guards during an obnoxious photo shoot. You will be excused of all barbarian behavior if you present yourself as a foreign devil with a real passport instead of the novelty cardboard folder that comes with the entrance ticket.

Fun Alternatives: If you don't think a mini Eiffel Tower is good enough reason to take the long bus ride west to Shenzhen Bay from the railway station, then perhaps you would enjoy the nearby "Splendid China" and "China Folk Culture Village"
Splendid China is similar to "Windows of the World" except all of the miniature replicas are of destinations within China. So if you are visiting Hong Kong and don't have time to go beyond Shenzhen to see Beijing, Lhasa, and the Three Gorges then this park was made for busy executives like you. China Folk Culture Village is located right next door and presents real live ethnic minorities in reconstructed local surroundings performing whatever those folks do while dressed in native costume. It's very similar to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii which attempts the same scheme to the delight of tourists who can't afford the ticket to Tahiti.