Attention shoppers ... shoe gazing at Luohu Commercial City.Credit: Michael Coyne/Lonely Planet
Jewel Topsfield finds nothing is quite what it seems in Shenzhen, a mega-city famous for replicas and rip-offs.
Conceptual artist Barbara Kruger's ironic slogan "I shop therefore I am", which satirised the 1980s obsession with consumerism, could have been coined to describe the phenomenon of Shenzhen. Before it was chosen in 1979 as China's first "special economic zone", due to its proximity to Hong Kong, Shenzhen was a fishing city with a population of about 300,000.
But reformist leader Deng Xiaoping literally moved mountains - Luohu Mountain was levelled in 1980 and is now the site of the railway station and ritzy Shangri-La hotel - in his zeal to create a sealed-off experimental enclave, where China could flirt with capitalism without ostensibly posing a threat to socialism on the mainland.
The success of this social engineering depends on your ideological viewpoint but by the 1990s "one high-rise a day and one boulevard every three days" was the catchphrase used to describe the city's explosive growth.
Today, Shenzhen, population 10 million, is a dizzying metropolis of malls. Tourism guidebooks will tactfully hint that Shenzhen has little culture or history. In fact, the mega-city has become a destination famous for its inauthenticity; a holy grail for fake handbags, fake art and fake monuments.
Thousands of Hong Kong residents and international tourists are lured across the border every day by copy watches, replica phones and cheap massages, many of which have a "happy ending".
Most go no further than Luohu Commercial City, a glittering monument to Mammon, which hovers like a white spaceship next to the border crossing.
Take a deep breath and be prepared for an assault on the senses. Luohu Commercial City is an overwhelming five-storey emporium of kitsch, of fake designer handbags and clothes, counterfeit DVDs and pirated software.
Aggressive chain-smoking touts add to the pandemonium by grabbing shoppers' arms while screeching: "Missy, looking. You buy." It's an order, not a question: this is shopping as an extreme sport and not for the faint-hearted. Signs warn of "san zai" in the mall - people who solicit customers, peddle stolen goods and work as lookouts.
It feels wild and lawless; amid all this conspicuous consumption is widespread poverty. Shenzhen is a city of poorly paid migrants; desperation may explain the hysteria of the touts. But there are bargains for the brave who are not afraid to haggle.
I find an exquisite Edwardian-style ruffled white blouse for a pittance - the label has been deliberately torn but the brand is still discernible - and I recognise it from this season's collection. I have no idea if these are counterfeit, factory seconds or the real deal.
The fifth floor is less chaotic and has aisles of tailors, who will whip up quality suits, coats and frocks within 24 hours for very reasonable prices. Most stores feature dummies wearing designer knock-offs; pinned brazenly on the lapels are magazine cut-outs of international catwalk models posing in the garment the tailor has copied. A tailor makes me a beautiful coat, which skims every curve and makes every other jacket I have ever owned look like a potato sack. It costs less than $100 and is the only bespoke item I have ever been able to afford.
There are also countless beauty salons with discounted rates for everything from foot massages to threading, an ancient and surprisingly painless method of hair removal in which a twisted piece of cotton is rubbed across the skin.
Despite our lack of a common language, the beauty therapists have no trouble conveying their disgust at my moustache "like Grandma", my caterpillar eyebrows and a beauty affliction of which I had been happily ignorant - "excess skin" on my arms.
Shenzhen's love affair with the inauthentic extends to replica art. A visit to the hyper-real Dafen Oil Painting Village, a half-hour taxi ride from Luohu, is like stumbling across an art heist. In an old Hakka village, Dafen is home to an army of artists, who churn out five million reproductions of mostly old masters every year.
It is a postmodernist cacophony; fake Mona Lisas smile enigmatically next to portraits of Arnold Schwarzenegger and - fittingly - copies of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe.
Vincent van Gogh is one of the best-sellers, prompting the quip: "Let a hundred sunflowers bloom." A hand-painted fake Les Tournesols can set you back less than 50 yuan ( $8.20), including the forged signature.
Artist Zhang Libing boasted to The New York Times that he had painted more van Goghs than van Gogh ever did, estimating he has produced 20,000 paintings. For a modest fee, artists will copy photographs of favourite pieces of art or family happy-snaps.
Exhausted by our consumerist binge, we stumble back to our room at the Jingpeng Hotel, where we find the charming Pragmatic Guidebook of Luohu and the equally pragmatic giant pack of condoms and lubricant, presumably aimed at the businessman whose extra-curricular activities extend beyond a brief prowl through the karaoke lounge.
Our guidebook tells us Shenzhen is a "fairyland" and "shopping paradise". It is written in charming Chinglish - which, sadly, threatens to become an extinct language, now that Shanghai is mounting a campaign against the quaint misspellings and wonky translations to prevent the city losing face when the World Expo is held there this year
However, it warns "the top shopping centres and leisure clubs in Luohu are not the most attractive places" and recommends visitors "modulate yourself" and "rich your spirit" with some culture.
To that end, one of the most popular attractions in Shenzhen is Window of the World, a bizarre theme park filled with replicas of famous tourist attractions. A one-third scale Eiffel Tower looms behind the Pyramids of Giza, with spectacular views over Hong Kong, while a kitsch Stonehenge nestles next to the Court of Lions in Alhambra Palace.
The only monuments deemed worthy of replicating in the so-called "Area of Oceania" are the Sydney Opera House and the "100-metre high fountain" (a Google search fails to identify the country that boasts this international treasure). Cheesy elevator muzak is piped from these wonders of the world.
But the tackiness, the ferocious heat and the hefty entrance fee are no deterrent. Window of the World teems with middle-class Chinese tourists - many presumably unable to travel to see the real thing - who pose in front of the artificial destinations, fingers splayed in the victory sign.
The fakery of Window of the World feels like a metaphor for Shenzhen. The lines between what is real and what is artificial - and whether that matters to its tourists and residents - are entirely blurred in this mushrooming mega-city. If Shenzhen is the embodiment of what Deng Xiaoping promised his people a generation ago - "to get rich is glorious" - it is a fascinating portent of the future of China.
FAST FACTS
Getting there
Qantas flies non-stop from Sydney and Melbourne to Hong Kong for about $1270 (nine hours). Cathay Pacific also flies non-stop from both cities for about $1325. (Fares are low-season return including tax.)
Australians visiting from Hong Kong can obtain a single-entry five-day special economic zone tourism visa for about 160 yuan ($26). Catch the KCR East Rail from East Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong and get off at the last station at the Luohu border. After clearing customs, buy your visa upstairs; only yuan accepted.
Staying there
Jingpeng Hotel is a three-star hotel at 57 Shennan East Road in the heart of the commercial district. The published rate is about 600 yuan a night for a double or twin room but a 50 per cent discount can apply for walk-ins. The luxury Shangri-La is opposite Luohu station. Double rooms from 968 yuan a night. See shangri-la.com/en/property/shenzhen/shangrila.
Things to do
The massive Luohu Commercial City, five storeys of watches, clothes, handbags, mobile phones and audio-visual equipment, is on the border.
Dafen Oil Painting Village in Long Gang District sells thousands of copies of Old Masters, with a remarkably authentic-looking version of Van Gogh's Sunflowers for 50 yuan.
Entry to the kitsch Window of the World theme park is 120 yuan for adults.
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