IF SOMEONE stopped you on the Cross in Chester, popped a blindfold over your eyes and took you to a certain point in Thames Town, chances are you’d be a little disorientated.

This not just because you would have travelled almost 10,000 miles, but because the two locations bear such an uncanny resemblance.

Parts of the English-themed town, a planned community 20 miles from Shanghai in China, look as though they have been lifted directly from the Cheshire city.

These include the distinctive rows and staircases, even down to the grey-brick diamond pattern in red brick buildings, a signature marking on properties owned by the Duke of Westminster, whose estate still covers much of Chester.

It is about 10 years since work started on Thames Town, which was completed in 2006.

Since then, the five billion yuan (£500 million) development, designed to decentralise the population of Shanghai, has taken off more as a tourist spot than a des res location.

High property prices mean the peculiar place has a low population and was described by Business Insider as ‘virtually a ghost town’.

Chester was not the only British location copied due to its architectural history; parts of Bristol and Lyme Regis were also replicated in Asia.

Steve Howe, owner of Handel’s Court Gallery on Northgate Street, who runs regular historical tours of Chester city centre alongside the chesterwalls.com website, has no doubt the Chinese town owes much to its British ancestor.

He said: “There’s a whole bunch of these developments in China.

“There is an Eiffel Tower, a German town, a Dutch town. But this definitely takes something from Chester.

“There’s one image that looks for all the world like the Cross. It’s as though someone stood right there, took a picture and has gone back and started building, taking it halfway across the world.”

The Rows, explained Mr Howe, are unique even in British architecture, so it would be difficult to argue that the idea came from anywhere else.

He said: “The origin of the Rows itself is a bit controversial.

“What I believe is this: imagine Chester after the Romans left, after skirmishes and war. Buildings in the town – and it wasn’t much of a town then – would have started slipping into piles of rubble.

“When new settlers came along in about 450 AD they would have built at the bottom of those slopes and then when the space was used, they would have built on the higher part of the slope, and then the city gradually grew up around them.

“I think that’s why they are on two levels, why we have the shape we have now.”

The city, according to Mr Howe, has largely Saxon roots, growing from a ‘badlands’ fortification set up by the Romans, and evolved differently to other cities.

He said: “The Rows appearing in Thames Town can’t be a coincidence.

“It’s definitely a copy. That corner building is very distinctive.

“Unfortunately, the Chinese build has been a bit of an economic disaster. I’ve heard it’s deserted.”

James Finnerty, who lives in London but whose family hails from Halkyn in Flintshire, has visited both Chester and Thames Town and noticed the similarity.

The 24-year-old software developer and travel blogger wrote: “In the suburbs of Shanghai is a district called Songjiang.

“To promote tourism and attract people out of the centre of the city they embarked upon a project called the Songjiang new city, an ambitious plan to create several villages that are representative of different countries around the world. The first to be planned and built was Thames Town, a full village packed with numerous styles of architecture from England, and even a few duplicated buildings.”

James said the duplication was intricate but mismatched, right down to 80s style council offices and wholly copied fish and chip shops.

He said: “It was all there, cobbled streets, red phone boxes, the landings and promenades of Chester’s city centre.

“The whole place was quite creepy as the few people that were there would stop, drop silent, and stare at me as I walked past possibly thinking that, since I was wearing a pea-coat, flat cap and dog-tooth bag that I was some kind of London stereotype and was part of the attraction.”

Terry Lopez, who administers the popular Chester Memories Facebook site, shared the image of the fake Chester Cross with the group.

He said: “I came across it by accident while searching pictures of The Cross.

“It got mixed reactions from many Chester Memories fans. I think most were amazed to see it, but some thought it a very poor replica.

“Personally I think it is good to see that as far away as China a small construction in Chester impressed someone enough to try to make a copy which probably impresses most that see it without them having any knowledge of the real thing.”

It seems Chester’s influence has spread even further.

Mr Lopez continued: “I remember visiting Perth, Australia. They have a street called London street... but the street looks like something out of Chester. Google ‘London Street’ in Perth and see for yourself!”

Perhaps there is potential for a more meaningful cross-cultural exchange – this time with a bit more give and take.

Mr Howe said: “It would be nice if we could create some links between us.

“A lot of our visitors come from China now, and we could tell them, you’ve seen the copy – hey, why not come and see the real thing?

“I’ve taken tourists around who’ve said they have never seen anything like Chester – and that’s still true."