Page - 171 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

171 #Hallstatt Bosker explains, “the Chinese are less concerned with an exact copy and more interested in replicating the aspects of the Euro- pean or American ‘other’ they find most iconic, attractive, and desirable” (Bosker 2013, 49), something Western architects are sometimes unable to deliver: Lisa Bate’s experience as an architect in China confirms Xie’s conclusion [that foreign designers won’t design the type of foreign architecture the Chinese want]. The Canadian, a prin- cipal with B+H Architects, was hired to design a Canadian- style residential development in Shanghai, Canadian Maple Town, and recalls a major controversy with her client on how the ‘Canadian’ theme would be made manifest: ‘The client was insistent on a Canadian character, but we got into huge issues on whether that meant Canadian design or theming. They wanted something more thematic, more Disney-ish. We tried to tell them that’s not what ‘Canadian’ is.’ (ibid., 49) The Sound of Music and British telephone booths in Hallstatt See may not be “Austrian” for Austrians, but after watching Raidel’s documentary, one can appreciate the desire encapsulated in the reference in the English-language title to “the happiness that’s increased twofold when a couple decides to spend the rest of their lives together” (Ungerböck n.d.). One hopes that, for the prosperous Chinese who choose to make themselves at home in Hallstatt See and not in the endless rows of soulless apartment towers in its hinterland and beyond, if any in fact do, which is a real question and the one with which I conclude the chapter, Hallstatt See’s theming delivers on the locale’s promise of pro- viding a breath of sorely needed fresh air.10 10 China’s legendary pollution problems can be seen in the fact that “Sogar abgefüllte Hallstatter Luft gebe es neuerdings in Dosen zu kaufen” [“Even cans filled with Hallstatt air are now available for purchase”] (Kazim 2018). As noted in the section of chapter five on health resorts, Austrian alpine air was already being sold in the nineteenth century, when “one enterpris- ing businessman found a way to sell mountains to those who wished to see their restorative powers outlast their visit to the Alpine town of Mariazell