Wild West In The Far East: Welcome To China’s Knockoff Jackson Hole

Deep in the heart of central China — in fact, a two-hour bus ride from the bustle of Beijing — lies a mountainside resort looking every bit like Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

That’s by design. 

The reproduction resort town wedged between the Taihang and Yan mountain ranges in the Hebei Province is a carbon copy of Jackson, Wyoming, without the carbon emissions of China’s smog-choked cities. 

And like Jackson, buying into the exclusive community is spendy, with home prices tripling in value since the town took shape in 2009 and attainable by only the country’s most affluent citizens.

Jackson Hole, China, offers the nation’s more upwardly mobile class a taste of French fries and freedom, and all things stereotypically USA with a Western cowboy flair. And the people of the People’s Republic of China can’t get enough of it. 

The Great Gall Of China

The 1,500-home gated community northwest of the capital city is an homage to Wyoming and the American West, modelled in every way to give Chinese the sensation they are living the American dream.

In fact, the Hanzi characters 原乡美利坚 accompanying the “Jackson Hole” sign outside the town translate directly to “Hometown, USA.”

Judging by the community ambience, the Orient impression of America is a mix of John Wayne and Route 66. 

“America is wilderness and freedom, and also a big house,” Quin You told The New York Times in 2011.

The idea that Chinese developers were after a little more than a cheap mountain town knockoff rang true for others who have seen both Jackson Holes. 

UK filmmaker Adam James Smith spent three months living in the Chinese version of Jackson Hole. He would share his experience in his feature documentary “Americaville,” released in 2020.

“The American emphasis on happiness is something that has translated over to this particular community; however, it's poorly understood or defined,” Smith told a crowd gathered for a Q&A at the University of Colorado-Boulder screening of his film in February 2020.

Smith said, in addition to an admiration for the iconic cowboy and a correlating rugged individualism — found in abundance in Wyoming — the culture also reveres the nuclear family unit and uses both themes in its downtown Beijing marketing material. 

“Creating a feature documentary about this town presented an excellent opportunity to explore all of these converging interests,” he added.

Liu Xiangyang, the developer of Jackson Hole, China, said his sales pitch goes far beyond architecture. His buyers are looking for “freedom and spirituality.” 

To appease the populace of Hometown, USA, he even built a quaint Christian church in the center of the community.

“Like Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Jackson Hole, China, is regarded as somewhat of a wonderland,” Smith said. “Most of its residents are second homeowners. They buy houses to escape from the responsibilities and the pollution of the city. 

“And they’re all wealthy. It’s like buying a membership to a lifestyle club.”

Cloning Colonialism

The search for this Americana vibe began in 2004. The Beijing-based Resplendency Great Exploit Real Estate Co., headed by Xiangyang, got busy plotting and platting their version of America — a representative town that embodied all things Far West for Asians. 

Their initial sketches, however, were horrible. 

That’s according to Oregon-based designer Allison Smith. When she was hired on as a consultant, she sent Xiangyang examples of what homes in America should look like, including iconic vacation spots like Martha’s Vineyard, Vail, Colorado, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 

No one at Beijing Resplendency had ever been to any of those places, but they all agreed Jackson Hole fit the bill.

Smith herself had only been to Jackson Hole as a child, but the designer worked mainly from an overall knowledge of how the West looks and feels.

Smith got busy sketching and designing. She shopped for kitschy Western-themed decor every chance she got and shipped examples to China. Cowhides, bear skins, antler chandeliers, saddle blankets, old whiskey bottles, wooden snowshoes and Charles Russell prints. 

Meanwhile, architects and builders in China replicated the typical Teton Village mini-mansion right down to the faux stone and flashy lodgepole pine siding. They built one after another and didn’t stop until 850 were move-in ready.

“We pulled out all the stops and covered every inch with American charm,” Smith said. 

Each home was preloaded with antiques and knickknacks that lent a worn-in feel. Hardwood floors were also “pre-engineered to look timeworn with exposed beams and iron light fixtures,” according to Smith.

The final touches were added in 2009 with the addition of a Christian church, a community stage area for cowboy stunts, panning for gold for the children, and a facsimile Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. There’s even an oddly out-of-place Disney store. 

The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

China has sort of earned a reputation as being better at imitation than innovation. And if the former is truly the sincerest form of flattery, Jackson Hole should be blushing with gratitude. But it’s not only Wyoming and America that have served as copycat blueprints.

China's predilection for cloning picturesque European towns is well-documented. There's already a fabricated English countryside called Thames Town, a Stuttgartesque German town, a replica Prague, and an imposter Paris complete with an Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysees. 

When travel influencer Drew Binsky made the trip to Jackson Hole China, he was expecting to find a “10” on the cheesiness factor, but was pleasantly surprised at how well designers had captured the Western vibe down to the most minute of details.

“It was actually very real Western-looking and very much reminded me of the Jackson Hole in Wyoming,” Binsky said. 

Nothing like what he and others have called the failed ghost town that is the Paris clone. Apparently, that has not caught on as well as the development of Jackson Hole, China, which now boasts more than 3,000 homes and is nearly sold out. Larger homes that originally sold for $300,000 are fetching more than $1 million today. 

Adam James Smith said he also was expecting something “superficial, crass and representing a kind of identity crisis in contemporary China.” 

What he found when shooting “Americaville” was an embedding of Chinese culture far more complex than he could grasp. 

“I'm still discovering new layers to unpack,” the filmmaker admitted.

Who Made Who?

China may get America more correct than Americans understand China. Misperceptions about the Sleeping Giant are rife with nagging stereotypes. 

Even the Chinese themselves are still figuring out how they fit in a nation that is still slipping free of communism and toward a modern age of global superpower. 

China is freer than it ever was during the reign of Mao Tse-tung but it still isn’t all MTV and Hollywood. As recent as 2015, Chinese state media criticized Jackson Hole, China, as embarrassing and unpatriotic.

China’s lands are vast and its history immense. Yet, even with all that exceptionally rich culture, its people continue to be obsessed by an America that is so foreign to them. And one dripping with everything they don’t have. 

Hometown, USA offers the best of what U.S. residents gush over what they say is American-inspired openness and warmth. In Beijing apartment complexes, city-dwellers have never met their neighbors across the hall. 

In Jackson Hole, China, they greet each other on the well-manicured cul-de-sacs with a hearty “ni hao” as they head for another wine-tasting at the spa pavilion. 

Meng Pu, who owns a six-bedroom estate in Hometown USA, summed up the culture-clash best. In an interview with The New York Times in 2011, he said China’s Jackson Hole may not be exactly like America, “but it’s definitely not like a lot of other places in China.” 

Contact Jake Nichols at jake@cowboystatedaily.com

Jake Nichols can be reached at jake@cowboystatedaily.com.