Watch | Chinese city resembling Venice starts offering gondola rides

A city in northeast China that resembles the Italian city of Venice has started offering gondola rides as part of their tourist attractions. We know what you're thinking. An enchanting gondola ride down a canal flanked by classic Italian architecture could only happen in one place - or could it?

Not if you're visiting Dalian in northeast China, which has created it's very own Venice.

The development project, named East Montage, bears an uncanny resemblance to the classical European city, and is even offering boat trips to tourists. Developers say the project has cost $1.26 billion to construct so far and it is not even an exact replica of the original floating city. But frescoes reminiscent of the renaissance era and four kilometres of Venetian-style canal have already attracted a steady stream of sightseers.