"When you are building at that kind of enormous speed, you don't worry about aesthetic niceties," he added.
But daring new projects from Chinese developers, often employing star international architects, and state-led efforts to renovate historical districts suggest a gradual shift in attitudes.
"People are realising that it's not good for everything to look identical, and are realising tourists will pay to see something different," Miller said.
Liu says he spent more than 100 million yuan ($16 million), some borrowed from friends, on the buildings, which are free to visit.
"I think the castles are very romantic," said a woman surnamed Gao, posing for pictures in a white wedding dress outside a castle beside the headquarters of Liu's firm, which manufactures pastries, biscuits and a product described as a "dreamlike cake."
Some local officials feel differently, and two years ago they brought a section of Liu's dream crashing down, sending diggers to knock over a 16 metre high castle gate. "That was my lowest moment," he said.
"The government has never appreciated me, they said I've offended local officials," he complained, adding: "I got anonymous calls from someone threatening to run me over with a car."
Other newly-minted Chinese magnates have also engaged in bizarre construction projects -- one businessman has built imitations of both the Great Pyramid of Giza and the palace of Versailles on his corporate campus -- but Liu has ambitions for more.
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