Theme Parks in China, Time

[HongKongDisneyland]

Hello Buggy
A young girl plays on a giant ant at Happy Valley, one of the newest and most elaborate parks.


Fantasy Land
Happy Valley contains over 50 attractions, including a Flume Ride, which is what this crowd has lined up for.


The World in Miniature
Shenzhen's Windows of the World park recreates the entire planet, in small, easily digested sections. In this photo, the heads of Kon-Tiki can be glimpsed behind Manhattan's pre-9/11 skyline.

Roger That
A Chinese man wears a replica of a space suit, at the Space Travel Theme Park in Beijing. The capsule behind him is a copy of the U.S. Mercury module.

Control Room
A genuine Soviet aircraft carrier is the main attraction at the Minsk World theme park in Shenzhen. The vessel features models of its original weapons system and MiG fighter jets on the flying deck.

World on a String
A park worker passes a miniature version of Venice's Piazza San Marco at Windows of the World. The park offers ordinary Chinese with limited budgets an opportunity to see the wonders of the world.

Portal to the Past
A woman and her son enter a pyramid at Beijing's Egyptian Theme Park.

Hot Stuff
A performer breathes fire at Guilin's Merryland. The complex includes a five star hotel and golf course.

Saddle Up
A cowboy, a camel and the Sphinx cross paths at Windows on the World.

Twister
Happy Valley in Beijing is modeled on a western park with six "lands": Firth Forest, Aegean Sea, Atlantis, Lost Maya, Shangri-La and Ant Kingdom, shown in this photo.

Source : Time

China’s Theme Parks Look West

Call it Interlaken East. Just outside China’s coastal boomtown, Shenzhen—a city better known for shark’s fin soup than grilled bratwurst—a meticulously duplicated Swiss Alpine amusement park is attracting middle class Chinese looking for a vicarious European vacation. In a story on the rising popularity of Western-themed amusement parks in China, Time magazine reports that the Shenzhen project, called OCT East, spared no effort in recreating a Swiss village (the real Interlaken is pictured): “Last summer, an Alpine songfest brought yodelers. A wooden Christian chapel sits above a Swiss clock made from flowers. You can tour the whole property aboard an antique railroad that circles it, or view it from the highest summit—some 50 feet high—before plunging down the slope on the gondola-***-roller coaster.”

OCT East is the latest in a line of Chinese theme parks eagerly competing for a piece of the country’s $600 billion (and growing) tourism market. While some parks, including Hong Kong’s Disneyland, have struggled to fill capacity while charging relatively high entrance fees, a segment of upwardly mobile Chinese sees the venues as a way to connect with foreign cultures.
And if Chinese and U.S. tourism authorities reach an agreement on Chinese group travel to the United States—one is expected soon—Disneyland (the one in Los Angeles) may not know what hit it. Time for Mickey to pick up some Mandarin.

Source : World Hum (for more details)

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