In pics | China’s giant theme park, Wanda City, opens to take on Disney | World News - Hindustan Times
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In pics | China’s giant theme park, Wanda City, opens to take on Disney

ByAFP, Beijing
May 29, 2016 08:22 AM IST

“Wanda City”, in southeastern Nanchang, comprises a giant mall set over two square kilometres, as well as an 80-hectare theme park boasting “the highest and longest roller coaster and the highest drop tower in China”.

The Chinese conglomerate Wanda opened its first theme park on Saturday, as its billionaire boss looks to take on Disney weeks before the American entertainment giant launches a similar attraction in Shanghai.

People walk through the entrance to the Nanchang Wanda Park theme park at the Wanda Cultural Tourism City in Nanchang in southeastern China's Jiangxi province on Saturday.(AP)
People walk through the entrance to the Nanchang Wanda Park theme park at the Wanda Cultural Tourism City in Nanchang in southeastern China's Jiangxi province on Saturday.(AP)

“Wanda City”, in southeastern Nanchang, comprises a giant mall set over two square kilometres, as well as an 80-hectare theme park boasting “the highest and longest roller coaster and the highest drop tower in China”, according to a statement by the group.

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People go through the entrance turnstiles at the Nanchang Wanda Park theme park at the Wanda Cultural Tourism City in Nanchang in China's Jiangxi province on Saturday. (AP)
People go through the entrance turnstiles at the Nanchang Wanda Park theme park at the Wanda Cultural Tourism City in Nanchang in China's Jiangxi province on Saturday. (AP)

The project represents an investment of 22 billion yuan ($3.4 billion), the statement said.

“We want to be a model... and highlight Chinese influence in the cultural domain,” Wanda founder Wang Jianlin said during an opening ceremony at the park as he referenced an “invasion” of foreign cultures, according to state television channel CCTV.

A man takes a smartphone photo of marine life at an indoor ocean park aquarium at the Wanda Cultural Tourism City in Nanchang. (AP)
A man takes a smartphone photo of marine life at an indoor ocean park aquarium at the Wanda Cultural Tourism City in Nanchang. (AP)

A week before, Wang -- China’s richest man, according to Forbes magazine -- said he was setting his sights on Disney, which in June will open its first theme park on the mainland.

“This craze for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck is over, the period when we would blindly follow where Disney led has been gone for years,” he said during a long interview with CCTV.

People go upside down as they ride a roller coaster at the Nanchang Wanda Park theme park. (AP)
People go upside down as they ride a roller coaster at the Nanchang Wanda Park theme park. (AP)

After the site in Nanchang, Wanda plans to open six more theme parks in China within three years and plans to have around 15 in the country by 2020.

“We want to ensure that Disney will not be able to make a profit in this (theme park) sector in China for between 10 and 20 years,” he said.

“A tiger cannot take on a pack of wolves,” he said during the same interview, in which he also accused Disney of “cloning past accomplishments without innovating”.

A Chinese woman poses for a smartphone photo with a worker dressed in a Storm Trooper costume of the Star Wars fame at the Wanda Mall. (AP)
A Chinese woman poses for a smartphone photo with a worker dressed in a Storm Trooper costume of the Star Wars fame at the Wanda Mall. (AP)

But experts claim Wanda’s goals are ambitious, pointing to the group’s lack of experience in the market.

Meanwhile Disney’s project in Shanghai -- a 5.5-billion-dollar investment -- will be its sixth theme park and its fourth outside the United States after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

China's largest private property developer, the Wanda Group, opened an entertainment complex on Saturday to position itself as a distinctly homegrown rival to Disney as the American entertainment giant opens its $5.5 billion Shanghai theme park next month. (AP)
China's largest private property developer, the Wanda Group, opened an entertainment complex on Saturday to position itself as a distinctly homegrown rival to Disney as the American entertainment giant opens its $5.5 billion Shanghai theme park next month. (AP)

The American giant is hoping its popular franchises will appeal to a booming Chinese middle class, in a country where it has been generating an increasing share of its box office revenue.

But Wanda is not entirely new to entertainment, having bought US cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings in 2012 and has also been branching out into film production, print media and art investment.

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