Chinese Amusement Parks

July 10, 2007 8:40 AM

Chinese theme parks - some are strange, and some are oddly familiar. Others are disturbing. Some have unique attractions, or promotions not found elsewhere. At least one is highly functional. Not all are successful, and they may not travel very well.
posted by Kirth Gerson (5 comments total)

I went to the Splendid China auction back in 2004. It was certainly surreal: vandalized Chinese monuments, animatronic robots with wires sticking out and eyes missing, crates of mass-produced/antiqued terracotta soldier sculptures and miscellaneous theme park up keep supplies. I bought something, stole something (a broken little statue) and took a lot of pictures.
There were regular protests there and people who seemed to believe the park was a wing of a pro-china propaganda group.

So, does this mean the 21st century will belong to a country with a poor human rights record and a shoddy theme park building record?
posted by PHINC at 9:42 AM on July 10, 2007

Bob Avakian was right about the Chinese "Communist" Party.
posted by davy at 10:07 AM on July 10, 2007

From a recent posting on my folklore list: Global Villages, a short film about "the proliferation of ethnic theme parks in China and Japan. In collaboration with Tamar Gordon, Professor of Anthropology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 3 minute excerpt"
posted by Miko at 11:03 AM on July 10, 2007

Racist Park: a highway sign in Beijing marking the exit for the ethnic minority theme park. It was always good for a laugh on the way to work.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 12:32 PM on July 10, 2007

South Korean Island of LoveLand, a Sex Theme Park
posted by yoyo_nyc at 2:37 PM on July 10, 2007