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CHINA THEME PARK My parents left New York when I was a and we traveled around the country for an extended vacation. We tried relocating in California where my father had some Navy buddies. I recall just a little and one memory I retained was The Matterhorn at Disneyland a replica modeled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps. I put my hand on the concrete structure and felt it vibrate from the roller coaster machinery inside. Inquisitive I was, even at the age of 6. For years I've known about a theme park in China called "Window of the World" with replicas of famous sites from around the world. It's located in Shenzhen, a large seaport city along the coast of the Southeast part of mainland China visible from Hong Kong. Thousands of tourists visit Shenzhen each year to see scale replicas of the Eiffel Tower, lower Manhattan, the canals of Venice, the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Pretty cool if you ask me as many Chinese cannot afford travel nor are they able to obtain visas. The solution? Replicas in the form of a theme park. Just like Disneyland. Last week, I read a news story about China. A full-size replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza in Donggou village in Northern China. The news story reads they are tearing the structure down. Why? An Egyptian ministry complained about the structure. A Chinese official with a cultural park was quoted saying the imitation would serve only as a temporary scene for shooting movies and television dramas. "We are very respectful to world cultural heritage and express our apologies for any misunderstanding," Seriously, Egypt, you need to get over this. Otherwise, who knows... What's next? I say we disassemble The Matterhorn... don't stop there... let's force Hollywood to dismantle EVERY prop and authentic sound stage recreation. From now on, if you want to shoot a movie, pack your things and film it 100% on location... no more fake scenes allowed. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. |
