NANCHANG (Web Desk) – China’s richest man has opened a massive entertainment complex to compete with the American entertainment giant Walt Disney.
“Wanda City”, which is located in the south-eastern city of Nanchang, features rides, shopping centers and an aquarium, costing more than $3 billion (just over £2b) to construct.
Wang Jianlin, the owner, said he wanted to move away from western imports and to establish a global brand based on Chinese culture, the BBC reported.
Disney is planning to open its own theme park in Shanghai next month.
The new entertainment complex includes an $800 million China-themed park filled with twirling “porcelain teacup rides” and bamboo forests, as well as a huge indoor shopping mall, and what is claimed to be the world’s largest ocean park.
After the site in Nanchang, Wanda plans to open 15 more theme parks in the country by 2020.
Meanwhile Disney’s theme park in Shanghai, costing $5.5bn, will be the company’s sixth theme park and its fourth outside the United States after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.