REGIONAL> Culture Tourism
Large theme park to open in Shanghai
By Chen Qide (China Daily Shanghai Bureau)
Updated: 2009-07-27 17:39

Shanghai Happy Valley, China's largest theme park, is expected to open at the city's Mount She on August 8.

The park, the fourth in the wake of others in Shenzhen, Beijing and Chengdu, is a heavily-invested entertainment project launched by China's Overseas Chinese Town (OCT).

The first phase of the theme park project will cost more than 4 billion yuan. "We are considering investing more in the second phase," Dong Xisheng, general manager of Shanghai Happy Valley, said.

Shanghai Happy Valley, which covers an area of more than 900,000 square meters, consists of seven themes including "Sunshine Port", "Happy Times", "Shangri-la", "Ants Kingdom", "Shanghai Beach", "Gold Mine Town" and "Hurricane Bay".

"It is a successful co-operation project with the Songjiang district government, which has provided firm support in improving the business environment," said Dong.

Songjiang has spent 750 million yuan building infrastructure facilities including highways and light rail tracks, said Li Wenzhong, a senior official from Songjiang.

"The [opening of the] theme park is a strategic event for Songjiang, because it will help Mount She become a favorable tourism resort," Li added.

Happy Valley will provide visitors a variety of entertainment programs on water, as well as large funfair equipment and shows, Dong said. Many of the funfair attractions, including the Wooden Coaster-Fireball, Diving Coaster, Mine Train Coaster, Space Shot & Turbo Drop and Mega-Lite, are imported from the Netherlands, Germany and the United States. A two-kilometer-long road and a 2.5-kilometer-long water touring line will connect the attractions.

Its 4,500-seat OCT Theater will present acrobatics, song and dance shows and concerts, while the Arthur Palace will house exhibitions and food for up to 1,400 people.

Liu Pingchun, chairman of OCT Shanghai, said the Shanghai project is part of OCT's nationwide chain development chart which aims to set up more Happy Valleys in different cities. He said negotiation is under way with the Wuhan municipal government about launching a Happy Valley to serve Central China, but the Wuhan project will be smaller than Shanghai's.

The company will soon sign a framework agreement on strategic co-operation with Wuhan. "If everything goes smoothly, a formal agreement of the Happy Valley project will be inked before September," Liu said.

Shanghai Happy Valley is expected to attract up to three million visitors annually, helping to "make the project easily to earn profits within a year," Liu added.