When it started raining at 9.30am yesterday, it wasn't exactly coming down in biblical proportions but it was still fitting, as the gates were opening on Hong Kong's own version of Noah's Ark.
Under the Tsing Ma Bridge, the 25,000-square-metre 'full-size replica' of the ark was open for a special preview after more than 10,000 invited patrons - mostly from community groups - put the facilities through their paces in the past four months.
The ark is the centrepiece of the HK$1 billion Ma Wan Park - built by Sun Hung Kai Properties and now operated by an advisory committee set up by the construction giant and the government.
'We think this is different from anything else in Hong Kong,' said Spencer Lu Chee-yuen, Sun Hung Kai's project director. 'The feeling in here is of love and harmony.'
Noah's Ark was a ship that featured in Genesis in the Bible. God decided to destroy all sinners with a flood, but allowed Noah to save his family and two of every animal on an ark to later repopulate the Earth.
As for the latter-day ark, a few of the attractions proved a little too 'Old Testament' for some.
Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor - officiating at the opening - questioned whether such sights as footage from New York's September 11, 2001 calamity (shown in the '4D' film The Future Ark, on the problems facing the planet), or images of human sacrifice (shown during the screening of The Great Flood, which includes a vibrating floor, flashes of lightning and gusts of wind) were what the government might wish youngsters to see.