China Aerospace International Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of the developer of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, said yesterday it will build a space theme park in Hainan to compete with Shanghai Disneyland.
Both parks are expected to open in three to four years.
'I believe our theme park will be more attractive than Disneyland,' China Aerospace president Zhao Liqiang said. 'There are so many teenagers and kids who love to see rockets. There are so many space fans ... in China.'
The space theme park will include a full-scale rocket, an aerospace botanical garden, an educational camp and entertainment facilities. It will also offer the only public access point to the launch centre being built in Hainan. The State Council approved plans to establish the Wenchang launch centre, China's fourth, in September 2007.
'The theme park will be opened when the launch centre is completed, by 2013,' Zhao said. 'It is the first of its kind in the world to be planned and constructed together with the adjacent launch centre.'
The Shanghai theme park, the mainland's first Disneyland, is expected to be operational the same year. It will cover 116 hectares, the smallest yet of the US entertainment giant's five parks worldwide.
The space theme park, the cost of which is estimated at less than one billion yuan (HK$1.14 billion), will be developed through the company's 65 per cent-owned Hainan Aerospace. Its parent, China Aerospace Science and Technology, which developed the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, owns the other 35 per cent.
