On This Day | Noah’s Ark attraction in Hong Kong’s Ma Wan opens to the public in 2009 - from the SCMP archive
- On the 15th anniversary of the Noah’s Ark attraction opening to the public, we look at the Post’s first impressions after attending a media preview
- ‘We think this is different from anything else in Hong Kong,’ said the project director
By Matthew Scott
When it started raining at 9.30am, 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.