Beijing Park: ‘Disney Is Too Far, So Please Come to Shijingshan’
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 05.18.07 | 1:57 PM ET
I’ll never forget slurping spicy noodles in a mom-and-pop restaurant in Chengdu, China and studying the meticulously painted Disney characters covering the walls. Why would anyone running a noodle joint want to decorate with Mickey Mouse and friends? Is it really good for business? Examples of piracy and copyright infringements are famously easy to find in China, and many couldn’t be more out of place or inappropriate.
But then there’s Shijingshan Amusement Park in a Beijing suburb, where, it was reported recently, characters that look a lot like Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs have been roaming the park, not far from a castle bearing a striking resemblance to Sleeping Beauty Castle. Disney officials are nonplussed, to say the least, and “in negotiations” with the park over the matter. Meanwhile, a banner near the entrance announcing “Disney is too far, so please come to Shijingshan” has been removed. Just how closely do park characters resemble Disney icons? Check out video of a Japanese news report below.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Confucius Craze’ Sweeps China
* Charles Dickens, Led Zeppelin Get Theme Park Treatment
* Mexican Migrant Theme Park: Homage or Crass Attraction?
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
tom 05.29.07 | 9:21 PM ET
that is truly hillarious.