Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park
This theme park, located in the
Shijingshan District of
Beijing,
China, first opened in 1986. It is owned and operated by the
Shijingshan District government. The park has been featured in international media this year for having made unauthorized use of Japanese and American cartoon characters. From Wikipedia (Dec 2007):
according to a report originally broadcast on Fuji TV’s FNN News, the park features a castle that resembles Disney’s trademark Sleeping Beauty Castle and a structure that looks like Epcot’s Spaceship Earth. The park also features a host of costumed characters that look amazingly similar to not only Disney’s trademark characters, but also Shrek, Hello Kitty, Doraemon, Bugs Bunnyand a number of other trademarked characters.
Park officials denied any wrongdoing. When asked by the FNN News reporter if the characters are related to Disney, the themwe park’s general manager Liu Jingwang said that their characters are based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales. In another question, Liu insisted the Mickey Mouse-like character wasn’t actually a mouse, but a “big-eared cat.”
A… translation of the (old) Chinese slogan (was) “Disney is too far, so please come to Shijingshan.”