Inside China's Wonderland (after the investors pulled out): The haunting images of a derelict amusement park that make it look more like the set of a horror film
- Wonderland on the outskirts of Beijing, was to become China's answer to Disneyland
- It was hoped the theme park would attract millions of visitors a year with state-of-the art rides in a fairytale setting
- Now the half-finished project is finally being torn down after lying abandoned since 1998
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It was to be China's answer to
Disneyland - a magnificent theme park attracting millions of visitors a
year with state-of-the art rides in a chintzy fairytale setting.
But
Wonderland, now little more than an eerie Ghost town on the outskirts
of Beijing, is finally to be torn down after a catastrophic history
stretching over 15 years.
Construction
work at the 120 acre site ground to a halt in 1998 due to a dispute
between the developers and the landowners and a corruption scandal that
went right to the heart of the communist party.
Blunderland: The boarded-up entrance gates to
Beijing's unfinished Wonderland theme park which is now due to be torn
down after lying abandoned since 1998
Corn grows in a field next to the abandoned
site. After the developers left, local farmers moved back in and began
growing crops again
a sign for 'Wonderland' adorns an building at the
site on the outskirts of Beijing
As a result, the huge, half-finished,
Bavarian-style structures complete with their spires and battlements
and a myriad of medieval-themed buildings were simply left to crumble.
Back in the mid 1990s,
developers Huabin foresaw a bustling theme park attracting some three
million visitors and generating 6 billion RMB ($1 billion) a year.
Crucially
they had secured the backing Chen Xitong, then the Beijing Party
Secretary who was being tipped to become the country's next leader.
But
when Chen was jailed for corruption in 1998, his successor, perhaps
scared of being tarred with the same brush, refused to support the
project.
Ghost town: The fairytale castles loom out of the Beijing fog like a creepy horror movie set
Construction work at the site of what was
promoted as 'the largest amusement park in Asia', stopped around 1998
after funds were withdrawn due to disagreements over property prices
with the local government and farmers
Crack beginning to show: Back in the mid 1990s,
developers Huabin foresaw a bustling themepark attracting some three
million visitors and generating six billion RMB ($1billion) a year
The huge, half-finished Bavarian-style
structures complete with their spires and battlements and other
medieval-themed buildings were left to crumble
A plan to restart work to capitalise
on the 2008 Beijing Olympics was allegedly thwarted by proposals tabled
in 2005, to build an entire city which would have covered parts of the
Wonderland site's green space.
Now
the farmers that used to own the land have returned to grow their crops
once again, with the decaying building site filling the skyline.
Photographer
David Gray, who visited the magical kingdom-turned-ghost park in 2011
said: ‘Pulling off the express-way and into the car park, I expected to
be stopped by the usual confrontational security guards.
‘But
there was absolutely no one to be seen. I walked through one of the few
entrances not boarded up, and instantly started coughing.
‘In
front of me were large empty rooms and discarded furniture, all covered
in a thick layer of dust, along with an eerie silence that gave the
place a haunted feeling – an emotion not normally associated with a
children’s playground.’
Caution: A sign warning people about potential poisons in the soil is pasted on a pillar of a half-finished building on the site
Reduced to rubble: Bavarian-style towers poke up
in the background as labourers go to work with sledgehammers on the
ill-fated project
Farmers dismantle a tower in a field that includes abandoned buildings that were to be part of the amusement park
A farmer carries a shovel over his shoulder as he walks through an abandoned building frame on the site of the doomed theme park
Haunting: A stone covered in fresh snow sits in
the ruins of an abandoned building. A plan to resume work on the site to
capitalise on the 2008 Beijing Olympics failed to materialise
Ominous: Writing on a gate post tells visitors
to 'be responsible for your actions' when entering one of the many
abandoned buildings
‘This I can believe’, added Gray on his blog, ‘As the absence of any security (something very rare in China) leads one to think that even the developers have given up on what is already there.
‘All these structures of rusting steel and decaying cement, are another sad example of property development in China involving wasted money, wasted resources and the uprooting of farmers and their families.
‘It is a reflection of the country’s property market which many analysts say the government must keep tightening steps in place.
‘The worry is a massive increase in inflation and a speculative bubble that might burst, considering that property sales contribute to around 10 per cent of China’s growth’, Gray continued.
A half-finished building in the shape of a castle stands uncompleted in a field in the Wonderland site
Fears: Beijing worries that a collapsing property market will trigger a wave of defaults that in turn will hit the banks
Empty: A view of what was once to be a car park in front of the abandoned buildings on the Wonderland site
The steel frame of an abandoned building stands
in what would have been an amusement park called 'Wonderland', on the
outskirts of Beijing
Wonderland is far from being the only Chinese construction project to end in disaster in recent years.
Just down the road, deserted
for over 20 years, a site features Greek-style columns and
amphitheatre. Thames Town near Shanghai, which is based on an English
town, remains a hit as a wedding venue, but few people have actually
moved there to live.
New
city of Chenggong, Yunnan boasts over 100,000 apartments but no
occupants, while the sprawling New South China Mall, in Guangdong is
little more than empty, sparking fears the great Chinese property
boom could be teetering on the brink.
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