Ground has been broken on the first Disney theme park in China.
Chief executive Bob Iger told dignitaries at the ceremony that the park would be authentically Disney by distinctly Chinese.
The £3.3 billion park, on the site of 2010 Expo in Shanghai, will be developed jointly with a Shanghai government owned consortium and will boast two hotels, a lake and shopping mall to support it.
Due to open in five years time, the park will still offer up all the familiar faces such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck but will have a strong Chinese feel running through it. Some 330 million people are thought to live within three hours’ car ride away.
Disney is also planning to expand its Hong Kong Disneyland, which has suffered losses and has been criticized for being too small.
by Dinah Hatch
