Creepy, Abandoned Theme Park on the Outskirts of Beijing

[Anonymous]

Thanks for describing your experience and posting the story/video. While the music is a bit on the heavy-handed side, the images are haunting. The scenes of the children playing on the upper levels of the abandoned, half-constructed castle are particularly striking.

[Anonymous]

I agree, the music is a bit too heavy-handed and definitely on the dramatic side, but I think it adds to the eeriness of the whole situation.

Does anyone remember the exact percentage of theme/amusement parks that fail in China? I remember how much was invested in 2010 ($3.2 billion according to Professor Dube's PowerPoint), but I cannot seem to find the figure for the failure rate for the life of me. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Wow, the chances bdeleon of taking those pictures then coming across that article is quite fitting for this class. It would be interesting to teach a lesson on theme parks then analyze how many have closed in the world but specifically in China. As for the statistic if I am not mistaken the number was quite high like 80%. If I got the percentage wrong please let me know.

[Anonymous]

I recall the failure rate as north of 90%. Astonishing. It's the tail wagging the dog. I tell my econ students when someone tells you "it needs to be built or done", that usually means someone else's money is at stake, not their own. I would love to see who actually finances these Elephants and see what consequences they endure.

[Anonymous]

This is pretty cool, Jones. Thanks for sharing the experience!

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The highlight of my trip to China last November was unequivocally my visit to the Great Wall. After a not-so-light Western-style breakfast at our hotel, we were up and ready for the day's adventures. We knew that the day would be long and that our trek up the Great Wall would be a strenuous one. Our driver and tour guide picked us up promptly at 9 pm and within minutes we were on the expressway heading north to the Badaling entrance of the Wall. Within 30 minutes of being on the road, we were beginning to exit the limits of Beijing's center and enter the fringes of its seemingly never ending sprawl. Once out of the metropolis, the panoramas off to our left and right were at once beautiful and phlegmatic. A steady stream of browns flowed past us while a flat Alice blue covered the sky above. After an hour or so into our journey (and a wearisome stop at a jade "museum") I looked over to my right and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a castle approaching. I frantically reached into my pockets to find my camera and pulled it out fast enough to take two blurry snapshots of what appeared to be an abandoned theme park. It was such a weird sight. There, in the middle of nowhere, rested a medieval castle with a completely empty parking lot surrounding the perimeter. My girlfriend asked me why the commotion to take a picture of the defunct amusement park and I told her about our seminar at USC regarding theme parks in China. I told her about the exponential growth of theme/amusement parks in China, the dismal success rates, the innovative (and sometimes wacky) ideas for parks, yada yada yada. By the time I was about to finish telling her about the seminar, our guide interrupted us and pointed off into the distance. The Great Wall, in all its greatness, was in sight.

A few weeks ago my girlfriend sent me an email titled simply, "Wonderland." I opened the email and read its only sentence, "Remember this?" followed by a link. I was floored! In a nutshell, the abandoned amusement park I took a picture of was, at one time, slated to be "the largest amusement park in Asia." It was never completed, however, and what was completed has been taken over by the local community. If you have a minute, read this article - it is super concise and the accompanying video (only three minutes long) is utterly fascinating... and chilling. Here is the link:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2011/11/abandoned-disneyland-outskirts-beijing/496/#.TtPc4wWp3bE.facebook

I have taught business/entrepreneurship courses at my high school. When I teach this course again, I plan to use what we learned at the USC seminar and this article/video to expand on topics involving ideas of opportunity, competitive advantage, market saturation, etc.

edited by bdeleon on 1/14/2012

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