Disneyfied China

By Queuebot in Travel on Feb 21, 2009 at 1:35 pm

The Harbin Winter Festival, one of the oldest winter festivals in China, used to be a frozen wonderland of indigenous charms: a Qing dynasty ice palace, snow dragons, the Forbidden City sculpted in snow.

But this year, a Disney licensing company is taking over operations from the local communist government. It’s the first time a private company has run the ice festival.

So instead of candles flickering in ice lanterns in front of a frozen replica of an ancient pagoda, Harbin now has Cinderella’s castle with an escalator and neon lights, and people posing for photos with ice sculptures of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Sometimes it’s a too-small world after all.

Photo by StrudelMonkey

Link – via blogs

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.

Tags: China, disney, Harbin Ice Festival

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

Skipweasel
Feb 21st, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I went right off Disney a few years ago when I wanted to buy a Fantasia 2000 DVD. They don’t sell them. For some obscure reason they’ve withdrawn them from sale for ten years, which means that our daughter will be 11 before she can get to see it – our VHS copy died when she was a toddler.
It can only be greed – and this report just rubs salt in.
I C Kook
Feb 21st, 2009 at 2:38 pm
That’s Kooky. Totally Kooky, I tell ya!

#1 try torrenting! Make dah Mouse cry…
Kalel
Feb 21st, 2009 at 2:42 pm
And so China surrenders without a shot fired.
Jim R Feliciano
Feb 21st, 2009 at 6:54 pm
The best job I ever had was as a graveyard janitor at Disneyland. I will never go back into the Magic Kingdom. Maybe if I am with and responsible for some pure tourists, then maybe I would return. I know Disney wants my money any way it can get it. Too bad China sold out. It is the year of the ox and Disney does not have a loveable ox character.
Wok
Feb 21st, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Oh Communist China you endless well of human suffering and despair.
Floyd T
Feb 21st, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I used to live in Harbin. The Ice sculptures are cool, the pictures don’t really do them justice. The down side is that it’s usually -20 degrees and the festival is out in the middle of nowhere. Great city though. I’d recommend it in June instead of January, it has more to offer than just ice.

Keep track of the comments with

Comment RSS

Lijit Search

The latest from NeatoBambino: