Wang Jianlin
While Shanghai Disneyland may be set to launch next month, China's richest man this weekend unveiled a rival theme park - Wanda City which cost $3billion (£2.05billion).
Wanda Group's executives launched the homegrown attraction in the southeastern city of Nanchang and hailed the centre as a representative of Chinese entertainment culture in the face of foreign influences.
Wanda City's sprawling site includes an outdoor amusement park, an indoor theme park, an shopping centre with cinemas, restaurants, hotels and the world's largest ocean park.
The 80 hectare outdoor theme park has China's 'fastest, highest and longest roller coaster and the highest drop tower', according to a statement on the company's website.
There's also stage shows and parades as well an interactive cinema complex where visitors can fight 3D monsters.
For the 10million guests that the park is expected to receive, Wanda Group has unveiled 50 restaurants and nine hotels - though only five of these are currently open.
The Nanchang culture tourism city 'is one of many to come, with year-round accessibility and the incorporation of Chinese local culture' according to the statement.
A second attraction will open in Hefei, east China, in September this year.
It will be followed by another five projects to be unveiled in the next three years.
By 2020, the group is expected to have 15 Wanda City projects within China as well as another five overseas.
As a leading player in Chinese firms' globalisation push, the property group has invested heavily in the film and cinema business and has spoken openly about its nationalistic mission to fend off Disney in the Chinese market and become an entertainment brand recognised around the world.
In remarks at Saturday's opening, Wang Jianlin, Wanda chairman and China's richest man, did not mention Disney by name but said Chinese people 'fawned' over Western imports.
Wanda's massive 2sq km site includes an outdoor amusement park, an indoor theme park, an shopping centre with cinemas, restaurants, hotels and the world's largest ocean park
Wang said: 'Chinese culture led in the world's for 2,000 years, but since the last 300 years, because of our lagging development and the invasion of foreign cultures, we have more or less lacked confidence in our own culture.'
He added: 'We want to be a model for Chinese private enterprise, and we want to establish a global brand for Chinese firms.'
Earlier this month, he told Chinese state television in an interview that Disney's foray into China would crumble under more competitive pricing from his group, and warned that the 'the frenzy of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and the era of blindly following them has passed.'
Wanda's deal-making has been similarly prolific as it quickly diversifies away from China's weakening real estate market.
The group purchased U.S.-based AMC Theaters cinema chain in 2012 for $2.5 billion (£1.71 billion).
Earlier this year, it paid $3.5 billion (£2.4 billion) for Legendary Entertainment, the Hollywood studio behind the Batman franchise, as it ramped up its international push.
Seeking to capitalise on China's rising middle class, developers are planning dozens of Chinese theme parks, along with projects from U.S. firms like Universal Studios, DreamWorks and Six Flags.
But instead of seeking to capture China's top tier cities like Beijing or Shanghai, Wanda has built parks in smaller but still sizable cities like Wuhan
In Wuhan, Wanda regularly presents the 'The Han Show' — a Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic performance that's based on the traditional culture of the Han, China's largest ethnic group.
Disney is set to open its own resort in Shanghai in June, which will become the largest Disneyland in the world.
A second attraction will open in Hefei, east China, in September this year. It will be followed by another five projects to be unveiled in the next three years
By 2020, the group is expected to have 15 Wanda City projects within China as well as another five overseas
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