What the heckaroni is this thing?

July 8, 2006 9:33 PM

China Filter: Ok, on the way to see the Great Wall at Badaling I was in a car with a woman who spoke very little English. We passed by this deserted amusement park looking castle thing. There was part of it that looked to still be under construction but the whole thing looked as though it was mostly forgotten about. Does anyone know what I'm talking about and, if so, what the heck it is?
posted by josher71 to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Dude!

I totally saw the same thing in March of 2001 on the road between Beijing and Badaling. It certainly DID look like a giant abandoned amusement park castle, but either a few kilometers before or after it, I saw a sign for something called "Rose Estates" or "Rose Castle" or "Rose [something]" - which turned out to be a big housing complex. We guessed that the castle was some sort of ostentatious tie-in with the housing complex, perhaps evocative of some type of idealized fairy-tale existence one would find once in the complex? Nothing for sure though.

We also saw a 10-meter-high orange-y pomegranate on the road between Xian and the Terracotta Soldiers site, but that's neither here nor there.
posted by mdonley at 10:46 PM on July 8, 2006

It wasn't by chance The World Landscape Park, was it?
posted by jimdanger at 5:03 AM on July 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

jimdanger, that was cool. Has that been posted in the blue?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:41 AM on July 9, 2006

I agree. That should be on the front page. What an outrageous place!
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:45 AM on July 9, 2006

I saw the same thing and wondered what it was. Seems like they planned some sort of theme park, then their funding was cut, and they didn't have enough money to clean it up. I don't know what it is, but it's nice to hear someone else saw it and wondered what it was.
posted by lain at 11:42 AM on July 9, 2006

The World Landscape Park is located west of Chengdu, in Sichuan, not near Beijing. It's still very cool, though!

I also saw this on the way to Badaling. I asked my teachers and friends what it was, and was told that it had been abandoned because not enough people could get to it from the city. I don't have a name for it, sorry.
posted by gemmy at 11:48 AM on July 9, 2006

Is it this castle?
posted by tellurian at 5:57 PM on July 9, 2006

Yes, Tellurian, that is indeed it.

It's crazy because it looks totally abandoned. There is another tower that was under construction and it does just look like it was left to rot. Perfect place for a Scooby Doo episode.
posted by josher71 at 8:23 PM on July 9, 2006

I just saw on the CBS Evening News last week that some housing developments in China are themed.
posted by cass at 8:34 AM on July 10, 2006