This Halloween, prepare to be scared in China.
The country's first Halloween haunted house attraction is spooking the crowds in Shanghai, with its creators hoping to cash in on the traditions of the ancient, but essentially Western, festival to commemorate the dead.
While China has a rich tradition of ghosts and ghouls of its own, Halloween is a non-event for most Chinese, who hold their own commemoration for the dead during the Qingming festival or Tomb-Sweeping Day usually marked in April.
But the creators of the "Shanghai Nightmare" attraction, 26-year-old American-Chinese Gan Quan and his girlfriend Xu Jiali, said it's about time Chinese got a taste of Halloween.
"I grew up in the United States and we have Halloween traditions. And over here, there's something missing," Gan, who came to Shanghai a year ago, told reporters.
"People party, they go drinking, they go to the bars, but there's still that one part of Halloween that didn't exist. And we thought, what a perfect way to combine our efforts than to put up a haunted house in Shanghai."
"Shanghai Nightmare" is set in a crumbling, century-old warehouse along Suzhou Creek and features more than 13 chambers filled with gory scenes, sound and light effects and actors dressed as ghosts and goblins that attack visitors.
Gan and Xu, who quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the project, said they combined their engineering and art training to create the haunted house.
They declined to say how much it cost but said the attraction took a year to set up.
"Shanghai Nightmare" opened in late September and is set to spook the town until Halloween, or October 31.
But the organizers say they are considering staying open for longer due to strong demand, and perhaps set up another, bigger attraction next year.
"At least for the time being, the response from the public has been overwhelming," Xu said. "At first, we did not do very well in publicizing ourselves, so much fewer people came. But the people who came gave us good reviews and this led to all their friends knowing about this fun project."
Visitors pay between 98 yuan and 188 yuan ($14-$28) for tickets and some said it was definitely worth it.
"Previous haunted houses such as those in carnivals are not as well done as this one. The actors here very professional," said 22-year-old Huang Kai.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
China's 1st "haunted house" spooks this Halloween
Thursday, July 2, 2009
China built sea bridges six times as long in Half the time
While India’s first sealink in Mumbai took eight years to build, China built two sea bridges nearly six times as long, connecting Shanghai with nearby hubs, in about half the time — in three to five years each. During the eight years, work on Mumbai’s Sealink crawled and often stalled; in contrast, residents of Shanghai have began commuting through six tunnels under the Huangpu River that cuts through China’s largest city and financial capital in the last 10 years.
Eight more underwater tunnels are being built in Shanghai, the city Maharashtra’s politicians once promised Mumbai would transform into.
The tunnels are built in two years each. The average time required to finish the basic tunnelling: 10 months.
“In India, mobilising resources, equipment and workers requires 14 months compared to four or six months in China,” Lu Yuan Qiang, general manager (overseas department) of Shanghai Urban Construction Group Corporation, told HT in an exclusive interview. The Shanghai Urban Construction Group Corporation is part of a joint venture that’s building the nearly-finished 2.3-m tunnel linking the Delhi metro station to the airport.
“India has big room to improve,” said Lu, who has seen the Sealink and said it need not have taken so long to build.
In Shanghai, the world’s widest 8.9-km double-deck tunnel under the Yangtze River, with a six lane expressway plus metro line, is scheduled to open on October 1 — less than five years after the project began.
Infrastructure experts who have worked in both India and China say the sway of China’s authoritarian one-party rule, which makes it easy for bulldozers to raze settlements despite public protest, is not the only reason its boomtowns build infrastructure faster than Indian metros.
“The Shanghai municipal government pushes us to complete projects quickly and also supports us,” Lu said. “We have enough resources. Mobilisation, procurement, cash flow, everything is convenient in China.”
“In China, there is competition and pressure to complete on schedule,” said JJ Shrikhande, the Shanghai-based China head of Larsen & Toubro. “The availability of finance and resources is never a bottleneck in Chin and there are less bureaucratic delays as compared to India.”
The Shanghai Urban Construction Group is preparing tenders for the Chennai and Kolkata metro tunnels.
“Doing business in India is a little difficult for Chinese contractors,” said Lu. “There is discrimination. Work permits are hard to get and procedures for approvals take very long.”
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Friday, June 26, 2009
China to build world's largest Amphibious aircraft
China will build the world's largest amphibious aircraft, as large as an Airbus A320, which could be used for tasks like emergency rescue and sea patrols, the state media reported on Thursday.
The development and production of the 'Dragon 600', intended to be the world's largest amphibious aircraft, has received government approval, Hu Haiyin, deputy general manager of AVIC General Aircraft Company Ltd. said.
Hu said the company has begun research on the proposed craft.
The Dragon 600, which would be as large as an Airbus 320, could be used for tasks such as emergency rescue, fighting forest fires and sea patrols, Xinhua news agency reported.
Hu said that market research indicated that 60 such craft would be needed in China in the next 15 years.
The research and design stage would last for four years, with commercial production to begin in at least five years, Hu said, adding that the company would employ 1,500 people.
The development and production of the 'Dragon 600', intended to be the world's largest amphibious aircraft, has received government approval, Hu Haiyin, deputy general manager of AVIC General Aircraft Company Ltd. said.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
China Picture Moment : World’s Tallest man in China
“Bao Xishun, a herdsman listed by the Guinness World Records as the tallest living man at seven-feet, nine-inches tall, walks with his bride, Xia Shujuan, at a park in Chifeng, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on July 2, 2007. The couple was married in March and will hold a wedding ceremony in July.”
