Hong Kong Disneyland visitors take photos june 18, 2020
For the millions of visitors who have an unforgettable, cultural character at Hong Kong Disneyland, few will notice something special beneath the Magical Kingdom.
Located in penny bay reclamation on Lantau Island, the theme park is very similar to the opening of the first Disneyland in California in 2005. But Chan Wai Hung, vice president of China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Limited, appreciates this milestone from a different perspective: the story of Hong Kong's bond with the motherland.
The company is the primary contractor for the construction of PhaseS1 and Phase II of the park, responsible for the construction of the infrastructure as well as Tomorrowland and Adventure Island. Margaret Chan was invited to share anecdotes about the park as part of the "Zeitgeist Illuminates Hong Kong" series of events.
He recalls that the park's designers wanted visitors to immerse themselves in a fantasy place far from the outside real world, and they decided to use a landscape berm, an often overlooked mound because it was specifically designed to blend into the landscape.
According to the characteristics of the native resources of the United States, the garden soils designed by these buildings can meet strict standards, which is very different from the soils in Hong Kong.
Given the tight schedule, the project department searched for a qualified earth in Hong Kong and nearby Guangdong, but did not collect anything that met the design requirements, anxious before making a proposal.
"Why don't we try the soil in the northeast of our country?"
The search that followed eventually led them to Qingyuan Manchu Autonomous County in Fushun City, In Northeastern China's Liaoning Province, 2,400 kilometers from Hong Kong.
The Earth was transported to Dalian, the port city of Liaoning, through relays loaded with livestock, vehicles and trains, and then sailed south along the coastline to Hong Kong. These long-distance cargoes were later mixed with local yellow sand to build berms.
"Now the greening of Disney Park looks good. The trees grow very lushly," Chen said. "The lush vegetation proves that the soil and things provided by the motherland are good enough."
Visitors in Hong Kong enjoy the opening ceremony of the Magical Dream Castle at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Find new magic
In 1997, after The return of Hong Kong to the motherland, the park began as an important livelihood project, witnessing the rise and fall of Hong Kong's economy and the growing exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong.
Hit by the Asian financial crisis and the 1998 recession, Hong Kong is looking to growth in tourism and related industries to boost its economic recovery. In 1999, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced the joint venture with Disney Corporation to establish Disney China's First Theme Park.
Chen said that after reclaiming the sea in June 2000, the initial phase of the park project took only four years to complete in 2004, which is the shortest construction cycle of any Disney-style theme park.
Since its opening in 2005, the theme park has welcomed more than 85 million visitors from home and abroad, contributed about US$113.7 billion (US$14.62 billion) to Hong Kong's GDP, and created about 271,300 jobs.
Pandemic-related travel restrictions led to a sharp drop of 93.6% in visitor arrivals last year, with Disneyland bearing the brunt as the proportion of mainland visitors fell from 33% in 2019 to 8%.
Despite these challenges, the park is optimistic about its long-term potential as it transcends the impact of COVID-19 on the recovery of tourism fueled by the growing middle class in Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia, as well as the impact of the Greater Bay Area initiative on cross-border tourism.
"Hong Kong Disneyland will be concentrated in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of Hong Kong and Macau in Guangdong to attract more visitors," Anita Rei Peishan, deputy secretary-general for communications and public affairs at Disneyland Hong Kong, said during a recent media trip.
Lai Changxing said: "We hope that the development of the GBA will bring more tourists to the new area we are building. He added that the theme park is looking forward to the return of mainland visitors after the relaxation of travel restrictions.