On Thursday morning in Shanghai, Walt Disney Company Chairman Bob Iger and “a phalanx of Chinese Communist Party officials” cut the ribbon on the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney Resort, the company's first theme park in mainland China.
The celebration included fireworks over the resort's castle -- Disney's "largest and most technologically advanced castle in the world” -- a dancing Mickey Mouse, dignitaries and messages of support from two presidents. "This is one of the most exciting and important moments in the history of the Walt Disney Company," Iger proclaimed.
However, according to an article by Patrick Brzeski of the Hollywood Reporter website, the Disney executive “drew gasps of surprise from the mostly Chinese crowd as he began reading a letter from U.S. President Barack Obama,” who has taken a far more lenient stand on gay rights and same-sex marriage than China's government.
"Blending a U.S. business with the beauty and rich cultural heritage of China, this resort captures the promise of our bilateral relationship," Obama said in the letter.
The president added that the resort "promotes further cultural exchanges and underscores the importance of China continuing to make itself more attractive to investment from around the world, that is mutually beneficial to both our countries.”
According to a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping that was read by Vice Premier Wang Yang, “I hope that Shanghai Disney can provide visitors with safe and premium experiences and become a world-class theme park. I hope it promotes exchanges across cultures of the world.”
In addition, the Chinese president said he was a "strong supporter and advocate of this cooperation project," congratulating Disney and the Shanghai government on the successful completion of the resort."
"By adding to the classic Disney style a stroke of Chinese characteristic, and by blending international standards with best local practices, the resort demonstrates our commitment to close cultural cooperation and our innovation mentality in the new era," Jinping stated.
“Shanghai Party Secretary Han Zhang and Bob Iger cut the ribbon jointly with the vice premiere,” Brzeski noted. Fireworks then exploded over the castle.
Noting the gray skies over the ceremony, Wang told the crowd he had reassured Iger that rain signifies an auspicious start in Chinese culture. "Rain is also a signal of good fortune, so I would like to call this a rain of U.S. dollars and Chinese RMB (which literally means "people's currency”).
“Tens of thousands streamed into Shanghai Disneyland on its debut, an event that was more than two decades in the making,” a report on the Bloomberg News site stated. “The resort is the largest foreign investment ever for the Burbank, California-based company, as it intensifies the race to dominate China’s $610 billion tourism industry.”
The resort is the result of 26 years of negotiations, planning and development,” Brzeski noted, and it is a joint venture between Walt Disney Company and a consortium of Chinese state-controlled companies called the Shanghai Shendi Group.
Along with six themed "lands," including one devoted to Pirates of the Caribbean, the resort includes a Broadway-style theater, live entertainment venues, two hotels, a shopping district with more than 50 retailers, a 123-acre recreational park and Disney's “tallest, largest and most interactive castle."
According to Bloomberg, the entertainment giant has already begun construction to expand attractions within the park, Iger said at a briefing Wednesday. The existing resort covers about 3.9 square kilometers.
From the flower design on the turret of the park’s centerpiece castle to a comedic Beijing opera interlude in the Mandarin version of the Lion King musical, Disney has taken pains to incorporate Chinese elements at the 963-acre resort.
“We didn’t build Disneyland in China, we built China’s Disneyland,” said Iger.
The executive also said “the Shanghai park is as important for Disney today as the establishment of Walt Disney World in Florida was for the company in the 1970s.”
Amid the activities surrounding the Shanghai park debut, Iger offered his sympathies to the family of a 2-year-old boy who was dragged by an alligator into a man-made lake at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
The fact that Obama sent a letter rather than attend the resort's opening might indicate that his support for same-sex “marriage” would not be met with approval in a country that is disinterested and, at best, ambivalent about homosexuality while traditional sentiments on family obligations and discrimination remains a significant factor deterring same-sex attracted people from “coming out.”
Since the China is one of the nations that doesn't allow same-sex “marriage” and “persecutes homosexuals,” how could Obama praise people are so homophobic and full of hate? Or is that just a tactic the president uses when it's to his advantage?
