RUCTION OF THE world’s first full-size replica of the Titanic has begun in China, state media has reported.
The 269-metre (883-foot) long, 28-metre wide ship will be docked permanently on a reservoir in a rural area of Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency cited a senior executive of the shipbuilder as saying.
It will feature an interior reproducing some of the grandeur of the original including a ballroom, theatre, swimming pool and first-class cabins, with the addition of wifi, said Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group’s deputy general manager Wang Weiling.
A keel-laying ceremony complete with confetti and fireworks was yesterday, attended by former British government minister and EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson.
The supposedly unsinkable ocean liner, which struck an iceberg and went down in the north Atlantic in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people, is a subject of immense fascination for many in China.
Interest became particularly intense after the 1997 movie became hugely popular in China. Director James Cameron had a 90% scale replica vessel built for filming purposes.
The new ship will be the centrepiece of a theme park hundreds of kilometres from China’s coast bankrolled by Chinese energy company Seven Star Energy Investment Group.
The company first announced plans for the €140 million project in 2014.
The ship’s design is based on the original, and construction will involve assistance from US and British designers and technicians, Xinhua said.
Flamboyant Australian tycoon Clive Palmer in 2013 unveiled plans to build a replica of the Titanic that could actually take to sea and would seek to complete the original ship’s doomed Atlantic crossing, but that project has reportedly run aground amid funding difficulties.
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