Wonderland Amusement Park (Beijing)

For other parks of the same name, see Wonderland Amusement Park.

Wonderland
A grey concrete and brick castle, wood frames outlining the conical roofs.
View of Wonderland in 2010 before the structure was demolished
LocationChangping District, Beijing, China
Coordinates40°13′59″N 116°09′50″E / 40.2330°N 116.1638°E / 40.2330; 116.1638
StatusDefunct
OpenedNever opened (abandoned)
ClosedConstruction stopped 2008
OwnerReignwood Group
Area120 acres (49 ha)
View of the park's castle, which is still intact as of 2023.

Wonderland was an unfinished amusement park project located in Chenzhuang Village (陈庄村), Nankou Town (南口地区), Changping District, Beijing, China. Originally proposed by the Thailand-based property developer Reignwood Group,[1] and designed to be the largest amusement park in Asia (to have covered 120 acres (49 ha)), construction stopped in 1998 following financial problems with local officials, while a 2008 attempt to start construction again also failed.[2]

The site featured a number of abandoned structures, including the framework of a castle-like building and medieval-themed outer buildings. Land was reclaimed by local farmers to grow their various crops while the site was abandoned. People have reported when visiting the site that, sometimes, there would still be parking attendants in the site's parking lot, presumably to tend to onlookers and curious sightseers that came to visit.[3]

The abandonment of such a massive construction project raised concerns about the existence of a property bubble in China.[4][5]

The incomplete and abandoned structures were demolished in May 2013, leaving no hope for the abandoned park to ever be finished. While there was no official indication of what would be done with the grounds of where the park once stood, An Feng, Reignwood Group's chief inspector for the company's investment supervision department, stated a "comprehensive luxury product supermarket" would be built on the site, but at that time the project was still going through "planning permission formalities".[6]

Construction on a shopping mall, the Badaling Outlets (Chinese: 八达岭奥莱; pinyin: Bādálǐng Àolái), was later completed in 2015 and opened to the public on 26 June of that year.[7]

  1. ^ Alsop, Zoe (22 December 2011). "Pictures: China's Fake Disneyland, Overgrown and Ghostly". National Geographic Daily News. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  2. ^ Taylor, Alan (13 December 2011). "China's Abandoned Wonderland". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
  3. ^ Judkis, Maura (13 December 2011). "See China's 'Wonderland,' an abandoned fake-Disneyland (PHOTOS)". HuffPost. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  4. ^ Shedlock, Mike (13 December 2011). "This Abandoned Theme Park on the Edge of Shanghai Is Only The First Sign of a Major Crash". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  5. ^ Gray, David (12 December 2011). "Editor's Choice Slideshow". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  6. ^ Liqiang, Hou (13 May 2013). "Beijing's Wonderland amusement park demolished". China Daily USA. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  7. ^ Ren, Yuan (26 June 2015). "Abandoned theme park turned mega shopping mall". Time Out Beijing. Time Out Group Ltd. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2017.