Untold story of Hong Kong Disneyland's magical bloom

Photo taken on Oct. 27, 2021 shows visitors at the Hong Kong Disneyland in Hong Kong, South China.(Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

Since its opening in 2005, Hong Kong Disneyland has received more than 85 million visitors and created about 271,300 jobs. Chan Wai-Hung, vice president of China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Limited, has a different angle of appreciating the landmark: a story of of Hong Kong's bond with the motherland.

HONG KONG, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- For millions of visitors who have enjoyed unforgettable, culturally distinctive experiences at the Hong Kong Disneyland, few would notice there is something quite special about what lies beneath the magic kingdom.

The theme park located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, looked much like the first Disneyland in California, U.S. when it opened in 2005. But Chan Wai-Hung, vice president of China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Limited, has a different angle of appreciating the landmark: a story of of Hong Kong's bond with the motherland.

The company was a major contractor of the park in the phase one and two construction, building the basic infrastructure as well as Tomorrowland and Adventureland. Chan was invited to share anecdotes of the park as part of "The Spirit of the Times Shines upon Hong Kong" activity series.

He recalled that designers of the park wanted visitors to be immersed in a land of dreams secluded from the real world outside and they decided to use landscape berm, a mound of soil often overlooked because it was specifically designed to blend into a landscape.

The berms were designed to be built with garden soil that could meet strict standards based on the characteristics of local resources in the United States, which are very different from the soil in Hong Kong.

Given a tight schedule, the project department searched for qualified earth in Hong Kong and nearby Guangdong but failed to collect something that could meet the design requirements, and anxiety mounted, before a suggestion was floated.

"Why don't we give a try at soil in the motherland's northeast region?"

The subsequent search finally led them to Qingyuan Manchu Autonomous County of Fushun City in northeast China's Liaoning Province, more than 2,400 km away from Hong Kong.

The earth was transported to Liaoning's port city of Dalian via a relay of beasts of burden, vehicles, and trains, and then southbound to Hong Kong by sea along the coast line. The long haul cargo was later mixed with local yellow sand to build the berms.

"Now the greening project in the Disney park looks so good. The trees are growing very luxuriantly," Chan said. "The lushness testifies that the soil and things offered by the motherland are more than good enough."

Photo taken on Oct. 27, 2021 shows visitors at the Hong Kong Disneyland in Hong Kong, South China. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

SEEKING NEW MAGIC

The park was initiated as an important livelihood project after Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, and has witnessed the ups and downs of Hong Kong economy and growing exchanges between mainland and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, then hit by the Asian financial crisis and an economic recession in 1998, pinned hope on the growth in tourism and related industries to kick-start its economic recovery. In 1999, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company to create Disney's first theme park in China.

It took only four years for the initial phase of the park project to be completed in 2004 after the reclamation in June 2000, going through one of the shortest construction periods of any Disneyland-style theme park, Chan said.

Photo taken on Oct. 27, 2021 shows visitors at the Hong Kong Disneyland in Hong Kong, South China. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

Since its opening in 2005, the theme park has received more than 85 million visitors from home and abroad, contributed about 113.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 14.62 billion U.S. dollars) to Hong Kong's gross domestic product, and created about 271,300 jobs.

Pandemic-related travel restrictions led to a 93.6-percent nosedive in Hong Kong's visitor arrivals last year, and Disneyland took the brunt of the decline, as the share of mainland tourists went down to 8 percent from 33 percent in 2019.

Despite the challenges, the park is optimistic about its long-term potential, as it looks past the impact of COVID-19 towards a recovering tourism industry spurred by the growing middle class in the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia, as well as the influence of the Greater Bay Area initiatives on cross-boundary travel.

"Hong Kong Disneyland will focus on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to attract more visitors," Anita Lai Pui-shan, vice-president of communications and public affairs at Hong Kong Disneyland, said during a recent media tour.

"We hope the development of the GBA will bring more guests to our new area under construction," Lai said, adding that the theme park looks forward to the return of mainland visitors after the relaxation of travel restrictions. ■