Asia's largest, priciest Legoland opens in Shanghai
WATARU SUZUKI
SHANGHAI -- The first Legoland in China opened in Shanghai on Saturday under scorching heat, as the Danish toymaker bets on parents' passion for educating their children.
The $550 million resort spans 318,000 square meters, making it the world's biggest Legoland at opening. A towering 26 meter figure inscribed with the Chinese characters for "Shanghai" and a heart symbol sits in the middle of the resort, surrounded by a roller coaster. Boat rides whisk passengers through miniature Lego recreations of the city's historic Bund district, while an indoor area features larger versions of Shanghai's landscapes and traditional architecture.
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Kyodo News
a day ago
- Kyodo News
FEATURE: H.K. Cantonese opera features Trump-Zelenskyy duel in political farce
HONG KONG - U.S. President Donald Trump gets into an all-out brawl with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump's twin brother stops a bullet like Neo in "The Matrix" (1999), only to be killed by another one. Trump later brings him back to life with a pill that turns out to be "Made in China." These absurd plotlines are the latest additions to "Trump, the Twins President," a Cantonese opera aimed at drawing new and younger audiences. Hong Kong playwright Li Kui-ming hopes the production will help revive the 500-year-old dying art form. The three-and-a-half-hour theatrical production parodies recent political events and global figures, including former U.S. President Richard Nixon, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong and his fourth wife, Jiang Qing. First staged in 2019, the opera returned to the Xiqu Centre, a performing arts venue designated for Cantonese opera and traditional Chinese performing arts, with sold-out crowds. Zelenskyy is a new addition to the production, now in its third version. The four-day run began on June 5, the same day the real Trump held a highly anticipated call with Chinese President Xi Jinping -- the two leaders' first known direct contact since Trump's return to the White House in January. The opera begins with Ivanka Trump having a dream about her father's long-lost twin brother in China. His name is Chuan Pu, which is a transliteration of Trump's name in Mandarin Chinese. Disillusioned by the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Chuan moves to the United States to reunite with Trump. Ivanka has Chuan pretend to be her father at a Pennsylvania rally because Trump has been abducted by aliens on Mars. In contrast to last summer's events where Trump narrowly escaped with his life after an assassination attempt at a campaign rally, Chuan catches the first bullet in his hand but dies from the second shot to his chest. Trump returns from Mars and revives Chuan with a pill that he claims he brought from Mars but that is actually made in China. Other references to Trump include his proposal that Canada become the 51st American state, his love-hate relationship with tech billionaire Elon Musk, and his feud with Harvard University. Cantonese opera, rooted in modern-day Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in southern China, was registered as an "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2009. It dates back five centuries to the Ming Dynasty. However, some say the art form has become outdated because of its traditional costumes and heavy references to ancient Chinese classics and can only be appreciated by older generations. The March closure of the 53-year-old Sunbeam Theatre, the only Hong Kong landmark showcasing Cantonese opera, disappointed local playgoers. Li, 70, said he wanted to change things up after producing 36 plays the traditional way. He chose Trump as the protagonist because of the U.S. president's "influence on people's daily lives." Ultimately, the show's message is about peace, not a geopolitical statement about China and Hong Kong, Li said. "Chuan Pu yearns for love, peace, and resolving conflicts peacefully," said Li, a feng shui practitioner by trade. Due to the continual crackdown on dissent under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, many shows satirizing current political affairs have been canceled in Hong Kong. Just days before the debut of Li's play, Sunny Lam, a popular local singer-songwriter, canceled a concert following a "careful assessment." Lam rose to fame on YouTube with his derisive lyrics against the Hong Kong government's policies. Li maintained that his work was a "representation of Hong Kong's creative freedom," particularly in his depiction of the Cultural Revolution. Launched by Mao in 1966, the 10-year upheaval aimed to purge capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society and reassert Mao's authority. Discussion of the movement is largely considered taboo within mainland China's official narratives. "I fully experience the benefits of 'one country, two systems,'" Li said, referring to the principle adopted in the former British colony. "But if you have a political motive, of course, people will not allow you to perform." University student Rachel Yiu, 26, noticed the absence of the current Chinese leadership in the satirical play. "If it's going to be performed safely, there's an expectation of which side it will take," she said. "We all know the circumstances Hong Kong is in. This is the reality."
2 days ago
Release of Unit 731-Themed Film Delayed in China
News from Japan Culture World Jul 31, 2025 21:50 (JST) Beijing, July 31 (Jiji Press)--The release of a Chinese film themed on the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army's Unit 731 was delayed from the initially planned Thursday in China without explanation. Unit 731 is believed to have engaged in the development of biological weapons and their experiments on human in northeastern China during World War II. The film, titled "731," was initially set to be released on July 31, in a tribute to the unit's number. "731" has been drawing attention in China even before its release. Some people have voiced concern over the possibility that it will damage Chinese public sentiment toward Japan and over the effect of its brutal scenes on watchers. Since Chinese authorities strictly censor films, the film may have had to be further edited. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
The Mainichi
2 days ago
- The Mainichi
China movie on Japan biological warfare unit not shown as scheduled
BEIJING (Kyodo) -- A Chinese movie on the Imperial Japanese Army's notorious Unit 731 was not screened Thursday as scheduled, fueling speculation that its release has been put off or canceled in a possible move by Beijing to avoid fanning anti-Japan sentiment and damaging bilateral relations. The release date of the film on local movie ticket purchase apps has been changed from July 31 to 2025, while millions of people online have expressed their interest in the film about the unit, which according to historians conducted biological and chemical warfare research in China during World War II. The movie's production company has not explained why the work failed to hit screens as originally planned. Some people have expressed disappointment at the failure to screen it in online posts, saying "history should not be forgotten." A Beijing theater only showed a preview of the movie, with a female employee saying the complete film data has yet to arrive and that it is rumored that it may be released around September. A male employee of another movie theater said the film was not screened "because of problems with the production company" and that the release may have been canceled. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Sino-Japanese conflict, which Beijing calls the 1937-1945 War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. China plans to hold a military parade in the capital's Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to commemorate the war anniversary. Set in China's northeastern region, the movie conveys an anti-war message and aims to "reveal the crimes" of Unit 731 through a focus on ordinary individuals, according to media reports. The film was made with the cooperation of an exhibition hall dedicated to the unit in Harbin in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang as well as local publicity departments of the ruling Communist Party. The unit's research is believed to have included lethal experimentation and testing on humans. Prisoners of war were secretly experimented upon to develop, among other things, plague and cholera-based biological weapons, according to historians. Some people speculated the Unit 731 movie was not released as scheduled due to concerns that it could have a negative impact on Sino-Japanese relations as well as child viewers affected by scenes of cruelty. Movie industry officials have pointed out that a Chinese film on the massacre in Nanjing committed by Japanese troops in 1937 hit screens last Friday and that the release of the Unit 731 movie may have been aborted to avoid the release of works about similar war themes. The Japanese government says it has not found any evidence confirming the unit conducted experiments on human subjects. In 1997, Japan's Supreme Court, in a ruling concerning state screeners' objection to a history textbook's description of the unit's actions in China, said "the view had been established within academic circles to an undeniable extent that Unit 731 had killed many Chinese people through biological experiments."
