China’s full scale Titanic replica—currently under construction next to the Qi River in Sichuan Province—is navigating iceberg after iceberg of controversy. According to China National Radio, the 269-metre vessel, due to open in 2020 in the Romandisea resort, has drawn criticism from Kan Ruliang, a professor at the Three Gorges University who called it a “fake foreign antique”. “Building a Titanic is copying a relic, and if it’s just for a tourism complex, it will be difficult to imbue it with any cultural content,” Kan says. Meanwhile, Su Shaojun, chief executive of the Yongle Seven Star Energy Investment Group, the project backer, visited Southampton in April for the British Titanic Society convention, where families of the survivors and victims of the 1912 disaster expressed outrage at plans for a simulated iceberg crash experience which has since been scuppered. Su told the BBC that the Titanic has broad appeal in China due to the 1997 film, which was an early Western hit in the reopened country, and that the park would “respect history”. Along with the replica, the park will include a resort with a 4,000- to 5,000-person capacity indoor bathing beach, hot springs, and yachts that should stay afloat.
