China to remake Great Wall, terra-cotta warriors — with chocolate
China plans to remake iconic Great Wall and terra-cotta warriors with a history of over 2,000 years. But this time, neither stones nor clay will be used.
The only building material is pure chocolate.
A Beijing company told Xinhua Wednesday that the 10-meter-long and two-meter-high “Choc Wall”, a mimic of the Great Wall, will be erected at a chocolate theme park early next year.
It may be tiny if compared with the old stone-and-brick wall zigzagging thousands of kilometers across north China. But it would be as attractive as the real one, because chocolate is gaining a dazzling popularity among the Chinese, said Tan Liya, PR manager of the proposed World Chocolate Wonderland.
Located in northern Beijing, the park covering some 20,000 square meters will be open on January 29, next year, with an aim to “promote the chocolate culture” in China, Tan said.
Over 100 tonnes of chocolate will be used to remake these ancient Chinese wonders, including more than 500 duplicates of the Qin Dynasty (211-206 B.C.) warrior statues.
The theme park will also be a “world tour” of chocolate products and sweets as it plans to invite global chocolate manufacturers for a three-month display.
“We’ve been contacting many companies in Switzerland and Belgium, as well as some domestic companies,” said Tan.
Do-it-yourself activities inside the park is set to offer fun in the chocolate making, she added.
The park is expected to draw about 1.5 million visitors and shoppers during the festive season between February and April, including the Spring Festival and Valentine’s Day.
“The Chinese spend three billion yuan (440 million U.S. dollars) a year on chocolate and this market is growing at a rate of ten to 15 percent year by year,” said Zheng Yaoting, general manager of the Beijing Artsource Planning Co. Ltd., the investor of the World Chocolate Wonderland.
“We hope the theme park can help the Chinese become more knowledgable about chocolate in innovative and interesting ways,” Zheng said.

Leave a Reply