1 May 2018
Wanda world
Wuchang in Wuhan
Wanda group is the worlds largest property developer, the worlds largest mall owner, the worlds largest cinema owner and at one point pre disney star wars marvel ownership, the worlds largest movie revenue maker. Where I went to tonight is owned entirely by Wanda group, all of it, the streets, malls, river, air, apartments, subway station, people, dogs and existence.
Whatever they are doing is working, it was almost certainly the 'nicest' place I have ever been to in China, and quite possibly nicer than anywhere I can think of in Australia, surprising for Wuhan.
Wanda group is not even based in Wuhan, they are originally from Dalian but moved to Beijing, I guess they have similar developments all over China similar to Samsung in Korea who do a lot more than make telephones. They also own Hoyts in Australia and at one point were blocked from making an offer for Westfield. The Chinese government has now taken steps to stop Wanda group from investing overseas, so much so that they had to sell their big development site at Circular Quay in Sydney. Thats enough property investment news.
This nice part of Wuhan is not in Hankou (the main part where I was last night), it is over a river a down a stream in Wuchang, wherever it is, it is very photogenic.
We start this evenings picture presentation with a view through a bridge of the area known as Chu He Han Jie, The chu river and Han street. lots of effort has gone into making it look nice.
All the bridges are covered in lights, which look good, but also prevent me getting a clear shot from the bridge of the river and buildings along the river.
Instead, all the photos feature steel bars.
Girl with many balloons filled with polluting LED lights, batteries and stuffed animal toys.
The pedestrian street between the river and the normal street is very nice. I think its all new, but made to look old, but also shiny.
The Wanda plaza is enormous, pictures wont show its size. Their power bill must be huge, the maintenance on all the lights on the outside must be huge.
Easily the best dog photo I have ever taken. He just knew how to pose for everyone. I had to wait my turn to take a photo.
Tonight was not as busy as last night, I guess tomorrow is a work day and everyone is resting. But it is never the less / none the less / whatever the less, still quite busy.
The apartment buildings around these parts all look very nice.
All the bridges are covered in elaborate decorations.
This is a movie theme park with rides and lots of VR stuff inside, but it received unfavorable reviews so closed down again within months of opening to be re built. Apparently it reopens again soon.
Not just the pedestrian street is nice, not just the Wanda mall is nice, all the surrounding area is nice as well. Its nice to see somewhere so nice. Gives you a nice feeling that all the nice people can experience something nice and nice.
Another shot of the giant mall, mainly because of the cool lights. Each is an individual glass glowing orb that forms a giant animated wrap around screen.
Apparently here you can return all kinds of electronic items to be recycled and get money back out of the machine? I stuck my new cell phone in there and it gave me $8!
I wanted a turn on the giant slot car track but these kids were hogging it. I told them they would be visited by ghosts in their sleep.
For my dinner, noodles in spicy oily sauce with beef. Predictable.
New winner for best Chinglish? I mean it obviously should say 'Normally closed fire door, do not block'. The funniest part is I stuffed up the first pic and went back to take another, by which time 3 groups of Chinese girls were all taking the same photo and giggling. When they saw me coming back smiling, they screamed in terror and ran off laughing.
It makes me wonder how closely all my activities are being watched by inquisitive locals.
What I will now never know because I did not get to ask them is, were they taking the photo so they could post it on wechat with 'white man take photo of sign, how come?' or 'Chinglish is shameful, we need make improve!'. I can speak like that, I am part Chinese, I know thats exactly how they will ask either of those questions.