THE Sea World entertainment, tourism and commercial hub in Shekou, Nanshan District, will celebrate its three-year facelift Friday evening with a festive light show centered at the revitalized Minghua ship.
About 30 environmentally friendly, originally designed displays will arrange multi-colored lights in shapes including a Christmas tree, a heart and more.
A performance by well-known Chinese singers and a band called Mokolo also will be staged, after the opening ceremony and light show.
Other events include a fashion show Saturday evening, a Christmas gala Dec. 24, a concert on New Year's Eve and a lantern festival Feb. 14, China Merchants Property Development Co. (CMPD) announced. (Continued on P3)
Light and water shows will be held at the Minghua ship and Sea World Square area through Feb. 16, celebrating Christmas, the New Year, the Chinese Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day and the Chinese Lantern Festival.
China Merchants will formally announce the opening of the new Sea World on Friday afternoon. The once-neglected Minghua ship now is a centerpiece of the core commercial area in the renovated coastal urban compound.
China Merchants, Shekou's major developer, has upgraded Sea World over the past three years into a modern commercial center including the Minghua ship, Center Plaza, the newly built Nanhai Hilton hotel, a large fountain and areas A, B and C.
Area A is a boutique shopping mall that's adjacent to the ship, on the same side of the new water feature as Sea World Square and along a pedestrian walkway across from existing restaurants and bars. Area B is a row of international restaurants between the ship and the towering China Merchants Plaza building, and Area C is an international motion entertainment center that's across the water feature from the ship and will include a performance center and theater.
Upon completion, the revamped Sea World will include Sea World Square, the new Nanhai Hilton hotel, the China Merchants Plaza office building, an IMAX theater, a seaside park, and a culture and art center that's designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki and will house a Victoria and Albert Museum and the privately run Guanfu Museum.
Renowned brands attracted to the new Sea World Square include the Michelin-recommended Sorabol Korean Restaurant, Hong Kong Simply Life, the Hong Kong-style cafe chain Tsuiwah, luxury coffee brand Kafelaku, and leading global hair salon Tony & Guy.
The name Minghua was given by Chinese merchants who bought the late French President Charles De Gaulle's ship "Anceevilla" in 1973. The area was transformed in the early 1980s into a hot tourism spot that bears the characters for Sea World -"Haishang Shijie" -in the hand of Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese leader and designer of China's reform and opening-up.
"Seaside, romantic, elegant, international, free and tolerant. These are key words we use to describe the legendary Shekou," Zhang Lin, deputy general manager of China Merchants Property Development Co., said earlier this month.
(Source:Shenzhen Daily)