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No exporting American culture to China-Disney
June 6, 2013, 6:46 am

[Xinhua Images]

[Xinhua Images]

The Shanghai park will be a “China Disneyland – authentically Disney and distinctively Chinese”, Robert Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Co said during a visit to Beijing on Wednesday

Localisation is the key to the Disney strategy, said Iger.

“When it comes to culture, the world is not flat,” Iger said. “Disney cannot take our culture and export it to China.”

“There will be entertainment and show elements that will be very Chinese in nature, performed by Chinese, and designed, directed and created by artists from China,” he said.

The Shanghai park is scheduled to open by the end of 2015, a decade after the launch of the Disney resort in Hong Kong.

Iger is optimistic about market potential for the two parks in China, the only country in the world outside of the United States to have two Disney parks.

“Because of the vastness of China and the size of the population, we believe that for many years China can sustain more than one park,” he said.

Iger added that the mobility of Chinese people and the popularity of the country as a destination for visitors from around the world meant there was plenty of scope for two parks.

About 40 per cent of visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland are from the Chinese mainland.

Hong Kong Disneyland reported a net profit of HK$109 million ($14 million) in 2012, the first annual profit since it opened in 2005.

Source: Agencies