Tag Archives: Titanic replicas

Strange Case of Chinese Titanic Replica

It appears the Romandsea Titanic Is Rusting Away
Credit: SPLASH

One of the aftereffects of James Cameron’s Titanic was the desire to recreate the ship today for people to experience. Museums offer ways to see what was like aboard the famous ship, but this was a to take it to a whole new level of being aboard a real replica of that ship. Clive Palmer famously launched his idea to the world and held events with the sophisticated and upscale crowd to get their support (and perhaps to buy tickets down the road). So off to China he went to have it built. A snag got on the way in the form of a dispute between Palmer and the Chinese government over a different problem. Despite hiring some reputable companies to do advance work, the sound of crickets could be heard at the Chinese shipyard. Nothing was being done and the Covid hit shutting everything down anyway. While stories still circulate it will eventually be built, no one is sure exactly when.

 Along the way, a Chinese company decided it would build its own Titanic replica that would be part of a theme park in Sichuan, China. The replica would be housed, anchored really since it would ever pull out to sea), at the Romandsea Seven Star International Culture Tourism Resort. The ship was to be built according to the original specifications and would even allow people to stay overnight as well. One featured attraction that garnered lots of negative press though was a Titanic Sinking Simulator. This would allow people to feel what the ship was like after it hit the iceberg and began sinking. People are attached to Titanic, especially those who are affiliated with Titanic organizations, have relatives that perished or survived, or just are amateur enthusiasts of the Titanic story. And they did not like this idea at all. It got well condemned by them in news reports and television interviews. The Chinese company appeared to have backed down on the idea.

Since then, the reports were that construction was underway and would be ready in a few years. It is now 2021 and instead of being ready for the throngs of tourists, the Global Times (a Chinese owned newspaper with direct ties to its government) ran an article recently that has been gathering rust for seven years. Contracts had been signed and a ceremony was held in 2014 to begin construction. Yet despite reports of something going on, it looks like nothing has been going on for a very long time. And there appears to be no explanation either from the company (Seven Star Energy Investment) or Su Shaojin, the chief executive of the company. Apparently more than 154 million dollars has been invested into the project.

Some news reports speculate that the backlash over the Titanic Sinking Simulator sank the project. That would seem unlikely as they could get around that easy with other activities. It is possible, like Clive Palmer, that company got into its own problems with Chinese government and the project had to be halted. Perhaps some bureaucrat or rules imposed by an agency or Beijing itself put up a barrier preventing the construction. It is obvious something stopped construction and one possible thing was investors were not so keen after all. Perhaps the controversy got to them or the costs of building the replica skyrocketed causing investors to hold back. Whatever it was, it ground construction to a halt for seven years. And there it lingers.

So far it seems the track record of so-called Titanic replicas being built stands at zero. The one and only Titanic still lies at the bottom of the Atlantic. Except for movie replicas, it seems life size versions are still just a dream. Perhaps Clive Palmer or the Chinese company should give Elon Musk a call. If anyone can breathe some life into building one, it might be him.

 Sources:

 RUST BUCKET Full-scale £110m Titanic replica lies rusting in China after outrage over plans to recreate iceberg crash (The Sun, 10 Aug 2021)

Life-size Titanic replica lies in dock for 7 years in rust in Sichuan Province (Global Times, 10 Aug 2021)


Kids Building Ships And Learning About Titanic

Cheryl DelVecchio, the Children’s Librarian at Fairfield Woods Branch Library, came up with the idea of workshops focused on Titanic. One of the recent ones involved the kids building mini-replicas of Titanic using construction paper, milk cartons and glue. According to Ct Post, the models “included smokestacks and could be adorned with accessories like waves and sea creature stickers. Children and adult companions collaborated on the work, trimming, taping and decorating the small ships.” From the pictures it looked like the kids had a grand time working on the project.

Sometimes it is the simple things that tell the story much better than all the expensive glitter and pomp.

Source: Ct Post, Ship Shape: Titanic Efforts By Kids At Shipbuilding, 11 Mar 2012

Titanic News Stories for 17 Oct 2011

1. Titanic Exhibit On Display In Greensboro (16 Oct 2011,Spartanburg Herald Journal)
Next April marks 100 years since the Titanic had its tragic rendezvous with an iceberg. The sinking still fixates the imagination, and the subject is drawing travelers to Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at the Natural Science Center of Greensboro. Titanic runs through Nov. 27. The museum is at 4301 Lawndale Drive. General admission is $21 for adults and $20 for children 3 to 13. For more information, visit www.natsci.org/Titanic.html or call 336-288-3769.

2. Replicas Give Access To Iconic Sites Closer To Home (16 Oct 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review )
Cedar Bay Entertainment in Branson, Mo., has raised not one but two half-scale replicas of the Titanic. The first has drawn 3 million visitors since it opened in Branson in 2006. The second opened last year in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Both are landlocked, but the owners have thought of everything. “What we have done with both of the ships is we created a pool of water with concrete,” spokesman Rick Laney says. “Under the water at the bow of the ship, two jet engines force the water up. It looks like the Titanic is actually moving forward.”

3. First Class Titanic Tie To Tragedy (14 Oct 2011, This Is Hampshire.net)
A Titanic deck plan owned by an elderly couple who were depicted in the hit movie lying in bed together as the ship sank is set to sell for £50,000. The deck plans were only handed out to the 324 first class passengers when they arrived on the liner in Southampton on April 10, 1912. It is believed only three of them exist today, two in private collections and this one now on the open market. It was owned by the Straus’s maid Ellen Bird who survived the disaster in which 1,495 people died.