Tag Archives: Bernard Hill

Titanic

Belfast Lord Mayor Calls Chinese Titanic Simulator “Disgraceful”

Titanic Wreck Bow Image: Public Domain (NOAA-http://www.gc.noaa.gov/images/gcil/ATT00561.jpg)
Titanic Wreck Bow
Image: Public Domain (NOAA)

Belfast Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers says the Chinese idea of a Titanic simulator is a step too far reports the BBC. He went further stating:

The ship was perfect when it left these shores in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and unfortunately it struck an iceberg, but for people to try and make money out of that is disgraceful and shameful.

According to press reports, the replica Titanic will allow people to experience the collision and will use sound and light effects to simulate water coming into the ship.

We will let people experience water coming in by using sound and light effects … They will think, ‘The water will drown me, I must escape with my life.(Su Shaojun, chief executive of the Seven Star Energy Investment Group).

Actor Bernard Hill, who played Captain Smith in Cameron’s Titanic, says it is not inappropriate but had to admit his expenses in flying to Hong Kong were paid by the Chinese (but he did not receive an appearance fee for appearing at the public event).

At any event, wags are starting to speculate was to which Hollywood celebrity will race over to China when it is complete to stand on it and give an enthusiastic thumbs up. T-shirt makers will probably now have to come up with a new shirt: “I survived Chinese Titanic!”

Source:Titanic Iceberg Simulator In Chinese Theme Park ‘In Bad Taste’(15 Jan 2014,BBC)

Titanic Miscellaneous

Travel To China And Experience Titanic Sinking!

RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912.
RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912.

What beats seeing the Great Wall or the Forbidden City while in China? Why going to a Chinese theme park where a life sized replica of Titanic will allow visitors to see and feel what it was like on the doomer liner that night. Reuters reports:

The replica ship will cost $165 million to build and simulation technology will allow several hundred people at a time to feel what the shipwreck was like. Su Shaojun, chief executive of the Seven Star Energy Investment Group that is funding the project, said: “When the ship hits the iceberg, it will shake, it will tumble. “We will let people experience water coming in by using sound and light effects. “They will think ‘The water will drown me, I must escape with my life’.”

Bernard Hill, who played Captain Smith in Cameron’s Titanic, was flown to Hong Kong to announce his support for the project saying it does not belittle the disaster. No, it just now puts in the same category of a carnival event albeit more expensive and with lots of publicity.

More curious is the statement by Shaojun about why they needed a Titanic museum:

“We think it’s worth spreading the spirit of the Titanic,” he said. “The universal love and sense of responsibility shown during the Titanic shipwreck represent the spiritual richness of human civilisation.”

Okay but it sounds like marketing to me, just words strung together that mean nothing. I doubt the Chinese will pass up the opportunity to remind visitors (in a polite way of course) that the disaster was caused by decadent western capitalists and such things would never happen in the enlightened middle kingdom.

Sources:
1. Titanic Museum, Shipwreck Simulator To Anchor Chinese Theme Park(13 Jan 2014,Reuters)
2. China To Build Titanic Theme Park With Life-Sized Replica Of Doomed Ship That Will Simulate Its Sinking!(13 Jan 2014,Mirror Online)