A full-size replica of the Titanic is to become the major attraction at a Chinese theme park.
Construction of the 269m long ship, which will be docked permanently on a reservoir in a rural area of Sichuan province, began yesterday.
The Chinese replica will feature an interior reflecting some of the grandeur of the original, including a ballroom, theatre, swimming pool and first-class cabins – with the addition of Wi-Fi – and will be the centrepiece of a theme park hundreds of miles from the coast of China.
The company first announced plans for the 1 billion yuan (£115 million) project in 2014, AFP reported.
Domestic tourism is booming in China, promoted by the government as a way of fuelling consumer-driven growth rather than its decades-old model of investment and industry.
The original liner, built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, hit an iceberg and sank in the north Atlantic in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people on its maiden voyage from Southampton and bound for New York.
A life-size replica of the Titanic will become a tourist attraction in Chinahttps://t.co/R4EfADtePYpic.twitter.com/u8JKmwXhpu
— Loreto Bello Gude (@loretobgude) December 1, 2016