The wax museum Madame Tussauds will open its Shanghai branch on
the 10th floor of the New World Department Store on May 1,
displaying a first batch of 21 wax models, the Oriental Morning
Post reported.
Madame Tussauds Shanghai, its sixth branch in the world and the
first in China's mainland, will display foreign celebrities such as
Princess Diana, Bill Gates, David Beckham, Tom Cruise, and great
historical figures like Albert Einstein.
The 9,600-square-meter display will also include, as its
distinctive feature, a collection of contemporary Chinese figures
such as the state's first cosmonaut Yang Liwei, Nobel Prize winner
Yang Zhengning, Olympic champion Liu Xiang and popular stars like
Yao Ming, Andy Lau, Jay Chou and Jackie Chan.
Instead of displaying these models as stand-alone portraits, the
world famous museum will put them in context to help visitors
appreciate the figures' achievements. For example, Yao Ming will
appear dribbling a basketball in a match and Liu Xiang will be
shown accepting his Olympic medal.
Apart from static displays, the museum will also include
interactive features such as the production of wax models. Visitors
may also order wax models portraying themselves.
Although the ticket office of the museum has already been
completed, it has yet to be opened to the public. The museum has
also refused to disclose the exact figure of the admission fee. But
the price will be consistent with other branches in the world, the
museum said. An adult ticket is ￡21.99 (US$38.56) in the London
branch.
Started in the early 1800s as a collection of death masks of
guillotined French aristocrats, Madame Tussauds today has five
other branches in London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas and New
York.
(Shanghai Daily March 22, 2006)
