Construction of a full scale replica of the RMS Titanic is underway at a theme park in southwest China.
Every detail of the 850-foot-long ship is to be styled after the original that sunk during its maiden voyage in 1912, from the dining room to the door handles.
The enormous replica will remain docked on a reservoir in a rural area of the Sichuan province, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away from the sea.
But visitors splashing out 2,000 yuan (£220) a night for the “five-star cruise service” will feel as if they’re at sea because of the ship’s functioning steam engine, according to the project’s financier.
Investor Su Shaojun says that he became involved in the billion yuan (£110 million) project to keep the memory of the ill-fated ship alive.
“I hope this ship will be here in 100 or 200 years,” he said. “We are building a museum for the Titanic.”
Mr Su added that he expects the volume of tourists attracted to the ship to return his investment, which he sold his energy industry assets including several hydropower projects to provide.
Over a hundred workers, 23,000 tons of steel and six years have so far gone into building the ship – and the accompanying replica of Southampton Port, from which the real Titanic set sail to New York four days before sinking.
The port features in James Cameron’s 1997 Titanic, as Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) wins a ticket to board the ship shortly before boarding alongside Rose (Kate Winslet).
Tour buses leading visitors to the replica play the film’s theme, Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’, on repeat, as a nod to the disaster epic which is hugely popular in China.
But although Mr Su hopes to attract five million annual visitors to his Titanic, critics have questioned how appropriate the project is in light of the disaster that befell the ship’s passengers.
At least 1,500 people died after the Titanic struck an ice burg around 375 miles from Newfoundland in 1912, most within minutes of being plunged into the freezing water. The ship’s crew were unprepared for its sinking and an inadequate number of lifeboats were stored onboard.
Mr Su’s replica of the Titanic is the first full-scale replica of the ship to be built.
The set of Mr Cameron’s Titanic film was 90 per cent of the original cruise liner’s size.
An opening date has not yet been set.
