China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Family destination
World’s largest Hello Kitty Park comes to Zhejiang
If you’re grumpy because the line is too long, then a Japanese cartoon character may arrive to cheer you up. Really. That’s a service at the world’s largest Hello Kitty Park in Zhejiang province’s Anji county.
The destination provides rides, educational performances and parade floats.
Arrivals are greeted by Kitty’s face fixed on a Ferris wheel.
Photo ops abound beyond that.
Families can even visit her house to tour her bedroom, living room and kitchen. Portraits of her parents and grandparents hang on the walls.
Nighttime imbues the area with the glow of colorful lights for a parade.
The park’s protagonist appears on floats alongside such characters as penguin Bad Badtz-Maru.
Souvenir shops sell more than 4,000 kinds of merchandise, such as phone cases, toys and backpacks.
The park’s Yinrun Jinjiang Castle Hotel offers Hello Kitty themed rooms. The pink accommodation is adorned in namesake style down to the finest details.
The park is brand-owner Sanrio’s only authorized Hello Kitty park outside Japan.
“Our park has its own culture,” says Liu Fudao, managing director of the park’s operator, Zhejiang Insight Angel Paradise Management Ltd.
“Hello Kitty and her friends have different personalities. They are more than cartoon characters. They have their own stories. These stories constitute their culture.”
Liu says many guests come from cities within 150 kilometers.
Others are from Beijing, Fujian, Guangdong and Hong Kong.
“It’s a family destination,” he says.