Chinese Park Embodies Piracy Fight

Photo by Japan ProbeIf you have any doubts that China remains the wild west of intellectual property, check out the characters at this Beijing amusement park. That's not Mickey Mouse, that isn't Snow White, and those most certainly are not the seven dwarfs. They are the seven elves, and she's a just Chinese country girl, thank you very much. The Associated Press report on China's Shijingshan Amusement Park is both alarming and mildly hillarious:

Even in a country awash in pirated music, movies and other goods, the state-owned Shijingshan park stands out.

"We do not have any agreements with Disney," its deputy general manager, Yin Zhiqiang, said Wednesday. "The characters in our park just look a little bit similar to theirs. But the faces, clothes, sizes and appearances are different."

Over the weeklong May Day holiday, the Shijingshan Amusement Park filled its grounds on Beijing's western suburbs with actors in costumes that resembled Disney and other foreign characters.

A video shot by Japan's Fuji TV on May 1 showed children cavorting with characters resembling Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Japan's Hello Kitty and Doraemon.

A banner over the entrance said, "Disney is too far, so please come to Shijingshan."