The enormous theme park will have — in an ironic contradiction to communist principles — shopping malls, indoor parks, theaters and hotels built in 1930s style reminiscent of when the prefectural city was the headquarters of the nation's Community Party, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
Construction of the mall will begin in the first quarter of 2019 and is expected to be completed during the first half of 2021.
"Wanda is committed to the Yan'an spirit and will turn the Yan'an Wanda City into a new brand for red tourism," the company stated recently, referring to tourism in which Chinese people visit locations that are historically significant to Chinese Communism as a means to potentially resurrect the principles of proletarian and class struggle.
"Wanda Group, in line with historical mission and social responsibility, [will] promote the Yanan spirit and make the Yanan Wanda City a new national red tourism trademark," Wanda's billionaire founder Wang Jianlin added.
In 2014, the Wanda Group opened a 7 billion yuan ($1.13 billion) Chinese-culture-based theme park and performance theatre in Wuhan as part of a grandiose series of entertainment projects to rival Disney, DreamWorks and Universal, Sputnik reported.
Over the last several years, Wang's company has been expanding internationally, purchasing US theatre chain AMC Entertainment in 2012, and entering into talks to purchase a stake in legacy entertainment companies Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lions Gate Entertainment. Wang has stated that he seeks to control 20 percent of the global film market by 2020.
