FEATURES: INSTALLATION
Water world
The Chimelong International Ocean Resort
The Chimelong International Ocean
Resort is hoping to attract business
visitors with state of the art conferencing
facilities. Caroline Moss visits
ACROSS CHINA, THE LEISURE AND
tourism industry is exploding. More
disposable income and an increasing
amount of free time are creating
an unprecedented demand for
entertainment. Unsurprisingly,
theme parks are
multiplying
all over
Ruifeng’s project supervisor
Victor Wang
the country. One of the rst and
biggest, Chimelong Paradise,
opened in Guangzhou in 2006. Now
the Chimelong Group, a Chinese
tourism company that also operates
the Chimelong Circus and Panyu
Xiangjiang Safari Park, has turned
aquatic with the opening of Ocean
Kingdom. And in its drive to again
be the biggest, the attraction has
just usurped the Georgia Aquarium
in Atlanta as the Guinness Book of
Records’ largest aquarium, with a
total of 48.75 million litres of salt and
fresh water containing a variety of
sea creatures.
Ocean Kingdom is located on
Hengqin Island, Zhuhai, once a
sleepy backwater 15 minutes from
the gambling hub of Macau. It is part
of the larger Chimelong International
Ocean Resort, which has stated its
goal as becoming the Orlando of
China. The theme park went into
construction in November 2010, with
a rst phase costing RMB10 billion.
A soft opening took place over the
Chinese New Year in late January
2014, attracting half a million
visitors, before the grand opening on
March 29th. Not all the attractions,
which range from the world’s longest
wooden roller coaster to dolphin,
whale shark and beluga habitats, are
yet open, but it is hoped that once
it is fully functioning, the 353-acre
site will attract a fair slice of Macau’s
annual 29 million tourists.
100 PRO AUDIO ASIA July–August 2014
The spectacular lobby interior
Connected to the theme park by a
1,000m canal is the huge Hengqin
Bay Hotel, with a total of 1,888
rooms. The Chimelong Group’s
claim that Hengqin Bay is the largest
ecologically themed hotel in China is
apparent from the moment of arrival.
Everything is on a grand scale and
sea-themed, from the larger-than-life
stone walruses cavorting in fountains
at the entrance, through into the
lobby where a display of supersized
dolphin statues welcome guests.
Oceanic themes dominate, from the
jelly sh-motif carpets to coral reef
balustrades and octopus light ttings.
Not only does the Chimelong
International Ocean Resort cater
for leisure travellers, in true
North American theme park
fashion the resort is also hoping
to lure the business community.
Accordingly the hotel has a stateof-the-art convention centre which
encompasses the 3,000 sq-m Ocean
Palace ballroom (designed without
supporting pillars to provide a large
open space), the smaller 1,200
sq-m Crystal Palace ballroom and
26 multifunction meeting rooms.
A range of loudspeakers from LAX
and L-Acoustics have been installed
throughout these areas, with AudioTechnica providing the conferencing
facilities.
LAX’s technical and design
consultancy arm, Ruifeng Audio
Technology, was responsible for
system integration throughout the
entire hotel, with a team led by
project supervisor Victor Wang. Mr
Wang