After much delay and anticipation Hong Kong’s very own Noah’s Ark theme park, which forms a significant portion of Sun Hung Kei’s Ma Wan Park public tourist development project, is apparently only open to certain religious groups (see SCMP references below). Time will tell whether Moses Cheng Mo-chi, christian, lawyer, and chairman of the Ma Wan Park advisory committee, will decide to open Noah’s Ark to the public.
I stand to be corrected but supposedly there is a “full-size representation” 20-metre high model of Noah’s Ark on show. Are we to erroneously believe that only a few thousand years ago, during a massive flood that covered the entire Earth, Noah and his wife stuffed pairs of the world’s animals into such confined surroundings for 40 days and 40 nights? Worse still, it is deceitful to teach children this story as literal truth when our understanding of all life through science (e.g. evolution, geology, physics, etc, etc) provides so much more wonder and awe than simply saying “God did it”.
I also wonder how Moses Cheng will promote Hong Kong’s most hilarious theme park? (And this is saying something considering the competition from Hong Kong DisneyLand!!) His soon-to-be posted HKSAR Name of the Day is certainly attention grabbing, which is a gimmick all in itself!
References (from SCMP):
Ark should not be off-limits
May 09, 2009
My family and friends who live in Ma Wan have been looking forward, with much anticipation, to visiting the Noah's Ark theme park, a part of the Ma Wan Park, following its completion late last year.
Organised groups have visited Noah's Ark since January, but they appear to have been mainly from certain religious organisations.
Local residents still have not been invited, which means that our legitimate expectations have been overlooked.
I hope that the park advisory committee and its chairman will issue an invitation to Ma Wan residents in the near future.
K. Y. Tan, Ma Wan
Noah's Ark prepares to cast off after finding its Moses
LAI SEE
Ben Kwok
May 06, 2009
With recent events such as our financial and health woes taking on biblical proportions, it came as little surprise yesterday when Moses was named to run a theme park that includes Noah's Ark.
Lawyer Moses Cheng Mo-chi has become chairman of the Ma Wan Park advisory committee, a body set up by developer Sun Hung Kai Properties (SEHK: 0016) and the government to oversee tourism operations on the island overlooking the Rambler Channel and beside the Tsing Ma Bridge.
Ma Wan Park has a nature garden that opened two years ago and a full-size representation of Noah's Ark covering 270,000 square feet that was completed at the end of last year and will be open to the public soon, complete with hotel.
In keeping with the biblical theme, it should be noted that 60-year-old Mr Cheng, who sits on the boards of 11 listed companies, including Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (SEHK: 0388, announcements, news) , is a Christian and regular churchgoer.
And in keeping with the ark theme, members of the advisory committee have been selected two-by-two.
There are a pair of district councillors from Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing, two Sun Hung Kai board members - executive director Chan Kui-yuen and non-executive director Eric Li Ka-cheung - and a pair of operations managers, also from the developer.
A world of illusion
4 days ago
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