Splendid China Folk Village

This guide to Splendid China Folk Village traces the ambition behind it: Ma Zhimin, later dubbed the Father of Chinese Theme Parks, opened this Shenzhen site in September 1989 with the idea of compressing the whole country into eighty-two miniature landmarks across thirty hectares beside the bay. It follows the crowds who came in the decades after, many seeing places like the Forbidden City or the Great Wall for the first time in any form. The guide also visits the full-size ethnic folk villages added in 1991, standing at real scale beyond the miniatures. Head south toward the water to see how the park and the city beside it grew up together.