That's not a mouse. It's a cat with very large ears. Honest!

There's been some interesting things heading round the blogsphere over the last few days. One of them that caught my eye was this amusement park in China which, with its slogan "Disneyland is too far", claims to not at all be based on any of Disney's ideas or creations. Indeed, Disneyland isn't really too far in China now, since Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005...

The United States have said they're going to file a complaint with the World Trade Organisation over rampant copyright piracy in China, which they claim costs them billions of dollars a year.

According to the JapanProbe blog, who found the YouTube video of a news report from the park:

The President of the park, who is interviewed in the video, tells them that nothing is copied from Disney and that all the characters are original creations (He also says the line about Mickey rip-off = big-eared cat). However, a little girl they encounter tells them that she sees Disney characters, and even the people inside the character costumes admit that they’re based on Disney’s creations.

He may say that, but the official website of the park refers to the "Gothic Cinderella Castle and proudly boasts the slogan at the bottom of every page:

Disneyland is too far away. Please come to Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park!

The park's website says it opened in 1986, almost 20 years before China saw it's first real Disney park. Of course, this isn't the only blatant rip-off of Disney parks in Asia...

Links:
- Shijingshan Amusement Park - Official Website
- Fake Disneyland in China - Boing Boing
- Shijingshan Amusement Park - The Emerald Buddah
- Disneyland in China? - JapanProbe
- Disneyland in China News Report - YouTube
- Chinese government-managed amusement park - Kansai.com Blog (Japanese - Google Translation)
- Shijingshan Amusement Park - Funny sightseeing [tsu] beam! (Japanese - Google Translation)
- Fakes a real fact of life in China's heated economy - The Standard