Shekou Sea World

Thursday, 12th October 2006 by

Back in 1962 France launched a ship named Ancerville, which was purchased by the People's Republic of China in 1973 and renamed Minghua. 10 years later the ship was permanently berthed at Shekou, Shenzhen, where she was refurbished and rebranded - this time as the hotel and entertainment complex, "Shekou Sea World".

Since the Minghua was berthed at Sea World Plaza, the water which originally surrounded her has been reclaimed to allow construction of the golf course you can see here. The land reclamation continued southward, and today the coastline has been moved several hundred metres, leaving the Minghua completely landlocked.

Weirdly, this isn't the only landlocked entertainment ship in China - there's another one in Hong Kong. Are there any other countries that have converted a ship into a shopping centre?

Here's a history of the ship which includes some good low-level shots.

Thanks to Nrupesh Soni.