Wonder-full China
(China Today) –- A short scenic film about China that has been dazzling visitors to Walt Disney World in Florida since 1982, is to be updated to showcase many new changes in the nation. “Wonders of China” has been on show at the Epcot Center in a 360 degree cinema that makes viewers feel they are seeing sights first-hand, as if they are in the country itself. “There have been a lot of changes in China over the past 20 years,” said David Katzman, a director of production of Walt Disney Imagineering. “We are looking forward to working with the Chinese Government to give Walt Disney World guests a glimpse of modern China.” In early September, a crew of American filmmakers and their Chinese counterparts from the China Research Institute of Film Science Technology began filming in Beijing, the first leg of their two-month trip, to capture new footage in seven Chinese cities. To add “modern elements,” the crew have been quite sensitive in choosing locations to shoot. In Beijing, the footage of Beihai Park, the Great Wall and Tian’anmen Square will be renewed. There is one scene of Nine-Dragon Wall (Jiulongbi), which is located inside Beihai Park. “The reason we are filming the Nine-Dragon Wall again is because 20 years ago most people were walking past it in blue and gray. Now people are dressed more colorfully,” said director Jeff Blyth, who also directed the film 20 years ago. The film will include some major additions such as footage of Hong Kong and Macao, which returned to China in 1997 and 1999 respectively. In a bid to provide fresh views of city life of modern China, the crew will capture new footage of Shanghai, which will include scenes on the Bund and the Nanjing Road. “We are also doing small images of places such as the People’s Park, some areas in Pudong, all those banks and the Stock Market. Many Westerners do not know Shanghai has a stock market like New York, and the film will give them a surprise,” said Steve Spiegel, show writer at Disney who wrote the play of the new version. Over the following two months, the crew will also go to Urumqi, the capital city of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The new version is scheduled to premiere in the cinema at Epcot next July.
(China Today) –- A short scenic film about China that has been dazzling visitors to Walt Disney World in Florida since 1982, is to be updated to showcase many new changes in the nation. “Wonders of China” has been on show at the Epcot Center in a 360 degree cinema that makes viewers feel they are seeing sights first-hand, as if they are in the country itself. “There have been a lot of changes in China over the past 20 years,” said David Katzman, a director of production of Walt Disney Imagineering. “We are looking forward to working with the Chinese Government to give Walt Disney World guests a glimpse of modern China.” In early September, a crew of American filmmakers and their Chinese counterparts from the China Research Institute of Film Science Technology began filming in Beijing, the first leg of their two-month trip, to capture new footage in seven Chinese cities. To add “modern elements,” the crew have been quite sensitive in choosing locations to shoot. In Beijing, the footage of Beihai Park, the Great Wall and Tian’anmen Square will be renewed. There is one scene of Nine-Dragon Wall (Jiulongbi), which is located inside Beihai Park. “The reason we are filming the Nine-Dragon Wall again is because 20 years ago most people were walking past it in blue and gray. Now people are dressed more colorfully,” said director Jeff Blyth, who also directed the film 20 years ago. The film will include some major additions such as footage of Hong Kong and Macao, which returned to China in 1997 and 1999 respectively. In a bid to provide fresh views of city life of modern China, the crew will capture new footage of Shanghai, which will include scenes on the Bund and the Nanjing Road. “We are also doing small images of places such as the People’s Park, some areas in Pudong, all those banks and the Stock Market. Many Westerners do not know Shanghai has a stock market like New York, and the film will give them a surprise,” said Steve Spiegel, show writer at Disney who wrote the play of the new version. Over the following two months, the crew will also go to Urumqi, the capital city of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The new version is scheduled to premiere in the cinema at Epcot next July.
I only realized that when I was already packing and with no time to go back to Epcot. 
