Noah's Ark is a tourist attraction located on

Ma Wan Island Ma Wan is List of islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, an island of Hong Kong, located between Lantau Island and Tsing Yi, Tsing Yi Island, with an area of .

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. It is an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

centred, according to its own materials, on the themes of nature, art, education and love. The overarching theme of the park is a

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...

narrative. It was built by Thomas and Raymond Kwok, Hong Kong real estate developers who own the real estate company Sun Hung Kai.

History

Part of

Ma Wan Park Ma Wan Park is a park on Ma Wan island, New Territories, Hong Kong. It is operated by Sun Hung Kai Properties with investment from the Hong Kong Government. Ma Wan Island is connected to Tsing Yi Island by the Tsing Ma Bridge. The park is ...

, planning of Ma Wan Park began in 1997, after the Government agreed to subsidise the construction by 800 million HKD. The park was part of SHK's plan for developing the Ma Wan area generally, including the nearby Rosedale residential development. Construction began in 2005, with targets for phased openings in 2006 being missed. The first phase of the park, originally scheduled for opening in 2006, opened in 2007, not including Noah's Ark. This phase included a nature park, which is free to visit. The rest of the park was completed in December 2008, with a limited opening in March 2009 and a full opening in May of that year.

Controversy

In 2012, the two Kwok brothers were charged with bribing

Rafael Hui Rafael Hui Si-yan (born 8 February 1948) is a former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong and career civil servant. Hui has been dubbed "Old Master Hui" () and "Fat Dragon" (). Hui was appointed as a Justice of the Peace on 1986 and ...

, the former

Chief Secretary for Administration The Chief Secretary for Administration, commonly known as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, is the most senior principal official of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Chief Secretary is head of the Governmen ...

of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2007 who was in charge of the

project (which included Noah's Ark) at the time of its construction, to be their "eyes and ears in government" in a case said to highlight "the cozy relationship between the city's powerful developers and government." Revealed in the court case was a memo by Thomas Kwok in which he wrote "We all know this park is only an excuse for village relocation, and our main target is only on the residential development plus the village relocation." The bribes from Thomas Kwok to Rafael Hui amounted to a total of HKD$8.5 million. The two brothers were arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption In December 2014, Thomas Kwok was convicted by the Court of Final Appeal of "conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office," while his brother Raymond Kwok was cleared of all charges. Thomas Kwok was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of $500,000. Rafael Hui, Sun Hung Kai executive Thomas Chan and businessman Francis Kwan were also jailed.

Attractions

The park's centrepiece is a multi-story building with a facade built to resemble

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...

, where visitors may book a stay in either a hotel or a youth hostel located on the top floor. Alighting from the ark are sculptures of 67 life-size pairs of exotic animals, birds and creatures. Within the park is a nature garden alongside the existing natural landscape, where native trees have been preserved along the terraced paths. The park features amusements designed for young children together with a

menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern Zoo, zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, in reference to ...

of small animals (mostly reptiles) in small display cages. There is also an

obstacle course An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual, team or animal must navigate, usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with th ...

, climbing, and outward bound type courses.

Evangelism

Inside Noah's Ark the main attraction is a multimedia experience, including a 180-degree wide-screen theatre. The multimedia experience begins with an introduction to

Judeo-Christian The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...

teaching from the time of

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

and features an imagined 'reconstruction' of the

Holy of Holies The Holy of Holies (Hebrew: ''Qōḏeš haqQŏḏāšīm'' or ''Kodesh HaKodashim''; also הַדְּבִיר ''haDəḇīr'', 'the Sanctuary') is a term in the Hebrew Bible that refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle, where God's prese ...

complete with the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an e ...

. There are

guides A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Exp ...

who lead the audience through a series of theatres and galleries designed to convey messages about the challenges that the Earth and humanity are facing today. The suggested solution to said problems is an acceptance of the

Christian God God in Christianity is believed to be the eternal, supreme being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe in a monotheistic conception of God, which is both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material u ...

and Biblical teaching. The multimedia experience concludes with a history of the Bible with emphasis on the dissemination of the Bible in China. Elsewhere within the park visitors are likely to come across staff playing the role of the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first ...

being pursued by others dressed as Roman legionaries.

References

External links