The Titanic replica, which costs $145.31 million, or 1 billion yuan, will be finished by the end of 2017. (Photo : whatshallwedonext/YouTube)
Jack and Rose's experience of a cruise ship as lavish as the Titanic can be soon experienced too by people who can afford such a luxury.
On Wednesday, a keel laying ceremony for the construction of a life-sized replica of the Titanic was held in Daying county in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and was attended by Peter Mandelson, British former deputy prime minister, and some U.S. designers.
RMS Titanic, a luxury cruise ship which sank upon hitting an iceberg on its very first voyage in 1912, was immortalized in a Hollywood film starring Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and would soon be an object of tourism in Daying county.
A county officer revealed that unlike the 1912 ship, its replica will not go sailing but will be docked permanently at the Qijiang River. But despite this, a high-technology equipment will simulate the iceberg collision, letting the visitors experience a slice of the infamous tragedy.
According to a China Daily report, the budget for this project which will follow the original design of both the exterior and interior of the ship, was 1 billion yuan ($145 million).
Qixing Energy Investment, the investor of the project, had taken years to gather most of the original blueprints from different collectors in different parts of the world, Qixing Chairman Su Shaojun revealed.
"The interior of the replica will include the large banquet hall and the first-class guesthouse," Su said.
The plan for this construction was started more than two years ago, and the designing process has taken much time because GC High-Tech, the company that was invited to design the ship, was in the US and they had to constantly consult Wuchang Shipyard, the shipbuilder which is based in Wuhan, Hubei.
