Ground was broken on April 28 for what may become the world's largest show cluster -- Zhuhai Songcheng Performance Park -- which is to open in two years at the foot of Huangyang Mt in Doumen District.

The world-class destination for performance entertainment covers a core area of 1,700 mu (113 hectares, 279 acres) and will cost 15 billion yuan ($2 billion). The site faces Huangyang Avenue (365 Provincial Road) in east Doumen Town to its south and Lyuyou (Travel) Avenue in the west, and backs Wangbao Reservoir below the iconic Jintai Temple.

To be built are 22 theaters and performance venues which will offer 35 shows simultaneously to more than 30,000 spectators. Included are leisure facilities such as themed cultural blocks, parent-child experience zones, and a hotel cluster. Performances from around the globe range from live-action, indoor, walking, and sci-tech shows to children's plays, operas, and dance dramas.

Rendering of parent-child center at Songcheng Performance Park [Photo by Zeng Yao & Xu Baixi / Zhuhai Media Group]

In addition to its knock-out Legend of Romance series, the park will also explore scene plays, thrillers, musicals, and immersive performances; it reportedly would take visitors two to three days to take it all in.

Moreover, the resort will host Songcheng International Carnivals and Theatre Festivals, and world-class concerts in line with the standards of the Carnival of Brazil, France's Festival d'Avignon (Avignon Festival), and Scotland's Edinburgh Art Festival.

The park will help Zhuhai further enhance its international cultural clout, elevate its tourism sector, boost rural rejuvenation, and balance the development of the east and west wings of the city.  

One of the Top 30 Cultural Enterprises in China for 10 consecutive years, Hangzhou-based Songcheng Group owns 74 various theaters across the country with a combined 175,000-seats, way beyond the total of London's West End and Broadway. The series Legend of Romance is staged in 8,000 sessions annually in front of more than 35 million spectators.

The enterprise ranks at the top of the global performance entertainment market in terms of number of theaters and seats, as well as annual performances, spectators, and profit.

Zhuhai Party Secretary Guo Yonghang, Mayor Yao Yisheng, CPPCC Zhuhai Municipal Committee Chairman Chen Honghui, Deputy Executive Director of the CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee Chen Ying, and Chairman of Songcheng Group Huang Qiaoling attended the ground-breaking ceremony.