The wax museum Madame Tussauds will open its Shanghai branch on the 10th floor of the New World Department Store on May 1, displaying a first batch of 21 wax models, the Oriental Morning Post reported.

 

Madame Tussauds Shanghai, its sixth branch in the world and the first in China's mainland, will display foreign celebrities such as Princess Diana, Bill Gates, David Beckham, Tom Cruise, and great historical figures like Albert Einstein.

 

The 9,600-square-meter display will also include, as its distinctive feature, a collection of contemporary Chinese figures such as the state's first cosmonaut Yang Liwei, Nobel Prize winner Yang Zhengning, Olympic champion Liu Xiang and popular stars like Yao Ming, Andy Lau, Jay Chou and Jackie Chan.

 

Instead of displaying these models as stand-alone portraits, the world famous museum will put them in context to help visitors appreciate the figures' achievements. For example, Yao Ming will appear dribbling a basketball in a match and Liu Xiang will be shown accepting his Olympic medal.

 

Apart from static displays, the museum will also include interactive features such as the production of wax models. Visitors may also order wax models portraying themselves.

 

Although the ticket office of the museum has already been completed, it has yet to be opened to the public. The museum has also refused to disclose the exact figure of the admission fee. But the price will be consistent with other branches in the world, the museum said. An adult ticket is ￡21.99 (US$38.56) in the London branch.

 

Started in the early 1800s as a collection of death masks of guillotined French aristocrats, Madame Tussauds today has five other branches in London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas and New York.

 

(Shanghai Daily March 22, 2006)