中国首富拟建世界顶级奢华影都

It's a uniquely Chinese equation: take a government that's increasingly obsessed with its image abroad, add a wildly ambitious property tycoon, and you get a business announcement so elaborate that Leonardo DiCaprio will fly halfway across the world to bear witness to it.

China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, broke ground on Sunday for what is being touted as the world's most expensive film studio in Qingdao, a quiet city of three million people on the country's east coast.

When the Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis opens in 2017, according to Wang's speech at the ceremony, it will cover more than 500 hectares (two square miles) and include a studio for filming underwater, a permanent car show, seven resort hotels, an indoor amusement park, a 300-berth yacht club, 20 sound stages and a hospital.

DiCaprio, John Travolta, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta Jones, Jet Li and Ewan McGregor were all at the launch, alongside a host of other celebrities.

Wang, 58, the chairman of the Beijing-based property developer Dalian Wanda Group, called the studio the most expensive film industryinvestment of all time – an "unprecedented project that will create history" according to transcripts of his speech posted to the company's website. It will cost up to 30bn yuan (£3bn) and open in 2017.

The complex's sheer size is in keeping with the challenges that it seeks to overcome. China's film industry, while growing, is burdened by a stultifying bureaucracy and draconian censorship.

Hollywood imports account for the bulk of the country's box-office takings. While US-China co-productions have become common in recent years, few have gone on to conquer global markets. Many get so tangled up in negotiations that they never make it past the planning stage.

China maintains a strict quota on the number of foreign films screened in the country each year, and those that make the cut are often dragged down by censorship. The government-approved cut of the Wachowskis' Cloud Atlas was 40 minutes shorter than the original. In April, Quentin Tarantino's revenge western Django Unchained was withdrawn from cinemas minutes into its first screening; it reopened a month later with three of the goriest minutes missing and flopped.

The Chinese government has pumped billions of pounds of subsidies into the arts, hoping that domestic films can help improve the country's image abroad. China's film industry has grown tenfold since 2002, with an average of nine new screens opening in the country every day.

Wang is suffused with optimism: he told reporters that he expected China's cinema audience, currently the world's second largest, to take the top spot from the US by 2018. "With the huge potential that comes with a population of 1.3 billion, the global film industry will recognise that the sooner you partner with China, the sooner you make more money," he said, according to the state news agency, Xinhua.

Yet critics say that no matter how much cash is in the system, China will not outshine Hollywood until its film-makers are given more creative space.

Feng Xiaogang, a historical epic director sometimes called China's Spielberg, broached the topic while accepting a "director of the year" award from the China Film Directors' Guild in April. "A lot of times when you receive a [censorship] order, it's so ridiculous that you don't know whether to laugh or cry," he said. A video of his acceptance speech briefly went viral online before it was itself removed by censors.

Wang grew up hungry and spent 17 years in the People's Liberation Army; he later became the first Chinese citizen to own a private jet.

His company is best known for its prime properties throughout China, including 72 Wanda Plazas – sprawling developments that usually include shopping centres, hotels and cinemas.

The company has also been exploring abroad. Last year, Wang's £1.6bn acquisition of the US multiplex chain AMC Cinemas made international headlines. He is building luxury hotels in New York and London. Last week, he donated £12m to the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences in Los Angeles, which will name a new film library in his honour.

一个国际形象在不断提升的政府，加上一位雄心壮志的房地产巨鳄，等于一个连莱昂纳多•迪卡普里奥都要飞过半个地球来见证的商业消息，这就是独具特色的中国式等式。

中国首富王健林计划在青岛建造的影城——这座拥有300万人口的安静的中国东部沿海城市，于9月22日周日破土动工。据称，其建成后将成为世界上耗资最巨大的影城。

王健林在奠基仪式上发表讲话称，青岛东方影都在2017开业时，将占地500公顷（2平方英里）。其中包含一个水下摄影工作室、一个永久性车展、7个度假酒店、一个室内游乐场、一个拥有300个泊位的游艇俱乐部、20个影棚以及一家医院。

迪卡普里奥、约翰•特拉沃尔塔、妮可•基德曼、凯瑟琳•泽塔•琼斯、伊万•迈克格雷格和李连杰等与其他众多明星一起出席了奠基仪式。

58岁的王健林是地产开发商大连万达集团的董事长，其总部设在北京，他把即将建造的影都称为有史以来电影业的最大投资——“史无前例，将会创造历史的项目”。该影都将耗资300亿人民币（30亿英镑），预计于2017年建成开业。

青岛东方影都规模如此，也意味着其要迎接的挑战巨大。中国的电影业虽然在不断发展，但却在国内沉闷严苛的审查制度的影响下倍感压抑。

如今，好莱坞的电影占据了中国票房的大半江山。虽然近年来中美合作了不少电影，但鲜有作品能够在国际市场引起太大反响。许多电影在拍摄前的协商阶段就遭遇重重困难，还未进入计划阶段就已夭折。

中国对于每年进口国外电影的数量有严格的限制，而其严格的审查制度也通常会对进口的电影进行删减。由沃卓斯基姐弟导演的《云图》在中国放映时就比原电影缩短了40分钟。而四月份上映的由昆汀•塔伦蒂诺导演的《被解放的姜戈》仅放映了几分钟就被紧急叫停，一个月后重返银幕时，有三分钟的血腥场面已被删减，遭遇惨淡票房。

中国政府已投入了数十亿英镑用于发展文艺事业，希望国产电影能够帮助提升其国际形象。中国的电影业自2002年起开始发展迅速，平均每天就有9部电影上映。

王健林很乐观，他告诉记者，目前中国电影观众的数量在全世界排第二位，他期待2018年的时候能够超越美国占据首位。据新华社报道，王健林称：“中国有13亿的人口，潜力是巨大的，国际电影界会认识到，越早与中国合作就会越快盈利。”

但有批评者认为，除非给予电影制作者更大的创作空间，否则无论投入多少资金，中国的电影都不会超越好莱坞。

被称为“中国的斯皮尔伯格”的著名导演冯小刚四月份在接受中国电影导演协会颁发的“年度最佳导演” 奖时说到了这一问题。“很多时候当你听到一个（审查）意见时，你会觉得特别荒谬，让人啼笑皆非。”冯小刚这段发表获奖感言的视频在网上被疯传，稍后被审查人员删除。

王健林在贫穷中长大，当了17年的兵。后来他成为第一个拥有私人飞机的中国人。

他的公司因房地产事业闻名，其在全国拥有72座万达广场——通常包含购物中心、酒店与影院的综合建筑。

万达的触角也已伸向海外。去年，王健林斥资160亿英镑收购美国AMC影院产业链的消息登上了世界资讯的头条。目前，他正在纽约和伦敦建设豪华酒店。而9月中旬，他又向位于洛杉矶的电影艺术与科学学院捐款1200万英镑，该学院则以他的名字命名了一座新建成的电影图书馆。