{"id":686,"date":"2010-09-21T07:19:14","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T23:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mdnphoto.com\/blog\/?p=686"},"modified":"2010-09-21T07:19:14","modified_gmt":"2010-09-20T23:19:14","slug":"happy-magic-water-park-reverie-and-leisure-in-communist-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/2010\/09\/21\/happy-magic-water-park-reverie-and-leisure-in-communist-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing005.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing005.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"950\" height=\"633\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-689\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"paragraph\">\n<p>The Water Cube on Beijing\u2019s Olympic Green is easily one of the most enthralling aquatic centers on the planet. Its bubble-like exterior is almost as recognizable in China as the Mao portrait hanging above the Forbidden City. However, ever since Michael Phelps walked away with eight gold medals in 2008, the Beijing municipal government has struggled to make the complex a commercially viable venture and just recently placed all their hope in an incredibly ornate theme park. The \u201cHappy Magic Water Cube, Beijing Water Cube Water Park,\u201d now dominates the southern end of the structure and caters to an emerging urban elite who can afford the hefty entry price. The water park epitomizes the fantastical escapism so sought after by a burgeoning moneyed class in Beijing. Here one can slip into a state of reverie and forget about the smog-covered skies and endless traffic jams just outside the aqua-blue cellular membrane encasing the Happy Magic Water Park. It is the ultimate leisure playground in a country still coming to grips with profound social inequalities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing001.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing001.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"950\" height=\"633\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-690\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing006.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing006.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplel size-full wp-image-694\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing011.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing011.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplec size-full wp-image-699\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing008.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing008.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntripler size-full wp-image-696\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing012.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing012.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"950\" height=\"633\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-700\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing010.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing010.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplel size-full wp-image-698\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing002.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing002.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplec size-full wp-image-691\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing013.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing013.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntripler size-full wp-image-701\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing009.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing009.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplel size-full wp-image-697\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing003.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing003.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplec size-full wp-image-692\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing004.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing004.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntripler size-full wp-image-693\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing007.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100916_happmagicwatercube_waterpark_beijing007.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" title=\"Happy Magic Water Park: Reverie and Leisure in Communist China\" width=\"950\" height=\"633\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-695\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Water Cube on Beijing\u2019s Olympic Green is easily one of the most enthralling aquatic centers on the planet. Its bubble-like exterior is almost as recognizable in China as the Mao portrait hanging above the Forbidden City. However, ever since Michael Phelps walked away with eight gold medals in 2008, the Beijing municipal government has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[39,79,236,395,427,430],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-counterfeit_paradises_category","category-society_category","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-leisure","tag-theme-park","tag-water","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}