December 30, 2006: A Chinese entertainment company has built a Nimitz class aircraft carrier. The vessel can be seen via Google Earth (31.10,121.01), west of Shanghai, at the Military Education Center of the 925 acre "Orient Green Boat After-School Camp for Youngsters." A bus ticket to the carrier, from Shanghai, costs about eight bucks. Just in case you are in the areas. The carrier is not to scale, it appears to be about ¾ scale, and has replicas of Chinese warplanes on the "flight deck." The "carrier" is actually a steel frame building constructed in the shape of a carrier. Inside are meeting rooms, and areas for the display of more military themed material.

What is this all about? Quite simply, over the past decade, Chinese have gone nuts over theme parks. There are now nearly 2,000 of them, nearly all newly constructed, like "Orient Green Boat After-School Camp for Youngsters." But from outer space, it looks like someone has built an aircraft carrier, and set it in a small lake. Well, that will keep any potential invaders-from-outer-space at a safe distance.