Citizens Against Communist Chinese Propaganda: Dec. 19, 1998 Protest Demonstration

Citizens Against Communist Chinese Propaganda

December 19, 1998 Protest Demonstration

Florida Splendid China, Kissimmee, Florida December 19, 1998 Part Three: Towards the Potala Palace exhibit...
The Potala Palace exhibit is in deplorable condition. Tree-like weeds rise from the mound and large cracks are in evidence on the exhibit itself. The outside of the exhibit is stained from the water-sprinklers and the gold on the roofs has worn completely off in places. The trees and shrubs along the back wall have also been neglected and are growing wildly.

Florida Splendid China, Kissimmee, Florida December 19, 1998

Part Three: Towards the Potala Palace exhibit...

The Potala Palace exhibit is in deplorable condition.

Tree-like weeds rise from the mound and large cracks are in evidence on the exhibit itself.

The outside of the exhibit is stained from the water-sprinklers and the gold on the roofs has worn completely off in places.

The trees and shrubs along the back wall have also been neglected and are growing wildly.

Inside 'ChinaTown', we discovered that the once loud and brash video-game parlour has been closed, the Visitor services area, which once displayed the pictures of Mao, Deng, Nixon, Bush, and Reagan is now part of the Orlando Tourism Board. It was next to the room with the Korean, Tibetan, Dai, and Tajik 'nationality costumes'.

It was difficult to find someone who worked at the park and willing to answer a question about the new Mortal Kombat TV series on cable. We did find out that it is starting filming at Florida Splendid China on January 20, 1999.

We looked into all the shops. The Andean craftsperson is still there, but the bookstore is now a Gung-fu store with Bruce Lee posters, weapons, clothes and books. We even found the whole store (devoid of even salespeople) devoted to the sale of goods for the "Imperial Tombs of China" exhibit. Everything here was 50% off. The same was true in the T-Shirt shop selling Splendid China shirts, everything was 50% off. At one of the shops, we managed to pick up a discount cassette tape of patriotic songs. Having a Florida Splendid China logo and songs with titles like "Western land, the Precious Place of Our Motherland," "String Dance of Tibetans," and "Hand in Hand , Heart in Heart" this appears to be evidence of Chinese Communist Party propaganda being distributed under the auspices of Florida Splendid China. It will be scanned and translated in the near future.

The management of Florida Splendid China appears to be getting ready to run, because the property is being ignored. One of the most valuable assets that the park has is the land and it's appearance. How long can they allow the surroundings to return to the wild ?
Will they close the park, pack up in the middle of the night and fly back to China, leaving the cleanup costs to the next owners, the county of Kissimmee, or the state of Florida ?