Shenzhen's aircraft-carrier theme park went bankrupt in five years, then lost its berth

Minsk Aircraft Carrier World (明思克航母世界) opened on 27 September 2000 in Shenzhen's Yantian district, built for nearly 500 million yuan around the Minsk, a decommissioned aircraft carrier. Opening day drew 32,000 visitors; October alone brought over 400,000 guests and more than 40 million yuan in ticket revenue, and the park went on to host over 10 million visitors in total.

The park's financing was never its own. Its parent, Delong Group, collapsed in 2004; China Construction Bank's Shenzhen branch petitioned for bankruptcy repayment, and on 28 February 2005 the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court declared the park bankrupt. At auction in May 2006, CITIC's Shenzhen arm won with a bid of 128.3 million yuan — about a quarter of the original investment.

The park kept operating, but with no major new programming for years, repeat visits faded. The ground under it was always borrowed: the temporary land lease lapsed in 2008, and when Vanke took the plot for Yantian's central-district development, renewal talks failed. On 14 February 2016 the park closed for good; on 2 April the carrier was towed away after 16 years in Shenzhen.