1:1 RMS Titanic replica is being built in China

A keel laying ceremony has been held in China to mark the start of construction of the "New Titanic". The full scale replica of the doomed original is costing £116 million.

TAGS:

Work is now underway to build a full scale Titanic replica in Suining, Sichuan province, China.

Dubbed the “New Titanic”, the 269-metre liner will be the centrepiece of a new tourist resort being built in Daying, east of Sichuan’s capital, Chengdu.

The project is costing £116 million.

A render of the New Titanic

A render of the New Titanic. Credit: New Titanic/Twitter

A keel laying ceremony was held on 30 November, 2016, which was attended by the Labour peer, Peter Mandelson, who is president of the Great Britain China Centre which promotes ties between the two countries.

According to the China Daily, the Titanic replica will be used to “boost development of the local tourism sector.”

It will eventually be permanently moored at the Romandisea Seven Star International Cultural Tourism Resort on the Qijiang River.

Titanic undergoing sea trials

Titanic undergoing sea trials. Credit: US Nara/Wikimedia Commons

The resort will also feature a high-tech theatre, an in-house beach, a spa and an amusement park.

The “New Titanic” will be built according to liner’s original design, and will include the cruise ship’s large banquet hall and first-class guesthouse.

Qixing Energy Investment in Zhejiang province is one of the investors in the project.

Bow of the Titanic

Bow of the Titanic. Credit: NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island/Wikimedia Commons

Its chairman, Su Shaojun, stressed the importance of attention to detail in building the Titanic replica.

“After the RMS Titanic sank, nobody saw its complete set of blueprints. Many blueprint fragments found their way into the hands of collectors or remained missing. We spent many years collecting the blueprints from many parts of the world and managed to obtain most of them,” Su said.

Titanic sank in the early hours of the morning on 15 April 1912 after hitting an iceberg.

Not enough lifeboats meant that more than 1,500 passengers and crew died in the North Atlantic.

The White Star liner was on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York when the disaster happened.