HONG KONG — Mickey Mouse may have met his match -- the giant panda.
It was supposed to be a one-sided battle. Instead, in the nearly two years since Disneyland came to town, people in Hong Kong have rediscovered a theme park that's been sitting in their backyard for three decades, weathering all the ups and downs the territory has faced, from British colonial rule to its return to China to the deadly illness known as SARS.
Ocean Park, as it's called, made its improbable comeback under the guidance of a flamboyant businessman who repositioned it as the local choice, evoking nostalgia for the 200-acre park, and its resident pandas, where a visit has been a rite of passage for many Hong Kongers.
With Allan Zeman's help, the government-owned park has since set attendance records while Disneyland has suffered one blow after another, even failing to reach attendance goals. And Zeman, whose bald head and rail-thin body bring to mind Mr. Burns from "The Simpsons," without the evil, has just scored another coup: a gift of two toddler pandas from Beijing.
"China would never give pandas to Disney," said Lee Wing-tat, a Hong Kong legislator. "Beijing wants to show it cares about Hong Kong people. So they gave them to Ocean Park."
The reemergence of what was long a rickety marine park with aquariums and a few hokey rides comes at a time when Hong Kong continues to define its post-colonial identity. As July 1 approaches, the 10th anniversary of the 1997 transfer to China, Hong Kongers are recognizing the symbols that make them unique.
"People in Hong Kong had an identity crisis," said the 58-year-old Zeman, who grew up in Canada but moved here in 1970. "They said, 'Am I English? Am I Chinese? Am I a Hong Konger?' That was a huge problem. There was a lot of apprehension by locals who didn't trust China. Now the uncertainty is gone. Look at Hong Kong today. It's booming."
Opened in 1977 on the southern reaches of Hong Kong Island, Ocean Park was paid for by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, one of the oldest and most powerful colonial institutions here. It still generates hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue with its gambling monopoly, sans the Royal moniker, of course. Chartered as a nonprofit to be run by the city, Ocean Park was Hong Kong's major theme park by default. It had no rival when the territory was emerging as an economic powerhouse and the gateway to China.
