Delicious fun

Visitors enjoy making chocolate at the theme park. [Photo by Gao Yuan / for China Daily]

At the DIY areas, visitors can pick up chocolate syrup and molds from the tourist center. Simply pour the syrup into the molds, send them to the cooler, wait for 20 minutes, and you will get your self-made chocolate - ready to be eaten.

Staff members dressed like Snow White are seen in the wonderland, playing guessing games with children. Lucky children who beat Snow White will be rewarded with gifts.

Zou Yang, a 37-year-old father working in real estate, is impressed with the chocolate park.

"Chocolate is my girl's favorite. The color and design of the park are well-shaped and decorated. My kid loves it," says Zou, who spent a day in the park with his 2-year-old daughter.

Shi Xuelian and her 3-year-old son also enjoyed themselves.

"The park incorporates interactive programs, allowing children and visitors to participate. Although my boy is young, I can see that he is more engaged and takes the initiative to interact," the 32-year-old says.

She also believes that the chocolate-made Chinese culture symbols, such as the Terracotta Warriors and Buddha statues, will give children a taste of the great combination of Eastern and Western cultures. "The fine innovative chocolate artworks are not only attractive to children but also to us adults," she says.

The World Chocolate Wonderland is China's first chocolate theme park. Founded in Beijing in 2010, the exhibit has already toured six cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei, attracting 2 million visitors.

Chongqing is its seventh stop.

Tina Cheng, the founder of the wonderland, believes that using chocolate as raw material to make art works is a way to teach people about chocolate culture. "Chocolate is not only a food, a sweet snack you can buy at grocery stores or the airport. It also contains culture, which I hope to tell people through the exhibit," she says.

Cheng says the inspiration behind the chocolate theme park was initiated in 2008.

"People were depressed because of the economic crisis then. I wanted to create an exhibit to cheer people up," she says.

Chocolate theme parks are also popular in the United States. The famous Hershey's Chocolate World Attraction, located in Pennsylvania, attracts visitors from all over the world.

"We have received tour invitations from Europe and the United States. I am glad that the birthplace of chocolate approves our innovative works," she says, referring to the Chinese and oriental flavor of the theme park.