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Photos by Chris Bales, 2026 (left) and Werner Weiss, 2024 (right) |
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Yesterland is usually about things that are gone, but not always. In the tradition of “Seeing Double” articles comparing real Italy to Italy at EPCOT and real Norway to Norway at EPCOT, here’s a look at the authenticity of another World Showcase pavilion. Yesterland photographer Chris Bales visited China, where he saw landmarks, architecture, and design details that looked familiar.
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: Taihu stones at the Forbidden City, Beijing |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2006 China at EPCOT: Taihu stones along the World Showcase Promenade |
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Taihu stones are prized in traditional Chinese gardens, symbolizing miniature mountains where immortals might reside. The wrinkled surfaces, holes, and abstract shapes of these porous limestone rocks are from gradual water erosion. They come from Lake Tai in the Jiangsu province of China. The Taihu stones in the first photo are at the Forbidden City, the huge 15th-century imperial palace complex in central Beijing. There will be more references to the Forbidden City in this article. The authentic Taihu stones at EPCOT used to be a prominent landmark of the China Pavilion waterfront. They’re still there, but the waterfront is now dominated by The Joy of Tea, Good Fortune Gifts, and a permanent food booth for EPCOT’s festivals. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: Yunhui Yuyu Archway at the Summer Palace outside of Beijing |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 China at EPCOT: Zhao Yang Men or Gate of the Golden Sun |
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The Gate of the Golden Sun is based on Yunhui Yuyu Archway, also known as the Glowing Clouds and Holy Land Archway. The ornate archway is located at Beijing’s Summer Palace, facing Kunming Lake. It was originally built in 1750, burned down in 1860 by the Anglo-French forces, and reconstructed in 1888. The replica at EPCOT serves as the main entrance to the China Pavilion, separating World Showcase Promenade from the inner courtyard. Its scale is only slightly reduced compared to its counterpart in China. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven, Beijing |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 China at EPCOT: Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the China Pavilion |
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The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, originally built in 1420, was where emperors would pray for bountiful crops. The impressive blue-roofed structure is located in Beijing’s Temple of Heaven complex. The half-scale “shrink and edit” version of the landmark serves as the entrance to the lobby for the CircleVision 360 theater. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: Interior of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2006 China at EPCOT: Interior of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests |
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The interior of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is as impressive as its exterior — in China and at EPCOT. The traditional Chinese patterns and colors represent imperial power and the heavens. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: Roof detail in the Forbidden City |
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Photo by Paul Hudson, 2011, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 China at EPCOT: Roof detail at the China Pavilion |
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There’s an odd procession of glazed ceramic figures on the roof ridges of real palaces at the Forbidden City and on various roof ridges at EPCOT’s China Pavilion. A man is seated on what appears to be a chicken. He is followed by various unusual creatures, with a horned beast bringing up the rear. Why? Disney fan websites all have the same explantation: The man seated on the hen is Prince Min, a third-century ruler who was hanged for his cruelty. The various animals behind him are there to keep him from escaping. It’s a warning to other tyrants. These websites are repeating the explanation in The Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot at Walt Disney World (Disney Editions, 2006) — or they’re repeating from each other. Researching China, not Disney, the front figure is an “immortal riding a phoenix.” The immortal is believed to be King Min of Qi (300–284 BCE). After being defeated, he faced capture. According to the legend, a phoenix (not a chicken) appeared from the heavens, allowing King Min of Qi to escape. The figures of the procession each have symbolic meaning. Together, they represent escapes from death, with danger becoming safety. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: Great Wall of China |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2018 China at EPCOT: Great Wall of China in CircleVision 360 |
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The Great Wall of China stretches 13,171 miles across northern China. Built to protect against invasions, its construction spanned from the 7th century BCE to the 17th century CE. EPCOT doesn’t have its own “shrink and edit” Great Wall of China, but the CircleVision 360 film Reflections of China begins and ends with it. |
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Photo by Daniel Steger, 2018, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, from Wikimedia Commons Real China: Yellow glazed tile roofs at the Forbidden City, Beijing |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2006 China at EPCOT: Yellow glazed tile roofs in the second phase (1985) of the China Pavilion |
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According to the Association for Asian Studies, “The ancient Chinese viewed yellow as the color of earth, producer of all life, which they considered to be the single-most critical element. Thus, yellow was held in particular esteem and was reserved for the exclusive use of the emperor.” When EPCOT opened October 1, 1982 (as EPCOT Center), the China Pavilion did not have a restaurant. That was fixed three years later with the opening of Lotus Blossom Cafe on September 24, 1985, and Nine Dragons Restaurant on October 23, 1985. This addition relied on the architectural vocabulary of the Forbidden City, without replicating specific buildings. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: Gate of Earthly Tranquility at the Forbidden City |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 China at EPCOT: Nine Dragons Restaurant facing World Showcase Promenade |
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The Gate of Earthly Tranquility leads to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, one of more than 70 named palaces and palace complexes at the Forbidden City. Nine Dragons Restaurant serves a completely different purpose, but uses similar architectural features as the gate. Note the processions of ceramic figures on the roof ridges, led by the man on a phoenix/hen/chicken/rooster. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: Yuyuan Bazaar, Shanghai |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2018 China at EPCOT: Xing Fu Jie or Street of Good Fortune |
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Yuyuan Bazaar is a historic, bustling, and crowded shopping and dining district in central Shanghai. Disney’s shopping street does not represent a specific street in China. According to The Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot at Walt Disney World (Disney Editions, 2006): “Xing Fu Jie, or ‘Street of Good Fortune,’ serves as the exit corridor for Reflections of China. It was intentionally designed to be too small for the number of Guests exiting the show in order to re-create the sense of crowding one feels on the streets of China.” Disney’s Xing Fu Jie is seldom crowded because Reflections of China seldom fills up. |
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Photo by Michael Gunther, 2006, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International China at EPCOT: Painted Decoration at Zhongzuo Gate, Forbidden City, Beijing |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2012 China at EPCOT: Gate-like facade at the back of Disney’s Xing Fu Jie |
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According to photographer Michael Gunther, “The decoration seen here [on the China photo] is typical of the painting on the eaves and brackets of the Forbidden City. Underneath the yellow tile roof (this color of roof tile is an imperial perogative), brocade-like patterns of blue, gold, red, white, and green form a bright contrast against the uniform red of the building walls and columns.” While Disney’s Xing Fu Jie features a number of architectural styles, the facade at the back is another example of how the Imagineers carefully captured the style of the Forbidden City. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2026 Real China: the skyline of Zootopia at Shangai Disneyland |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2026 China at EPCOT: A display case in the “Inside Shanghai Disney Resort” exhibit at the China Pavilion, |
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Unlike the other pairs of photos here, the final pair has nothing to do with the brilliant Imagineering that guests have enjoyed since 1982 and 1985 — except that the Imagineers included the House of the Whispering Willows gallery as an original part of the China Pavilion. The gallery has hosted several cultural exhibits over the decades, most notably “Tomb Warriors: Guardian Spirits of Ancient China” (opened October 2006), featuring a scaled-down portrayal of the terracotta army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China (259–210 BCE). In June 2016, a new exhibit gave EPCOT guests an opportunity to learn about Shanghai Disneyland, which opened the same month. Eight years later, the gallery added a display about the park’s new Zootopia land. It’s now time to leave China — both of them. Zàijiàn. |
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© 2026 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Any photos used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licensing may be reused under the same license as the original. Larger, higher-resolution versions of such images, without the Yesterland watermark, are available at Wikimedia Commons and/or Flickr. Updated May 29, 2026 |
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, Curator of Yesterland, May 15, 2026
