Business was operating normally toward the end of the summer season when a group of ruffians barged into the park, demanding money. They kicked out the staff and blocked the entrances. Staff called the police but the police refused to intervene. What led to this intrustion?

CB Lake water park was built on a manmade lake in a new development outside a second-tier city in China. Only ten years before the construction of the project, the land was sparsely populated farmland and industrial buildings. When the park opened in 2014 it was heralded as the largest¹ water park in eastern China (which is also a title claimed by several other parks).

Satellite imagery of CB Lake Water Park between 2002 and 2020

“In addition to these first-class “big coffee” water entertainment projects, here you can also enjoy the “beep taste” of many countries and places ... as well as hot and sexy, tens of thousands of people carnival”

— Excerpt from promotional description〖machine translated〗¹

Regardless, this amusement park is no small-scale entertainment venue and features around 20 major attractions. The wave pool was said to be the largest in China and able to accommodate as many as 10,000 people at a time (which in further consideration might not be a pleasant characteristic). Other eximious rides include a large funnel slide (likely a ProSlide Tornado 60 or clone), a water roller coaster, an artificial surfing flowrider, and a multi-level water playhouse.¹ Framing the front gate and eminently visible from the street is a building mimicking a landlocked ship and another incorporating castle-like towers. The ship contains the locker rooms, while the castle houses the dining hall and other facilities.

grass grows between the tiles of the parks entry plaza between the castle and ship shaped buildings

Despite the somewhat inopportune location around an hour into the countryside outside the city, CB Lake water park received enough visitor traffic to operate successfully. This semblance of business success did not preclude financial and management conflicts. Within a year of the park’s opening one account emerged of tourists being beaten in the parking lot by park staff. The altercation was triggered by the visitors requesting an invoice from the parking toll collector and resulted in police involvement. Following this, a local reporter arrived to investigate and was detained and threatened by the amusement park staff which also required intervention by the local police. News reports noted the parking lot was illegal and not approved by the relevant authorities.³

“Good for children and families. ... you can dance with Russian beauties.”

— Online customer review〖machine translated〗²

Abandoned childrens pool area at CB Lake Water Park

Financial disputes between the park’s construction contractor and the owner of the development led to the ultimate fate of the water park in 2016. At least twice groups of people broke into and occupied the park demanding payment for rent. According to news reports, CB Lake’s investor owed as much as 50 million yuan to the contractor. Much of this money was to pay for construction materials and the wages for migrant workers.⁴

“very cheap, it’s the cheapest ... ever.”

— Online customer review〖machine translated〗²

While the first occupation was ended by the police, the second invasion brought a different conclusion. On that day late in the summer of 2016, over 10 people forced their way into the park claiming to be the construction contractors and asserted their ownership of the property since it was owed by the investor to the contractor. Park staff called the police but because the situation was an economic dispute the police declined to intervene. The gatecrashers proceeded to expel the water park staff (and presumably, the guests) changed the locks, and occupied the site to prevent further operation of the park. After this dramatic incident, CB Lake did not open for business again.⁴

Children’s water playhouse at CB Lake Water Park

Planned developments around the new lake included recreational, residential, and industrial areas. Since the opening of the water park in 2014 very little progress has occurred and development has stagnated. while there may be prospective investors to continue the development of the area, little has happened and the water park has been left to quietly succumb to the elements.⁵