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A worker adjusts Terracotta Warriors made of chocolate at the Chocolate Wonderland in Beijing January 14, 2010. The chocolate theme park will exhibit creations such as the Great Wall, the Dunhuang Caves and Terracotta Warriors when it opens to the public on January 29, according to the organiser. [Agencies]
BEIJING: The Great Wall never looked so tasty: a team of Chinese confectioners have built a 10 meter (33 ft) long replica of the structure entirely out of chocolate in a bid to entice Chinese to eat more of the sweet stuff.
The chocolate wall is made from solid dark chocolate bricks stuck together with white chocolate and is one of the attractions at the World Chocolate Wonderland exhibition and trade show which will open to the public later this month.
Chocolatier Wang Qilu said his version of the ancient wall was a feat of engineering in itself, with a carefully constructed crumbling section at one end to resemble the real thing. He also had to make sure his materials did not melt.
"You have higher and lower levels and you have to fit each brick into place, one by one, to build it up, it's difficult," he said.
Up to 80 tonnes of chocolate were used in making the displays, which include a mini-army of 560 chocolate replicas of the famous Terracotta Warriors standing to attention on a layer of chocolate flakes.
The show's general manager, Tina Zheng, said she hoped the displays would give chocolate a boost in the Chinese market and its billion-plus consumers.
"Chocolate has not been around in China that long, it doesn't have that several-thousand-year history that it does in the West which has made chocolate as common as milk or fruit," she said.
Local and foreign chocolate manufacturers will take part in the show, she added.
