Disney hotel to be lucky '8'

SHANGHAI Disneyland will have a hotel in the shape of a flat "8," which is an auspicious figure that means prosperity, wealth, and success in China, according to an environmental evaluation report posted on the environmental authority's website for public discussion.

The Disneyland hotel is located west of the amusement park in the Pudong New Area, according to a map released online.

Workers have started planting trees around the land for the hotel, which is designed with seven floors and covers some 44,900 square meters.

The report, which studied the hotel's light impact from its glass wall, showed that the hotel will use hollow glass with a light reflectivity factor lower than 20 percent, meaning it will limit light pollution for the public and cars driving on Hulu expressway, which is west of the hotel.

Also, the Shanghai Bureau of Planning and Land Resources has announced it will sell land use rights for two government parcels to the Shanghai Shendi Construction Co, the Disneyland builder.

The two pieces of land, one 8.09 hectares and one 6.47 hectares, were sold for 76 million (US$12 million) and 60.8 million yuan, respectively.

Shanghai Disneyland is due to open at the end of 2015.