SHANGHAI Mayor Yang Xiong met with Nick Varney, chief executive officer of Merlin Entertainments Group, last Friday.

Yang said Shanghai welcomes foreign cultural projects and the Yangtze Delta region has a huge potential for theme parks because of a thriving economy, a large population and convenient transportation.

The mayor said LEGO is a popular brand in China. LEGOLand and its products are loved by Chinese children. The Shanghai government supports Merlin Entertainments' cooperation with CMC Holdings, which is funded by Alibaba, Tencent and Suzhou Oriza Holdings with a total asset of over 10 billion yuan (US$1.48 billion).