Changes

When During the initial planning of World Showcase, two communist countries were interested in sponsoring their own pavilion, - the Soviet Union and China. The Soviet Union however, demanded that communist Unlike the USSR which wanted to integrate the ideals be presented in the of communism into their pavilion, which Disney balked at. China on the other hand, was more then willing to present it's countries showcase its history and culture without involving politics. Plans for In order to help showcase the diversity of China , plans for the pavilion called for a CircleVision 360 named [[film called Wonders of China]]to be filmed. In order to To create the filmmovie, Disney entered into negotiations with the Chinese, government over what where they could and could not film. Although the company was initially hampered by strict given tight filming restrictions, they were Disney and China eventually able came to acquire more freedom. Filming began in the summer of 1981 with both American and Chinese crews working on the project. an agreement where Chinese film crews were used to would film the sensitive countries’ more “sensitive” areas (such as Tibet or , where the Great Wall) which the Chinese government did not want Westerners westerners to go. Filming concluded in 1982, (such as Tibet and the attraction was ready for Epcot's opening dayGreat Wall).

The China pavilion opened on October 1, 1982 with the rest of World Showcaseon October 1, 1982. Besides When the pavilion opened it featured the CircleVision 360 film Wonders of China film, the pavilion also included as well as two shops, various gardens, and a museum housing which would eventually house authentic Chinese artifacts. The center piece of the China pavilion is a replica of the Hall of Prayer and Good Hood Harvests, which is part of the Temple of Heaven complex located Southeast southeast of central Beijing. The replica found in the pavilion was built at 1/2 ½ scale, and designed so that guests must enter the Temple Hall before seeing the Wonders Wonder of China film.  The first change major addition to the China pavilion came when in 1985 1983 when a new restaurant was constructedthe Yong Fendg Shangdian store opened. One The following April, the House of the gardens located near where [[Norway]] is today, was originally going to be used as a transition Whispering Willows gallery got fifty artifacts from the Republic of China 's Palace Museum. Throughout the pavilions history, the contents housed within the gallery have changed. When the China pavilion opened in 1982, the land adjacent to it was initially earmarked for the planned Denmark pavilion. When plans for Denmark were scrappedthat pavilion fell through however, the garden China pavilion was replaced by two restaurantsexpanded. As part of the mid 1980s expansion, on September 24, 1985, the Nine Dragons and the Lotus counter service “Lotus Blossom Cafe. Both restaurants official Café” opened . This was followed by the opening of the table service restaurant “Nine Dragons” on October 2423, 1985m and both serve traditional Chinese food1985. Since 1985, the only other  The next major change to hit the China pavilion came in 2003, when the CircleVision 360 film Wonders of China was updated. New scenes and narration were added to the movie and when the film reopened, before it was renamed reopened to the public on as May 22, 2003 as "Reflections of China". In 2007 both of China's restaurants, - the Nine Dragons and the Lotus Blossom Cafe were renovated. During the refurbishment, both facades were re-themed to make the restaurants appear more modern. A similar refurbishment then took place in 2011 for the pavilion’s shopping venues. At this time the stores were given new lighting and an updated color pallet.