At the risk of some Zygote (my name for Generation Z, chosen specifically for this article) rolling their eyes as they sigh “okay boomer”, I’m going to briefly wax nostalgic as I tell you about a place here in Harbin, China (where I currently live) that reminds me of a place that had opened across the border from where I grew up - a place called Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (I grew up on the American side of Niagara Falls).
Opening in May 1979, Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, Ontario was a combination amusement park, entertainment complex, hotels, and shopping center. The hotels had already existed for several years when the Village was built. Overall, it was just the kind of thing that fit the sort of kitschy nature of the tourist mecca Niagara Falls, Ontario was in those days - it had amusements, rides, a 1950s roadhouse, and an Elvis museum, among other things. Competition from MarineLand and Canada’s Wonderland brought about its demise at the end of the 1992 season. The hotels remain in operation, but the amusement park area became a parking lot for Casino Niagara, which opened in 1996.
Fast forward several decades and fly to the other side of the world. I’m currently living in Harbin, China, which is known as Eastern Moscow because of its early-20th-century Russian influences, and which is famous for its Ice and Snow World. Located in Harbin’s Songbei District (north of the Songhua River), Maple Leaf Village is a combination shopping center and spa resort (the spa resort opening in 2018) that is about 7 kilometers from Harbin’s Wanda City (another shopping and entertainment complex in Harbin). Unlike Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, Ontario, which was mainly an amusement park and entertainment complex, Maple Leaf Village in Harbin, China is far more upscale - many of its shops being outlets for high-end international brands - but it is not without its kitsch, which appears in the form of some “village squares” that are named for various Italian cities. It is these kitschy “village squares” that remind me of the old Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
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