The French high-tech theme park Futuroscope is hoping to begin operations in Shenzhen in 2005, park officials said in France on Monday. A memorandum of understanding on the deal is expected to be signed with Chinese partners in the next few weeks, said Futuroscope coordinator Philippe Mouroux. Futuroscope, which specializes in new imagery technology, opened in 1984 and is now one of France's three leading theme parks, along with Disneyland Paris and Asterix. But the facility had a tough year last year, when it nearly went bankrupt as the number of visitors fell to 1.553 million from 1.9 million in 2001.
