The city of Changle in Fujian province may now be in the only place in the world where you can legitimately say: “Beam me up, Scottie”. That’s because it houses one of the world’s most unique corporate headquarters: a replica of Captain Kirk’s USS Enterprise. Measuring 853 feet in length, and costing $97 million, the offices of software firm NetDragon Websoft are a homage to Star Trek, the American sci-fi television show that captivated viewers as Kirk, Spock, Sulu et al explored the universe for new lifeforms. The Wall Street Journal says Liu Diujun is evidently a fan. The 43 year-old founder of the Chinese games developer even contacted Star Trek rights holder CBS to get permission to build his corporate version of the Enterprise. “That was their first time dealing with [an] issue like this and at first they thought that it was a joke,” NetDragon told the Wall Street Journal in an email. “They realised somebody in China really did want to work on a building modelled on the USS Enterprise only after we sent the relevant legal documents.” As for Liu himself, WiC likes to think of him magisterially sitting on his faux USS Enterprise bridge issuing orders to his crew from a large captain’s chair.
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