It's so undermining to the credibility of institutions like this that they insist on the inclusion of the Arctic Hall concept. Even Chimelong does it at Ocean Kingdom and they wouldn't dream of keeping wolves like that at the Safari.
@Giant Panda
(I'd welcome Chinese contributors' responses to this question)
I think there are very few visitors who would perceive that there is a welfare issue. That's one explanation for why these exhibits are still being built; they are commercially viable.
I don't think that welfare factors very highly into planning decisions at commercial zoos in China, although I do believe that there is a slow trend in the right direction. I assume that new ocean parks feel they can't be the one without the arctic hall. Since I think the majority of visitors are not visiting more than one of these places I suspect keeping up with the Joneses has quite a bit to do with it. That or they want to be able to say they have everything when they launch (Shanghai Ocean Park rather ridiculously claimed it would be the largest marine park in the world on opening).
