Will the Mouse play in mainland China?

That's the big question today after Walt Disney said it won Chinese government approval to build a giant theme park in Shanghai.

The tab: a reported $4 billion, which would make it one of the biggest foreign investments yet in China.

But as Forbes smartly points out, the move comes with plenty of risk.

Disney, you see, already has some Chinese experience. It opened a theme park in Hong Kong back in 2005, with less-than-stellar results.

Here's the money graph, according to Forbes:

"After years of missteps, Disney's annual visitors in Hong Kong are still about 25 percent below original targets set at the park's opening. In its first year, Disney's Hong Kong park attracted 5.2 million people, below its goal of 5.6 million. Visitor numbers fell 20 percent in the second year to just 4 million, and grew to 4.5 million visitors in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, still far below the numbers it hoped to draw."

The problem? Culture, of course. Like most U.S. companies trying to do business in China (or anywhere else), Disney has had trouble matching up local tastes, customs and values with its business model.

So what does work in China?

Perhaps the Mouse should study the reporting of our own Kathleen E. McLaughlin, who last month discovered a theme park in southwestern China that features singing and dancing dwarves.

Yes, it is a small world after all.