From 'seeing the scenery' to 'entering the scenery', immersing oneself in the national style is truly exhilarating
2026-05-08
During this year's May Day holiday, immersive Chinese style tours have been well received by tourists and have become a major highlight of the cultural and tourism market. The experiential tourism that integrates multiple formats, with Chinese style as its soul and immersion as its charm, allows tourists to transform from "audience" to "drama characters" and experience the charm of traditional culture through immersive experiences. From "bystanders" to "participants", visiting an ancient city and experiencing an intangible cultural heritage skill... Nowadays, tourists' enthusiasm for exploring excellent traditional Chinese culture continues to heat up. Ctrip data shows that during the May Day holiday, the number of people participating in "in-depth cultural tours" increased by 52.3% year-on-year. In Wuqiao, Hebei Province, the first acrobatic themed immersive cultural and tourism complex in China - Wuqiao Acrobatic Fantasy City opened on May 1st to welcome guests. After experiencing it, Li Siqi, a tourist from Shijiazhuang, said excitedly: "The first time we watched acrobatic performances at close range on the spot, it was all true kungfu! We also went to the stage to interact with acrobats, and tried to play diabolo and top bowl. It was too exciting!" Wuqiao Acrobatic Fantasy City broke the single mode of traditional scenic spot "watching and performing on the stage", and innovated to create a new immersive and interactive experience of "watching, watching, learning, and learning", so that tourists can become "participants" from "bystanders". The five major theme theaters and over 100 small and medium-sized mobile performances form a 24/7 coverage, with more than 100 performances per day. Dozens of immersive experience points are spread throughout the park, truly realizing the concept of "one step, one performance, one scene, one legend". In Linyi, Shandong, Langya Ancient City presents over 800 Chinese style shows and over 500 NPC performances daily. Mr. Chen, a tourist from Jiangsu, specially came to watch the immersive performance "Guoshi: Defending the Mountains and Rivers". He said, "The plot is full of ups and downs, and the actors' eyes and momentum instantly immerse people in the play, especially the use of sound, light, and electricity, perfectly highlighting the brutality and tragedy of war. I have watched it three times, and every time it has new emotions." The play, with its stunning visual and auditory effects and stirring patriotism, has become the most popular performance among tourists in Langya Ancient City during the May Day holiday. According to Liu Yunfeng, the chief planner of the Langya Ancient City project, Langya Ancient City has innovatively constructed a new cultural and tourism integration scene of "large-scale indoor tourism performance+immersive panoramic performance block+N". During the May Day holiday, the gold medal drama underwent iterative innovation: "Guoshi: Defending the Mountains and Rivers" was launched as a daytime version on the basis of the original night performance to meet more viewing needs with differentiated presentation, in order to attract a large audience; The highest daily performance of "Guoxiu · Langya" has been increased to 11 shows, creating a six sense immersive experience; The stunning effect of 500 tons of water pouring and iron flower fire pots blooming in "Water Show" creates a visual spectacle of water and fire interweaving; Only This Nirvana in Fire "is performed in a three-dimensional walking style under a 500 meter aerial red corridor, allowing tourists and actors to enter the play on the same stage, breaking the traditional boundaries of watching performances. More and more scenic spots are incorporating Chinese culture into various forms such as intangible cultural heritage experiences, immersive neighborhoods, and night time parks. In Chongqing, the Huguang Guild Hall has launched an immersive Chinese style park event with the theme of "May Day Trendy Play Hall with Drama", integrating traditional ancient architecture, Chinese style performances, fun challenges, digital interaction, and cultural and creative welfare. In Suizhou, Hubei, the Yandi Cultural Tourism Zone, with the theme of "Tracing the Yandi Happy May Day", launched an intangible cultural heritage experience and nostalgic time garden party, reappeared the "Shennong Memorial Ceremony" ancestor worship ceremony, performed Suizhou shadow play, flower drum play, and set up activities such as forest concerts and China-Chic script tours. The continuous innovation of business integration and immersive tourism with Chinese style is driven by the continuous innovation of various scenic spots in performing arts, technology integration, and business linkage. The Wuqiao Acrobatics Fantasy Music City breaks the traditional model of 'you perform, I watch' and builds a new path of 'acrobatics as the soul, amusement park as the form, immersion as the charm, and experience as the core', achieving the integration of multiple formats such as acrobatics+amusement, acrobatics+technology, acrobatics+study, acrobatics+night tour, etc. The scenic area has launched a 'Acrobatic Little Master' experience camp, where tourists can experience intangible cultural heritage skills such as diabolo playing, disc spinning, balancing, and jujitsu, achieving a transformation from spectators to participants, and from spectators to inheritors. ”Introduction by Zhang Le, Chairman of Hebei Aikerui Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd., the project owner of Wuqiao Acrobatic Fantasy City. The combination of culture and tourism with technology brings many new scenarios and experiences. The situational drama "Poetry and Book Hundred Xiaosheng: Distinguishing between True and False Li Bai" staged in the Tang Dynasty's Night City has attracted many tourists. True and false "Li Bai" compete with intelligent robots on the same stage, interpreting the cross-border dialogue between traditional culture and modern technology in a fascinating Q&A. The reporter learned from Qujiang Cultural and Tourism Performing Arts that during the May Day holiday, the three scenic spots of Datang Night City, Datang Furong Garden, and Xi'an City Wall launched a series of cultural and tourism performances, including large-scale stage plays, intangible cultural heritage skill exhibitions, robot technology interactions, and night themed parades. Datang Furong Garden extended the elements of theater plays to real-life spaces, forming a diverse performance matrix such as "mural restoration series", "poetry interaction series", "intangible cultural heritage acrobatic skills series", and "technology cross-border new experience series". During the May Day holiday, many innovative practices emerged in various places: the "Night Tour of Suji, Sichuan Province - Intangible Cultural Heritage Trendy Play" integrated intangible cultural heritage elements such as instrumental music, martial arts, lantern art, folk skills, and traditional cuisine into waterfront night tours, achieving cross-border linkage of "intangible cultural heritage revitalization+trend expression+immersive experience"; Shanghai Panlong World's "Jiangnan Cultural Season · Water Market" creates the first immersive water market in Shanghai, where tourists can go boating to catch up, experience the fireworks of Jiangnan, and experience intangible cultural heritage handicrafts and urban micro vacations; Beijing Junwang Mansion creates an immersive tea culture experience space, integrating tea tasting, watching plays, visiting gardens, and consumption. Why is the immersive experience tour of building unique cultural memories and Chinese style popular? Jin Zhun, Secretary General of the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the popularity of Chinese style immersive experience tours reflects that cultural and tourism consumption is shifting from "watching the scenery" to "entering the play", and from physical space consumption to cultural identity consumption. The reason why Chinese style is attractive is not only because of its beautiful clothing and scenery, but also because it carries traditional aesthetics, cultural memory, and identity expression. It is a concrete manifestation of cultural confidence on the consumer and scene sides. The demand for tourists to enter the theater has forced the supply side to continuously upgrade the experience mode. In the view of Song Changyao, the head of the Tourism Management Department at Beijing International Studies University, immersive consumption demand drives tourists to transform from spectators to participants; The immersive experience of Chinese culture provides tourists with an opportunity to briefly escape from the fast-paced life. Under the trend, how to avoid homogenization and achieve sustainable development has attracted widespread attention from the industry. Jin Zhun believes that the key to developing immersive Chinese style tourism in various regions is to adhere to localization, differentiation, and content based approaches, based on local historical context, folk traditions, and intangible cultural heritage skills, telling local stories, shaping unique characters and situations, and creating cultural identity that can only be experienced here. Song Changyao also emphasized that national style is not a unified abstract concept, nor is it a simple pile up of Hanfu, lanterns, and ancient architecture, but a vivid expression rooted in the unique historical context of each region. When tourist destinations can deeply explore local cultural resources, establish deep connections with tourists through narrative design, theme immersion, and create memory points and emotional resonance, they can effectively avoid homogenization. The charm of immersing oneself in Chinese culture lies not only in stunning performances, but also in the encounter with traditional culture when entering the theater. When travel becomes deeply involved, Chinese culture becomes a cultural memory in the hearts of tourists. (Looking into the New Era)
Edit:Luoyu Responsible editor:Zhoushu
Source:people.cn
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