Xi’an, China: Seeing the past and present across the millennia, culture and tourism innovation animates new forms of consumption

Throughout the millennia of history and the prosperous times of Chang’an, the profound cultural accumulation rooted in Xi’an, China, is a valuable historical treasure of this ancient city. In recent years, Xi’an has been making efforts to transform its cultural resources into fashionable “cultural tourism IP” based on “Tang cultural elements” and modern technology, and bringing historical and cultural heritage to life in a modern context. Recently, Xi’an Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government held a meeting and proposed to make good use of historical and cultural heritage, promote the deep integration of cultural industry and tourism industry, in order to make Xi’an a display window of Chinese culture and civilization.

“Noblewomen” and “ladies”, “literati” and “warriors”, reciting poems in the streets and imitating songs and dances of the Tang Dynasty, and the moving love story performed by ”gifted scholars and beautiful ladies of the Tang Dynasty”, etc., this is a Tang style city life neighborhood, which was derived from a historical TV drama, The Longest Day in Chang’an. The beautiful scenery of Tang dynasty clothing can be seen everywhere, and with the help of “sound, light and electricity” technology, it is like entering a “time and space feast” interwoven with literature, history, folklore and food. Through the integration of film and television IP and commercial IP, each visitor can realize the transformation from “watching the play” to “getting into the play” when entering the “The Longest Day in Chang’an”, which makes people “back to Tang Dynasty in one second”. The immersive experience satisfies people’s new demand for experiencing Tang culture and becomes a new contact point to promote the integration of culture, tourism and business.

What’s more, relying on the “Tang cultural elements” to successfully build a cultural tourism scenic spot, there is also the famous Grand Tang Dynasty Ever-bright City. It has not only launched commercial activities such as “Tang Food Corner”, “Tang Souvenir Corner” and “Tang Amusement Area”, but also launched a number of immersive performances in the way of “interaction + experience”, created a number of highly recognizable cultural tourism character IPs and blossomed the charm of “Tang culture” in an innovative way.

More than fourteen hundred years ago, Xi’an was known worldwide as Chang’an. It was the world’s first city of one million people, including about 100,000 envoys, merchants, foreign students and monks from other countries, so Xi’an’s image of openness and inclusiveness was also known to the world.

Despite the challenges of the epidemic, the ancient capital with thousands of years of history still exudes new vitality, driven by new leisure models such as market blocks, heritage exhibitions and immersive experiences. The long-standing cultural history has given consumption growth vitality and resilience, with “mystery boxes of Tang Dynasty characters”, “ice cream made of images of popular landmarks such as the Terracotta Warriors and the City Wall,” and “7 million netizens watching the Xi’an drum music stream”, etc. All kinds of new consumption methods became the driving point for the upgrading of cultural tourism consumption. Xi’an is speeding up the integration of cultural resources and making history and culture the driving force for the development and innovation of this ancient city.

Source: Xi’an Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government