Fangte amusement park's revamped rides draw more and more guests

The Shenyang Fangte Amusement Park - the Disneyland of the Shenyang, Liaoning province - has poured heavily into its new drama-themed projects integration the latest technology to offer better tourism experiences.

According to the park, it has spent millions of yuan in new entertainment projects, such as an immersive theater to present bizarre stories from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a book by Pu Songling of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The book comprises many love stories involving ghosts and spirits.

The park will present the classic tales in a modern way, using advanced augmented reality and virtual reality technologies, as well as state-of-the-art digital lighting and sound systems.

It has also built a 4-D cinema to recreate Steven Spielberg's timeless classic Jurassic Park with a thrilling ride.

A group of overseas students from Liaoning University in Shenyang toured the amusement park and experienced the drama based on the ancient Chinese stories.

The park management tried to lure more visitors during this year's Mother's Day, which fell on May 14. The park offered a 50 percent discount for female visitors during the holiday.

"My mom likes the themed park," said a Shenyang local. "I'm bringing her to the amusement park as gift for Mother's Day."

The park is located in the Shenbei New District in the north of Shenyang, which features abundant tourism resources.

The new area currently offers a number of choices for urban escapists, including a natural reserve, countryside experiences, hot springs and industrial tours, local officials said.

According to officials, the park, a national A-class tourism attraction, welcomed 196,000 visitors during the Labor Day holiday, up 13.7 percent compared to last year. They brought the attraction 12.9 million yuan ($1.86 million) in revenue, up 32.22 percent.

"During the holiday, there was an obvious increase in the number of tourists from outside the province, including Jilin, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia," said a senior officer at the amusement park.

(China Daily European Weekly 05/19/2017 page19)