Huayu: Starting from joining the mainstream entertainment industry in 96

Chapter 349, Section 347: The Dream Weaver

In May, Beijing is in the twilight of spring and the gentle warmth of summer.

But even hotter than the weather was the "Crossing the Guandong Film and Television City" craze that continued to spread across major media outlets nationwide after the May Day Golden Week holiday.

Thursday, March 5th.

As if by prior arrangement, from national publications like the China Youth Daily and Economic Information Daily to authoritative media outlets in various provinces and cities such as the Liaoning Daily, Qilu Evening News, Yangcheng Evening News, Qianjiang Evening News, Yangtze Evening News, and Beijing Evening News, all published in-depth reports and analytical articles on the "Phenomenon of the 'Crossing the Northeast Film City' During the May Day Golden Week" in prominent sections.

These reports are no longer limited to simple travel news or entertainment gossip, but have been elevated to the level of regional economic development and cultural industry innovation.

The front-page headline of the China Economic News was particularly eye-catching: "Film and television IP + immersive experience ignites the Golden Week holiday; Shenyang's Chuangguandong Film and Television City explores a new paradigm of cultural and tourism integration."

The concept of film and television IP was proposed by Wang Sheng in an exclusive interview.

The article cites a series of startling data based on "preliminary statistics":

"During the seven-day May Day holiday, the 'Chuang Guandong Film and Television City' (Phase I of the Northeast Film and Television Cultural Tourism Base) located in Qipanshan, Shenyang, received a total of over 55 visitors, with an average daily visitor flow of nearly 8 and a peak single-day visitor flow approaching 10, far exceeding the vast majority of traditional well-known scenic spots in China..."

"Preliminary estimates suggest that the film and television city's direct ticket revenue exceeded 2200 million yuan. Its spillover effects are even more astonishing, driving comprehensive revenue for related industries in Shenyang and surrounding areas, including catering, accommodation, transportation, and retail, estimated at 3.8 million to 4.2 million yuan… Hotels near Qipanshan were fully booked throughout the Golden Week holiday, with average room rates rising by over 80% compared to weekdays…"

"This project has directly and indirectly created more than 5000 temporary jobs, ranging from scenic area management, NPC role-playing, and specialty catering to security, cleaning, and traffic control, greatly boosting local employment..."

These figures were undoubtedly astronomical in China in 2001, carrying a powerful and awe-inspiring force.

The article further analyzes: "The success of 'Crossing the Guandong Film and Television City' is not accidental."

It accurately captured the nationwide emotional resonance and cultural identity evoked by the popular TV series "Crossing the Guandong", transforming the virtual film and television world into a tangible, participatory, and experiential physical space.

Its pioneering 'immersive experience' model, such as the 'Zhu Family Courtyard' living experience, the 'Jingou River' safe gold panning, and the 'Yuanbao Town' street role-playing, transforms tourists from 'bystanders' to 'participants,' greatly enhancing their sense of involvement and satisfaction, and also significantly increasing secondary spending and length of stay..."

……

The Economic Information Daily, on the other hand, took an industrial economic perspective, with the headline "The Rise of a New Cultural Tourism Model: Leveraging Film and Television to Boost Regional Economy".

The article points out that the phenomenon of "venturing into the Northeast Film and Television City" signifies that China's cultural tourism industry is upgrading from the traditional "ticket economy" and "sightseeing economy" to "experience economy" and "IP economy".

It has successfully transformed cultural content (films and television dramas) into tourism products with strong market appeal, forming a virtuous cycle of 'film and television broadcast - audience resonance - tourism experience - consumption extension - word-of-mouth dissemination - film and television reheating'.

This model, centered on high-quality film and television IPs, utilizing immersive experiences, and deeply integrating with local cultural resources to achieve coordinated development across film, tourism, commerce, and real estate, may offer a new and referable development path for China's theme park and cultural tourism real estate industries, which are currently in their exploratory phase.

……

The concept of "theme park" is not entirely unfamiliar in China. As early as the late 80s and early 90s, miniature landscape parks such as "Splendid China" and "Window of the World" had already introduced similar concepts.

In 1999, Dalian Jinshitan proposed a plan to build the "Discovery Kingdom" theme park (although it later went through twists and turns).

However, the media and industry generally believe that most domestic projects in the past were either just a collection of mechanical amusement facilities without cultural core, or static landscape displays with insufficient interactivity.

The "Crossing the Guandong Film and Television City" model, which deeply integrates with the most popular cultural IP and gives it a high-intensity, high-participation "immersive" experience, has undoubtedly refreshed people's understanding of "theme parks".

……

Soon, astute media reporters began to delve into the masterminds behind this model.

The entertainment and economic sections of the China Youth Daily collaborated in a rare move, dedicating two full pages to a special report titled "Wang Sheng: From a Midas Touch on the Silver Screen to a Dream Maker in Cultural Tourism."

The article details Wang Sheng's entrepreneurial journey since 96: starting with wedding films made by children of Beijing Film Studio employees, to founding Shengying Media, which produced a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful film and television works such as "Family Harmony Brings Prosperity", "30 Days", "A Little Thing Called First Love", and "Happy Family".

From promoting the film studio alliance and the "China Film Prosperity" cinema reform, to investing in the Internet and laying out the game industry... up to this time, taking the TV series "Crossing the Guandong" as the starting point, he personally designed and led the operation of the phenomenal "Crossing the Guandong Film and Television City".

The article is full of praise: "...While we were still marveling at Wang Sheng's accurate vision and commercial operation capabilities in film and television content production, he had already quietly extended his reach to the downstream of the industry chain and started to play with a higher-dimensional 'model innovation'."

The popularity of "Crossing the Guandong Film and Television City" is not simply due to the development of film and television derivatives. It demonstrates Wang Sheng's accurate grasp of popular cultural psychology, his forward-looking judgment of market consumption trends, and his extraordinary execution ability to turn creative ideas into profitable business models.

He always seems to be one step ahead, seeing blue oceans that others can't see... This is not only the intuition of a genius producer, but also the systematic construction ability of a strategist in the cultural industry ecosystem.

Wang Sheng, a young man in his early twenties, is redefining the boundaries and possibilities of China's entertainment industry with his boundless imagination and down-to-earth business acumen.

The report also "coincidentally" quoted several anonymous comments from "industry insiders": "President Wang's control over the details of film and television city operation is amazing. From the taste of the food in the kitchen to the design of the dialogue between NPCs and tourists, he personally inquired about everything and demanded that it be 'realistic' and 'dramatic'."

"His concept of 'immersion' is not just empty talk, but a complete operational system aimed at making tourists willingly spend money and time and gain a sense of satisfaction that far exceeds their expectations."

These reports, like rallying cries, once again drew public attention back to Wang Sheng.

"Midas touch", "Dream weaver", "Model pioneer", "Father of China's immersive film and television city cultural tourism"...

One tall hat after another flew in, making Wang Sheng's image appear even more imposing and mysterious.

……

(End of this chapter)