Young people sporting hanfu costumes pose for photos in Hanxiang Water Garden.
Hanxiang Water Garden, a classic Jiangnan garden in Maqiao Town, has added antique settings, Chinese hanfu (traditional Han-style clothing) photographing and camping services to its entertainment list. And the move has proved a success with young tourists.
The water garden, built in 2002 as an ecological park to guarantee safety of raw water intake in the upper reaches of the Huangpu River, features antique-style bridges and architectures, ancient trees and rocks in a variety of shapes.
"Our visitor number during the recent Spring Festival holiday increased a lot, with young tourists accounting for quite a big proportion," said Zhou Xiang, general manager of the park. "The park will have its cherry and wisteria blossoms soon and we'll launch a few seasonal activities to entertain our visitors."
The park's old trees and antique-style bridges and architectures often attract tourists, who love to pose for a hanfu photo.
"Once I saw a girl pulling a luggage filled with colored hanfu for photographing in the park. It dawned on us that we could create some antique settings and even lease hanfu to cater to the soaring demand of our visitors," said Liao Dunfeng, innovation director of the new photographing base inside the water garden.
New settings and services in Hanxiang Water Garden are on offer to appeal to the tourists.
The park then set up 10 scenarios, including those featuring ancient Chinese instruments, calligraphy writing, antique-style bridges and persimmon trees, for hanfu enthusiasts to pose for pictures for free.
"Moreover, we purchased more than 100 suites of high-end hanfu, accessories and hairstyles. During our trial operation, visitors can enjoy a 50 percent discount for costume leasing service," Liao added.
A tourist surnamed Wang visited the park especially for its new hanfu photography settings and service.
"I was totally thrilled by the delicate settings, and the photos look quite nice," she said.
To appeal to more tourists, the park also introduced an affordable luxury camping brand, where visitors can enjoy popular camping cuisines, including barbecue and boiling tea on stove.
"Hanxiang Water Garden is an outskirts tourist site in Shanghai with a huge potential and surrounded by rich tourism resources. We'll launch a facelift (on the park) in different phases until a brand-new water garden appears," said Zhou.