By Hu Min
Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park's Ocean Deity Festival is in full swing, bringing a visual feast and a fun experience for tourists from home and abroad.
Coinciding with the winter vacation and Spring Festival holiday, the park has opened its night sessions from February 7 to March 1, featuring 10 spectacular ocean-themed shows daily and 100 immersive interactive games.
Eleven national intangible cultural heritage (ICH) performances are staged, including Chaoshan Yingge dance, Guangdong southern lion dance, Lufeng shadow puppetry, Wuyuan Nuo dance, Sichuan face-changing show, Jinyang molten iron fireworks, Zhejiang fire pot stunts, bench dragon dances and fish lantern parades.
A grand parade of folk cultural performance
Chaoshan Yingge dance impresses with powerful rhythms, while Guangdong southern lion dance leap and pose, brimming with festive joy. Quanzhou Liyuan Opera enchants with elegant sleeves and melodic voices, and Lufeng shadow puppetry tells vivid stories through nimble fingers and shifting lights.
Sichuan face-changing show amazes with quick transformations, while as a national ICH treasure, Nuo dance is presented in two versions. On land, dancers wear traditional Nuo masks and perform to ancient rhythms, carrying thousands of years of heritage. Underwater, it is performed 10 meters deep in the ocean, creating a stunning collision of tradition and marine culture.
A brand-new night-time 3D projection mapping show wows visitors.
As night falls, Jinyang melton iron fireworks bloom like a galaxy falling from the sky. Fish-dragon lanterns glide and the bench dragon winds through the crowds with its lights resembling a divine dragon swimming in the sea.
Visitors can enjoy splendid ICH performances, experiencing the profound roots of traditional culture amid magical ocean scenery.
Spring Festival atmosphere envelops the park.
Paper-cut display attracts visitors.
A brand-new night-time 3D projection mapping show, created by a top French light art team, wows visitors, together with mecha parades, drone displays, and fireworks, making it the grandest Spring Festival night tour extravaganza.
Two themed markets offer ICH foods, with live demonstrations of calligraphy, paper-cutting, and other heritage crafts. Two themed parades are held, enriching festive atmosphere.
From February 15 to 23, drones, fireworks, and Kongming lights will illuminate the sky for nine consecutive nights. The light show draws inspiration from the flow of the ocean, the passage of time, and the spirit of reunion.
A grand celebration
A bird's eye view of the park
Following the narrative of spring, time, momentum, and splendor, it blends the clarity of polar glaciers, the deep blue of the ocean, the warm glow of traditional lanterns, and the golden radiance of galloping horses, unfolding a magnificent visual epic.
To ensure a pleasant experience, the park has upgraded its services with night sessions extending to 9pm and additional temporary parking spaces provided.
Meanwhile, Shanghai's brand-new cultural IP "Cute Masters of Shanghai" was unveiled recently, bringing together the city's animal stars. The five animals are Internet stars from Shanghai's top attractions, beloved to millions of netizens.
A grand celebration
Inspired by the city's beloved animal stars, the IP connects urban culture, festive spirit, and contemporary aesthetics in an endearing way, sending warm Spring Festival greetings to tourists. Among these, Xia Xia, the beluga from Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park, is included.
Offline, the IP is integrated into immersive tourism experiences, including Shanghai Pass privilege packs and special Spring Festival combo tickets, and themed double-decker sightseeing buses.
Themed pop-up stores will open in downtown commercial areas, taking tourists into the magic world of these animals. Their images will be displayed at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to welcome tourists from home and abroad.
