Tang Xuan, a Shanghai resident, remembers that a few years ago, when he traveled to a small city in Japan, he happened to encounter the local "city festival": from the myths and legends of the city's founding to the various achievements achieved today, all condensed in an hour-long "parade". Many of the participants are students, through this way to understand the history of their hometown: "The history of most cities in China can only be learned by academic urban planning halls, but it lacks the elements of 'fun' and 'grounding'. ”
Tang Xuan's thoughts may change. On March 27 this year, the theme park "Yumeng Miniature World • 400 Years of Magic Capital" will enter soft operation - this is the first theme park in Shanghai to interpret the history of the city through "miniature architecture + mechanical art + digital multimedia interaction", which was completed by 50 modelers in two years, creating a total of more than 500 miniature architectural landscapes, tens of thousands of miniature figures and more than 70 interactive installations, reproducing the history of urban change in Shanghai from 1559 to 1937.
Stepping into the basement floor of Tianyu Building of Yuyuan Department Store, a gate rotates with light and shadow, and behind the door, the audience can walk through the "Magic Capital" for 400 years in one day.
A hundred years ago, the area around the bustling City God Temple
Did people a hundred years ago also squeeze the Nine-Curved Bridge?
As soon as this door of time is opened, the first thing that comes into sight is the Yu Garden more than a hundred years ago. With the change of light and shadow, the "daytime" Yu Garden is very lively: in the temple market along the street, the small steamed buns, pear paste candy, and duck blood vermicelli soup are stacked on top of each other, waiting to be cooked; next to the City God Temple, many people carry incense to worship the city god lord and various gods. Officers and soldiers on horseback, old men in palanquins, peasants wearing bucket hats, literati fighting each other... People of all kinds passed by around yu garden. Among them, there is also the miracle of the three tours of the City God Lord, and the lively scene is the same as the New Year now.
Although they are all miniature buildings and small people with a height of a few centimeters, the details can stand the test of a magnifying glass. The storyteller on the stage of The Huxin Pavilion in Yuyuan Garden is wearing a blue-gray robe, holding a folding fan only the size of a fingernail cap, and with a magnifying glass, he can see the ink literati painting on the fan surface.
Folk activities in Yu Garden at night
At night, when the lights first went on, there were only a lot more people in Yu Garden. Inside Yangshan Hall, nearly 50 Chinese and foreign characters with different shapes are enjoying the performances on the stage. This is not a scene that the designers arbitrarily set up and placed, but reproduces the scene of Kunqu opera in Guangxu Gengchen's third year (1880) "Yu Garden Banquet Map", when Liu Ruifen of Shanghai Daotai feasted on Prince Sun Heilig of Germany.
In the first exhibition hall of the theme park, "Encounter on the Sea", the sand table carrying "Yu Garden" alone is 13 meters long, equivalent to a bus, and more than 3,000 model characters try to restore the realistic scenes of that year. According to reports, the entire plane structure refers to the Qianlong period in 1784" and other materials.
From the Encounter Garden on the Sea to the subsequent "River and Sea Hui", "Battle of The North Gate", "The Best of The Chinese World" and "Modern Era" plates, including The Yu Garden, the Sixteen Shops Wharf, the Wukang Building, the Mahler Villa and the Shikumen Architectural Complex, all of which have been verified in writing and on the ground. The planning team lasted half a year, and more than a million words were read in papers and books at home and abroad alone.
The old "Shanghai South Railway Station" that has long ceased to exist
According to the planning team, the "Shanghai South Railway Station" in the theme park was completed in 1908, and after being bombed by the Japanese army in 1937, it no longer exists, leaving only the current "South Railway Station Road". When the team consulted the historical materials, they learned that this station was the starting point of the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway and was also the railway station with the largest freight volume in the Yangtze River Delta region at that time. According to the information of many parties and the guidance of experts, the building and the situation of the year were restored.
Another example is the "Convergence of Rivers and Seas" plate, large and small ships reflected in the blue light and shadow, and various dialects are heard in the ears: according to the planning team, Shanghai shipping was developed in that year, bringing together ships from all over the world, and many people on the dock spoke dialects of different regions. These dialects were written by the planning team based on the records of the time, and colleagues from all over the world were asked to record them in the local dialect.
Outside the passing boats, various dialects can be heard
Who lives in the Wukang Building?
Tang Xuan is very concerned about the city's historical buildings, and a big regret is that most historical buildings "can only look at the appearance, can not enter them." The classic shanghai buildings exhibited in the "Four Hundred Years of the Magic Capital" may be able to make up for such regrets.
The school in Shikumen
A "Shikumen residence" with floor slabs on both sides that can be lifted and lowered. One side of the floor slab is lowered, you can spy how the Shanghainese who lived well in those years arranged the living room and bedroom; while the other side of the floor slab opens, you will find how the Shanghainese "make a dojo in a snail shell" and stuff a primary school in the Shikumen house. Behind the "Paramount Ballroom", you can get a glimpse of the lively nightlife of the double-decker ballroom. If you hold up the camera to shoot, you will be "remade" by the villains in Paramount.
"Snooping" Paramount
The audience can not only see the deconstruction of the building, but also get a glimpse of life in the building. After nightfall, the lights of every house in the "Wukang Building" turned on. In a window, with golden wallpaper and a popular green hood lamp, a blonde man is counting piles of banknotes on a table— according to the 1937 "China Travel Directory" published by Zi Lin Yangxing, where the sales agent of the Jiadi Fire Oil Property Company lived. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the company's stock soared, and he made a windfall. Also in the "Wukang Building", there are young people trying out new songs - nie Er is behind one of the windows, inviting Wang Renmei to try out the theme song of "Children of the Wind and Clouds", which later became the national anthem, "March of the Volunteer Army".
The story in the window of the Wukang Building is true in history
In the windows, the interpretation records the real history. "Just being able to see the appearance of an old building is not a 'building readable.'" Citizen Yang Jie believes that today's urban cultural tourism has passed the "visit here" type of punch card, consumers are eager for more content, only "walk in" and "listen to stories", in order to truly "read" the history of the city through architecture: "In reality, many historically protected buildings cannot be entered casually. Reproducing it in a model way is a kind of exploration. ”
Sound and light reproduce the actions of the Shanghai Fire Fighting Federation
In order to reproduce the "content" in the building, the miniature here breaks the industry's usual 1:87 ratio. Guangci Hospital was restored at 1:30, the Wukang Building and the characteristic Shikumen complex were restored at 1:15, and the Mahler Villa even adopted a 1:9 size. These buildings can also divide and lower, and through the use of electronic sensing, naked-eye 3D, phantom imaging, digital interaction and other technologies, the story in the building can be reproduced.
In the view of Lin Tianhong, chairman of the producer Shanghai Yumeng Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd., "Four Hundred Years of Magic Capital" is not only a miniature theme park, but also an in-depth urban cultural refinement and the innovative development of commercial immersive experience formats.
Can history shine into reality?
Step into a special exhibition hall of the theme park, "The Tale of Illusions", and whenever you approach a different window, the window will change: jumping clockwork frogs, jumping dolls, sewing machines that are stepped on... Associated with childhood memories of many young and middle-aged people.
"Mirage Story" is one of dozens of large-scale art installations customized by the theme park. According to Wang Qi, general manager of Yumeng, the content of the venue will continue to be upgraded, new works and ideas will be introduced continuously, and a variety of public education and theme exploration activities will be supported.
One of the interactive installations: a look through the suitcases of different eras
In recent years, there are many cultural and creative blocks, venues and brands that focus on "memories" and "feelings", and Yuyuan Mall is also comprehensively upgrading its brand, and Yang Jie, who has not been to Yuyuan Garden for many years, recently went to Yuyuan Garden and exclaimed that "Yuyuan Garden has become younger and more fun!" ”
Here, he found all kinds of "little people's books" that he begged his parents to buy when he was a child, as well as various derivatives of "Made in Shanghai" "Great White Rabbit": "These are worth buying more than the 'one side of a thousand cities' tourist souvenirs." ”
After Tang Xuan and his friends visited the increasingly young Yuyuan Mall, he walked to the BFC Bund Financial Center to see the latest exhibition, passing an empty old city box, sandwiched in the middle of the road and an old stage. "We can learn about the history of the city in an interesting way, and we can make the city's landmarks new and close to young people, but can these old buildings that really carry the memory of life, in addition to demolition, be integrated into contemporary life?"
Where will the real old house outside Yu Garden go?
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Jian Gongbo
Source: Author: Jian Gongbo