Why does a star project costing 350 million yuan say dismantle?

From the city of Mentingruo to Menkeluoque, the Weishui culture that experienced the ups and downs may have long since retreated.

On March 8, Women's Day, when "her power" occupied the headlines of major online media, the news that "the Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village costing 350 million yuan to be built would be demolished" quietly climbed into a hot search.

On May 1, 2016, the Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village officially opened. It attracted 120,000 tourists that day, and the hot scene envied the peers. However, in less than 4 years, the project ended in a "demolition" manner. The audience watched, and they couldn't help wondering: Why did the star project that was so popular in the past say that it was demolished?

Demolished 4 years after opening

Public information shows that Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village is located in Tianpo Village, Ancun Town, Lantian County, Xi'an City, with a planned area of 1,200 mu and an investment of 350 million yuan. The project is built on Bailu's original terrain, and is a three-level key construction project in Shaanxi Province, Xi'an City and Lantian County. The investor is Shaanxi Weishui Cultural Industry Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Weishui Culture). According to the plan, Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village "presents the original Guanzhong culture through antique buildings, gourmet specialties, traditional art performances and other forms, and will build a comprehensive tourist resort that integrates ecological sightseeing, leisure and holiday, and folk experience."

On May 1st in 2016, Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village opened 400,000 visitors 3 days after it opened. The self-driving vehicles were lined up from the original to the foot of the mountain, and the shops for sale were hot.

In the summer of 2016, the TV series "White Deer Plain" officially started filming. This 15-year-old, large-scale masterpiece of the large-scale masterpiece system continued to bring topics, and the White Deer Folk Culture Village, which specializes in White Deer culture, has also attracted much attention. In the same year of the same year, Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village received 30,000 tourists a day for 7 days, and the peak period reached 100,000.

"Bailuyuan is mysterious and heavy. We don't want to put its history and culture in a frame and hang it on the wall, but let people not only see it, but also touch it and feel it." An Kequan, president of Weishui Culture, once accepted Said in the media interview.

However, the ideal is full and the reality is skinny. In just one year, tourists ’sentiment towards Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village has fallen sharply, and external competition has gradually become fierce.

In June 2017, the TV series "White Deer Plain" was officially launched. Dramatically, the "grace and entanglement" of the three generations of Bai and Lu in the play are staged in reality: Bailuyuan Film and Television City 10 kilometers away from Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village, Bailuyuan Bailucang Scenic Area 20 kilometers away. In addition to Bailuyuan Ecological Cultural Tourism Park, Bailu Ancient Town and Panpanzhang Folk Village and other smaller cultural tourism projects, the six or seven scenic spots that specialize in Bailuyuan IP share the same cake.

According to media reports, at the end of 2017, the number of tourists in Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village was cut by half, and the shops were closed. In 2018, Weishui Culture pursued the construction of a 7D net red glass bridge, but this did not revitalize the scenic spot. On August 9, 2019, the Lantian County government in Shaanxi issued a notice saying that Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village will be closed for renovation. Since then, Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village faded out of the public eye. Seven months later, tourists did not wait for it to be "renewed", but instead were news that it would be demolished.

Lessons Learned from Failure

According to the initial planning, Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village should "based on Bailuyuan's native cultural IP, build folk cultural tourism projects, and imitate the operation of the Yuanjiacun model." Why did it later become a "snack street" criticized by tourists?

"It's a folk culture village, but it doesn't have a folk customs, it's just a snack street, hot pepper garlic, sheep's blood, oily noodles, and cakes. Shaanxi is everywhere. Why come here to eat?"

"A bowl of plain noodles costs 50 yuan. It's too expensive!"

"There are neither amazing natural resources like Huashan nor cultural sites like terracotta warriors in the scenic area, which is not very attractive."

The Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village failed to solve the problem of tourists 'pain, but the tourists' troughs had poked its pain points: the cultural excavation was not deep, imitation was not in place, homogeneity and commercialization were serious ...

However, these phenomena are only "effects", and the "cause" is that the management and market demand are not effectively connected.

An insider who has participated in the Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village project revealed that the project had done well. "Recently I have read a lot of reports, and the project has been very miserable, but I think a lot of information is inaccurate. In fact, it can be completely successful in terms of early planning and mid-term construction, but in terms of later management, It must fail again. "

The insider recalled that the Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village project had been fully prepared in the early stage, and a number of places were inspected in light of the site selection. Tianpo Village, the final location of Lantian County, is only an hour's drive from the center of Xi'an. The transportation and environmental advantages are very prominent. The air in the village is fresh. In addition, the Tuo River flows and the geothermal energy is abundant, which is very suitable for leisure and health. After the project was started, the progress was relatively smooth. The positioning of "White Deer Original Folk Culture" is different. Although the practice of opening up the market with food is not so brilliant, it is not criticized. However, from the construction to the beginning of the opening, problems in management and operation gradually Exposure laid a foreshadowing for its decline.

First of all, Weishui Culture was established by 10 shareholders (the largest share accounted for 26.74%, and the remaining 9 people accounted for 3.33% to 16.65%), which meant that everyone had the right to speak, but no one had absolute rights. The right to speak, which has led to long-term inconsistencies in the business philosophy of shareholders and inefficient decision-making. Secondly, the project is chasing short-term benefits and has no long-term plans. In the early days of opening, many well-established shops were very sought-after, with strong brands and formats willing to settle in. It is a pity that a large number of good stores are leased to ordinary qualified enterprises or individuals. The quality of the format is naturally not high. Not surprising. In addition, from the perspective of capital reserves, the financial strength of the 10 shareholders is relatively average, which makes it difficult to start subsequent projects.

"I feel very sorry." Even if the ending of Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village had been expected for a long time, the insider still had a hard time letting go.

Yang Dejin, associate professor and associate dean of the School of Tourism and Services of Nankai University, said that the failure of Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village was not accidental. This case reflects many problems in the development of characteristic folk villages.

He believes that, first, the cultural experience, scene crossing, storytelling, interactive entertainment, learning and education, and folklore interpretation under the "White Deer Plain" signboard are lacking. The existing products and formats are objectively deviated from the theme, and the rooting and locality are insufficient. As a result, it can only embark on the road of homogeneous competition. Second, folk culture is a characteristic life experience. Bailuyuan is a window for people to experience the characteristic life. From this point, the scenic area needs to provide life scenes and life experience items. However, Bailuyuan folk culture village did not do this. In terms of supporting facilities, people's desire to experience the life in the past and the customs in Guanzhong falls short, and naturally they cannot produce a sense of identity. Thirdly, the project is inadequate in responding to changes in the tourism market and tourist consumer demand, and its management is not market-oriented. It ignores market changes and crises, and does not seek new changes and enhancements. It will inevitably decline. Fourth, the lack of operational management talents and subsequent capital investment is also the main reason for the project to face this situation.

"In recent years, there have been many tourist attractions built on popular literature and film and television works. How to turn outstanding literary and film works into excellent cultural tourism products is a question worthy of consideration by the industry." Said Wang Kunxin, a professor at Zhejiang Tourism Institute. The scenic spots of literary and film works must attach great importance to cultural deep excavation and product innovation. The life in Guanzhong portrayed in "White Deer Plain" is desirable, but the exploration and presentation of folk customs in the White Deer Folk Culture Village is far from enough. A large number of non-textured shops and foods are duplicated and similar, making the scenic area lack of vitality. At the same time, scenic spots created by literature and film works must be based on the original work. In addition to the characters and scenes that are properly integrated into the work, they must also fully explore, reasonably imagine and extend the people, things, and objects in the work because of the familiar characters and scenes. It can make tourists resonate with emotions. The content of reasonable imagination and extension can penetrate the local folk traditions and deep culture, bring more and deeper feelings to tourists, and is an important support for increasing tourists' stickiness.

"Hot potato" who will pick up the plate

It is reported that with the demolition of Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village, the 350 million yuan invested in the previous period has also been drifted. "This statement is not accurate." According to people familiar with the matter, Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village was funded by Weishui Culture and the project will be constructed in two phases. At present, only part of the construction has been completed in the early stage, covering an area of only a few hundred acres, and the core project has not yet started. More importantly, the land parcel does not involve land transfer, and only short-term rent is paid by Weishui Culture. Therefore, the construction cost is not as high as the outside world thinks, "roughly calculated, it will not exceed 100 million yuan."

From the city of Mentingruo to Menkeluoque, the Weishui culture that experienced the ups and downs may have long since retreated. According to media reports, in March 2019, 10 shareholders of Weishui Culture transferred their shares to Shaanxi Jinye Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shaanxi Jinye) at the same time. At the same time, Shaanxi Weishui Commercial Operation Management Co., Ltd. In the same month, it was transferred to Shaanxi Jinyu. At this point, the Weishui culture simply retired. In July of the same year, Shaanxi Jinyu pledged all its equity to Xi'an Lancheng Ideal Town Construction Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Lancheng Ideal Town), and it was the latter that issued a dismantling announcement on March 7 this year.

The reporter learned through Tianyan Check and other studies that Blue City Ideal Town was established in March 2019. The two major shareholders are Zhejiang Blue City Liren Construction Co., Ltd. (the company's equity can penetrate up to the "Blue City Group", and the founder of Green City Group Song Weiping is the helm of Blue City Group) and Xi'an Jinye Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (partners include shareholders of Shaanxi Jinye) with subscription rates of 66% and 34%. In May 2019, Lancheng Ideal Town changed its business scope and added a new item of "real estate development and operation". In July, it became the pledgee of Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village Project through equity pledge. This seems to explain why Blue City Ideal Town issued a "demolition announcement" and enjoyed demolition and construction rights.

In the past two years, in the Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village project, in addition to the investors trying to stop losses, the Lantian County Government has also made a lot of efforts. According to the Lantian County Government website, on January 8, 2019, the Lantian County Government and Lancheng Taoli Chunfeng Construction Group (a blue city group participated in the investment and establishment) signed a strategic cooperation agreement to create the Lantian Bailu Wengu Project. According to reports, the Bailu Wengu project has a total planned area of about 2,000 acres, of which 800 acres are used for the first phase. It plans three core clusters, including the headquarters office cluster, the master homestay cluster, and the education and recreation cluster. , Hotel, health care and other business formats, will be built into a cultural and creative office, leisure vacation, education and health care as one of the international first-class high-quality composite garden community. According to the latest plan, the location of Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village will become the core area of Bailu Wengu.

At this point, the future development of the plot is gradually clear. Although it will take time to verify whether the new project can complete the approval procedures for land for real estate projects, whether it can successfully replicate the blue city group Hangzhou Taoli Chunfeng, Luzhou Yueju Town and other models, and whether it can break through the competition in the White Deer original competition. For now, Bailuyuan Folk Culture Village changed hands and was handed over to the "Blue City Department" with rich capital and rich experience, which still leaves room for imagination.