Exclusive Interview with iQIYI CEO Gong Yu: Immersive theme park settled in Yangzhou, breaking through the dimensional barriers of film and television cultural tourism.

Who would have thought that binge-watching could lead to your doorstep! On February 8th, along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Yangzhou, the world's first iQIYI theme park officially opened its doors to guests. This indoor theme park, with "National IP + Cutting-edge Technology" as its core, brings classic film and television IPs such as "Kuangbiao," "Canglan Jue," and "Lianhua Lou" from the screen to reality. Inside the park, the scene of Gao Qiang's old house is crowded with tourists taking photos, while outside the immersive theater, a line of visitors waits to experience "The Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty," confirming the enthusiasm of young audiences for offline entertainment scenes. iQIYI founder and CEO Gong Yu, in an exclusive interview with Modern Express, said that the establishment of the park is not a coincidence, but a necessary choice as the film and television industry evolves to a certain stage, and it is also a new exploration of the upgrade of the cultural tourism industry and the innovation of the cultural industry. Breaking the boundaries of online film and television, activating the full life cycle value of IP Standing in the immersive stage performance area of "Lianhua Lou," watching the scene of rain hovering and clothes flying on stage, the audience below was amazed. In Gong Yu's view, film and television and theme parks are naturally "tied together." From the early stages of planning iQIYI in 2009, the concept of a "theme park" was already part of the development framework. Today, with the opening of the Yangzhou park, there is deep reflection on the value of film and television IPs. In the past few decades, the value extraction of IP in the Chinese film and television industry has mainly focused on online broadcasting and copyright trading. With the emergence of iQIYI theme park, IPs have turned from "content on the screen" to "tangible and touchable experiences." How does film and television IP "transform" into real experiences? Gong Yu explained that they incorporated various content such as film and animation into immersive theaters, interactive light and shadow spaces, allowing visitors to enter the world of "The Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty" in Chang'an Ghost Market and "My Altai" on the vast prairie, becoming participants in the story. This kind of experience not only extends the emotional value of IPs but also gives film and television creation a new dimension - iQIYI pre-plans props and sets as digital assets during content development, leaving room for offline experiences. This enables bidirectional empowerment between online content and offline experiences. At the same time, the park has opened up a new commercial track for the film and television industry, extending the value of IPs from membership and advertising to offline experiences and merchandise consumption, fully activating the full life cycle value of film and television IPs. As Gong Yu mentioned, Disney parks and merchandise business have become core sectors accounting for over 70% of profits, confirming the huge potential of offline experiences with film and television IPs. iQIYI's light asset model makes this exploration more suitable for the Chinese market environment. Reconstructing the logic of cultural tourism experience, allowing "emotional value" to cover all aspects of audience's "food, clothing, housing, and transportation" Why choose to settle in Yangzhou? At the opening ceremony, many young people arrived together by high-speed train, and many locals brought their families along to experience the park, which could be the best answer. Gong Yu said that selecting Yangzhou was a rational choice after multiple considerations: "There is a sufficient population and GDP scale here, abundant tourist flow, and relatively few immersive entertainment choices locally, indicating that market demand has not been fully met." The medium-sized city's volume also provides an excellent trial environment for this new model. Different from the heavy asset and large-scale mode of Disney and Universal Studios, the Yangzhou park focuses on "small-scale, fast iteration, strong interaction," with 10,000-20,000 square meters of indoor space, ensuring year-round operation and avoiding tidal flow problems caused by seasons; the use of VR, AR, XR, and other technologies allows small spaces to create ultimate immersive experiences; the experience IPs in the park will continue to iterate, keeping pace with changes in popular aesthetics to maintain the park's attractiveness. At the opening ceremony, visitors went from capturing film scenes, experiencing technological interactions, to buying IP merchandise, and tasting themed cuisine, completing a comprehensive experience consumption. The operating logic of iQIYI theme park is to create a closed loop of "online inspiration - offline experience - social communication," attracting visitors through the film and television IP's traffic effect, and then driving secondary consumption with immersive experiences, transforming cultural tourism consumption from simple "sightseeing" to "experiences" with emotional value. Gong Yu revealed that they will also establish theme parks in cities such as Kaifeng and Beijing in the future. This model gives cultural tourism destinations a more distinct cultural identity, providing a replicable example for the transformation of cultural tourism industry from "check-in economy" to "experience economy." Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co., Ltd., links to build a new ecology of digital cultural experience In the future, over 1,000 virtual characters from Tao Dou World will "come" to the audience, and people can extend online interactions to offline through their phones, which is a concrete manifestation of Gong Yu's idea of "technology empowering cultural communication." Gong Yu said that the core of the park is "National IP + Cutting-edge Technology," using cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence to disseminate Chinese stories in a more vivid way. Whether it's the national style suspense in "The Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty," the ethnic customs in "My Altai," or the chivalrous sentiment in "Lianhua Lou," these IPs rooted in Chinese culture are restored and interpreted through technology, allowing visitors to experience the charm of Chinese culture in immersive experiences. This method of dissemination is more infectious than mere content output, and truly brings cultural communication to the masses. Gong Yu believes that although it is still in the early stages, the "experience business" such as theme parks will inevitably become a major trend and another growth curve for iQIYI after its overseas business. For the entire cultural industry, the exploration of new theme parks proves that the cultural industry can break free from traditional models and achieve deep integration of culture, technology, and entertainment in a light assets, fast iteration manner, making the cultural industry a new driving force for consumption upgrade. This article is from Modern Express/Modern+ Journalist: Song Jingwei