While some parents wonder where to take them during the long summer vacation, two features have emerged: a beach getaway away from home or an exploration of heirlooms.
The Aranya Beach Network in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, and the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan Province, were recently indexed as two of the “World’s Greatest Places 2024: One Hundred Extraordinary Destinations to Explore” through the Time magazine.
The community of Aranya, about two-and-a-half hours from Beijing by high-speed train, attracts young Chinese visitors for its minimalist design and otherworldly serenity, Time said in a July 25 article.
Yang Zhenning, director of the network, said the Aranya structure started in 2013 and now covers more than three hundred hectares along the Bohai Sea.
“Our core concept is that life can be more beautiful,” Yang said, adding that the network has invested heavily in design and architecture.
“We invited leading designers from around the world to create a spatial formula of maximum aesthetic, spiritual, emotional and functional value, constructing buildings such as hotels and restaurants within the community,” Yang said.
Residents and tourists of the network can enjoy a variety of services, such as libraries and bookstores, that cater to the other desires of tourists.
Upon entering the community, tourist Li Xue noticed its exquisite architecture.
“I have taken countless photographs of buildings incorporating aesthetic design elements,” said the 38-year-old doctor from Beijing.
He drove from the capital until that weekend last month.
In addition to the visual pleasure, what inspired Li to the fullest was the quality of service and the warmth and attention he received.
“Whether asking for directions or recommending attractions, the staff members’ attitude and quality of service were warm and enthusiastic,” he said.
About 80% of the community’s tourists come from Beijing, and some also come from parts of China such as Guangdong Province, Shanghai and Tianjin, according to Yang. The number of foreign tourists has also increased, he added.
From January to June, Aranya garnered 1. 37 million views. In July, the network experienced continuous rainy days for part of the month and garnered 352,000 views, about the same number as last year.
In Guanghan, the Sanxingdui Museum has an exhibition domain of 22,000 square meters, which exhibits more than 1,500 sets of cultural relics, as well as ceramics, bronze, jade, gold, and ivory from the Sanxingdui ruins.
Covering an area of 12 square kilometers, the Sanxingdui ruins, in which the museum is located, feature the remains of an ancient city, sacrificial pits, residential neighborhoods, and tombs.
According to researchers, the site was established between 2,800 and 4,800 years ago and archaeological finds show that it was a prosperous and highly evolved cultural center.
The site was discovered in 1929 when Yan Daocheng, a local villager, dug a pit filled with jade and stone objects while repairing a sewer ditch on the side of his house.
Since the 1930s, archaeologists have been excavating here and made a breakthrough in 1984 when the remains of large palaces and parts of the east, west and south walls of an ancient city were discovered.
In 1986, two giant pits filled with bronze objects, as well as masks and figurines, were dug. The discoveries showed that the site included the ruins of a city that was the political, economic, and cultural center of the ancient Shu Kingdom, an ancient civilization that existed in present-day Sichuan Province.
It constitutes one of the most important archaeological discoveries made in China in the last century.