Anime lovers' "Spring Festival", summer activities in Shanghai | Shanghai | lovers

A 3-day urban hot tour

From July 21st to 23rd, Shanghai was even more lively than before.

Near the National Convention and Exhibition Center, young people carrying suitcases almost fill the road within a radius of 3 kilometers. They traveled from all over the country to Shanghai only to participate in the offline comic exhibition event held on Bilibili World.

Within 3 days, hotels, air tickets, and high-speed rail tickets in the central area of Shanghai have become more difficult to purchase and sold out earlier than in previous weeks. A netizen posted that based on past experience, it is necessary to book accommodation and transportation to Shanghai at least half a month in advance.

Xiaobao, a netizen, told reporters that when COMICUP, another large-scale diffuse exhibition, was held in Shanghai in May this year, online ticket grabbing by netizens nationwide led to the collapse of the Internet platform and hot search. The exhibition attracted hundreds of thousands of people in just two days, and became a hot spot on the Internet in May. He had predicted that the BW heat in July would be no less than this, so he had already booked a hotel in Shanghai in May.

How many new influx of outsiders into Shanghai during those three days? It's difficult to calculate. But the ticket grabbing mini program on Bilibili shows that about 200000 people across the country have booked to come to Shanghai to watch the exhibition. According to the ticket purchase statistics of each BW session, non Shanghai audiences account for 70%. This year, the number of tickets released is very strict, resulting in difficulty in obtaining one ticket, and there is a lot of lamentation online. Therefore, there is actually not as much data as shown on the internet. However, it cannot be ruled out that some people cannot buy tickets and still want to come to Shanghai to experience the atmosphere.

During the 3-day BW event, apart from hotel professionals who couldn't keep their mouths shut, the long queues outside several physical stores in Shanghai were even more spectacular.

On Nanjing East Road, the first dimensional cultural and commercial entity in China, Bailian ZX Creative Fun Field, can withstand the term "crowds".

Some people described that facing the floor full of their favorite anime cultural brands, the whole person felt as if a mouse had fallen into a rice vat and was very excited. There was a kind of excitement that his heart was racing and he could not walk.

In the shops around some popular IP cultural and creative stores, the crowding level is comparable to the subway in the morning and evening peak. It seems like sardine can. Some shops are even full of people on the ground.

In addition, several major anime punch in resorts in Shanghai, such as the coffee shop in the headquarters building of Station B and the headquarters building of Miha Tour, have become popular online attractions for a while, including foreigners.

Aiman founder and CEO Wu Weicheng stated that they have 8 physical anime stores and 5 anime IP themed restaurants in Shanghai. One month before the start of BW, he was on high alert, preparing goods and sending more manpower.

"We have transferred chefs, exhibition staff, and service personnel from other cities such as Beijing to book flights and hotels in Shanghai 20 days in advance. The hotel prices increased significantly that week," said Wu Weicheng.

As expected, a large number of young people came to physical stores with suitcases to sweep the goods. It was originally during the summer when business was good, and in those three days, there was an increase of nearly 50% in foot traffic.

A cultural exhibition not only brings visitors, but also activates various cultural spaces, consumer spaces, cultural and tourism formats, and related industrial chains in the city.

Every summer, we make plans to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Shanghai

In 2020, after graduating from Xiaobao University, I worked in Shanghai. My former classmates from my hometown of Luoyang were far and wide, and I haven't seen them for a long time.

This year, he made an appointment with five other old classmates to reunite with Shanghai BW. For this reason, he booked a homestay near the venue three months in advance. At that time, it was still during the summer vacation, with a price of 1000 yuan per day for a 6-person suite. During the exhibition days, if the price rises to 3000 yuan per day, it may not be possible to book one week in advance.

The farthest old classmate took about 50 hours by train from Lhasa to Shanghai.

"To be honest, there are many tourist cities to choose from all over the country. If it were not for the large summer exhibitions, game shows and anime activities all clustered in Shanghai, old students might not choose Shanghai," said Xiao Bao.

On the evening of July 20th, the venue was already very lively. Looking around, there were young people playing electric guitars and humming casually. Six people chatted while walking. They didn't care about eating, and when they were hungry, they casually had a hot pot meal nearby.

The 3-day exhibition schedule is very full. Everyone must wake up at 5:30 every day and ensure entry at 7 o'clock. If you go late, you will have to queue up at the door soon. This year, we have learned from previous experiences and released personnel in advance, so the team is not too long. The queue in previous years was even more exaggerated - it took 4 hours for someone to enter.

6 people rushing towards popular interactive activity: Liver Emperor Battle. The competition system requires attendance at various locations in the venue. From 7pm to 9pm, all check-in tasks are completed, and the lottery starts at 3:30pm. They were extremely lucky, and within three days, they won prizes such as a 4090 graphics card, DJI drone, PS5, 32 inch monitor, etc. The prize prices ranged from 5000 yuan to 10000 yuan.

After 9 o'clock, we strolled around each other. Popular game interactive activities inevitably require more than 2 hours of queuing. Another popular area is the stage.

The main stage of UP is mainly for the main performance of Bilibili UP, with a seating capacity of over 400 people. What's even more interesting is the free stage, where the audience can perform on stage themselves. The performances of the passersby were full of mistakes and mistakes, but the audience below all gave enthusiastic encouragement and no one laughed at them. This is a space where you can fully unleash yourself.

Some people also see their favorite UP owners in the exhibition hall and immediately ask for their signatures, creating an atmosphere of strolling around with them.

Han Xiaomu, the head of the UP dance area, was invited to perform on the main stage of the UP. The third day of the manga exhibition coincided with her birthday. At the moment of the performance, someone from the nearest audience below shouted out: Happy birthday! She feels warm and cozy.

Han Xiaomu originally only worked part-time on Bilibili to shoot her own dance or role-playing videos in her spare time. After her fans gradually increased, she resigned and became a full-time UP owner, moving from Beijing to Shanghai.

Shanghai has gathered a large number of UP hosts, and communication, topic selection, and collaborative filming between them have become much more frequent. After becoming a full-time UP owner, moving to Shanghai seems to have become a common practice in the industry. She even rented a house in the nearest neighborhood to the headquarters building of Bilibili.

Within 3 days, UP hosts from all over the country gathered in one place. When having breakfast in the hotel lobby, I looked up and said, "You're here too" and "Long time no see.". "There's a feeling of friends gathering together," Han Xiaomu said.

At the signing ceremony of the anime exhibition, fans brought her signature for each edition. Some fans have complained that they once told her in the live broadcast that they wanted to take the postgraduate entrance exam, but now they have passed it themselves. Some fans kept talking for a long time, while others were particularly shy and didn't say a word... All of these moved her.

Three days, very hard but also very happy. "For us, it's like coming to Shanghai for the Chinese New Year," Han Xiaomu said. "The summer vacation in Shanghai is the 'New Year' of the anime people!" Xiaobao also used a similar expression.

His colleagues are much older than him and rarely find people to communicate with after work about their favorite anime and games. And these three days, surrounded by people who understand themselves, giving each other a glance and understanding.

For example, if someone on stage plays with memes and imitates the famous actions of Bilibili's Ghost Zone, the audience immediately understands and laughs loudly. Here, he can unleash his nature and feel an excitement of returning to his youth.

Three days later, Xiaobao and the six of them felt a huge sense of loss together, as if they had had a beautiful dream of a paradise, and now they have woken up. After their appointment, they gather every year at the Shanghai Comic Exhibition.

From Exhibition to Entrepreneurship

Shanghai is the national capital of e-sports and the anime cultural capital in the hearts of fans. Some people say that there are two kinds of street tourists during the summer vacation in Shanghai: those who come to visit the anime and those who do not visit the anime.

Almost all major national anime exhibitions, game exhibitions, related press conferences, related concerts, etc. are held in Shanghai. The Caohejing area is a concentrated park for domestic games. Every time the event venue is announced, someone in the comment section exclaims, "It's Shanghai again! It's Shanghai again!"

But Shanghai was not achieved overnight, as large-scale exhibitions have grown in scale and accumulated over the years.

Tongren, that is, like-minded people. In the anime culture, it generally refers to the creation of works that are not for profit and out of personal interest. It can be divided into original Tongren and second creation Tongren.

This year's CP exhibition has become one of the largest fan fiction exhibitions in the world, surpassing North America and Japan at one point. Once a year, we gather at the CP exhibition to become a national festival for anime creators. Its prototype was born in 2007, and since then, the venue has been constantly updated, gradually upgrading from the World Trade Center, Everbright Convention and Exhibition Center, Shanghai Exhibition Center, and then to the National Convention and Exhibition Center, all the way to today.

Unlike other anime exhibitions, CP focuses more on text and creativity. Some lesser known artists and writers can share a booth with others on CP to showcase their notebooks. It is also known as the growth cradle of the anime culture company. When the production team has no operating funds and ability, exhibition is one of the most cost-effective choices.

The founder team of the popular game "Ark of Tomorrow" is the witness of CP. Several core producers were a group of anime enthusiasts in their early days, who once posted their own notebooks on CP as vendors.

In 2017, several like-minded individuals established Eagle Horn Network in Shanghai, giving birth to the mobile game "Ark of Tomorrow". The company continues to participate in CP as a game exhibitor. "We value the communication atmosphere of CP more because the founder team comes from a creator background and understands this passion for creativity," explained Xiao Bai, the person in charge of offline activities in the marketing department.

In CP, clubs that create similar themes can form their own zones/streets, facilitating communication and allowing tourists to quickly find their favorite themes. Creating a joyful atmosphere where creators fully communicate and work as the core is CP's unique value.

The CP launched in May this year directly attracted about 150000 visitors from outside Shanghai, with over 15000 booths participating in the past two days, and on-site consumption exceeding 100 million yuan.

If the new anime landmarks such as Bailian ZX, Joy City, Baili Champs Elysees and New World are added, the consumption driving force will reach the level of 500 million to 1 billion yuan according to the institutional assessment.

Having accumulated such a large reserve of creators, the CP Organizing Committee has also developed a new direction: to help authors further professionalize, cultivate, explore, and support creations belonging to China, and find a new path for the development of "national creativity".

During the Shanghai Book Fair, the CP Organizing Committee launched the "Comics Up" project, which aims to discover new stars in comics from the 10000 creators exhibited and support original folk authors to embark on a career path.

The authors started as creative enthusiasts, publishing their works on online platforms and expanding their readership through CP exhibitions, gradually accumulating popularity both online and offline. Finally, with the assistance of the CP organizing committee, they published their works and launched them in overseas markets such as Japan.

Maotai is one of the signing authors for this project. She is a freelance illustrator, and her comic serialized works have not been recognized by major platforms. "Every time my subject matter is not what the platform wanted to be popular back then," she said. Moutai said that after multiple disappointments, she decided to publicly share her works for free on social media platforms such as Weibo.

On weekdays, she relies on receiving orders from animation companies, live streaming commercial orders, etc. to support herself, and comics have always been unable to be monetized. This time, the CP organizing committee is interested in her work and is willing to launch it in overseas markets, bringing her new surprises.

Maotai still remembers a fan on CP specifically coming to see her and shaking hands for a long time. Some fans also said a long string of encouraging words, hoping that she would persevere. She also received some "soul piercing" text - "Hello, after thinking about it, I still wrote a basket of words. I really, really like your work a few years ago..."

"The existence of readers is the driving force for me to persist in creating," sighed Maotai.

This year, the CP organizing committee has successfully recommended some comics to sign contracts with overseas publishers. Expanding the global influence of "National Innovation" is the next step in the development of a new track. And Shanghai does indeed have unique conditions: it gathers a large number of foreign language translation talents from across the country, has direct overseas contacts, and mature platform channels.

The other side of Shanghai

In 2016, there was a surge of people outside the Shanghai Mercedes Benz Cultural Center, and in the evening, a large-scale offline concert called BML at Bilibili was about to be held.

During the day, many enthusiasts were already waiting outside the venue. Can you provide them with some fun activities to pass the time? Bilibili attempted to do some interactive games, outdoor stages, and UP main signing events on the square, and received rave reviews. In the second year, the organizers decided to choose another indoor exhibition hall so that fans could enjoy the fun time with air conditioning, which is BW.

BW went from a small exhibition of 20000 square meters to a large-scale exhibition of over 100000 square meters rented from the National Convention and Exhibition Center this year. Its original intention was not to focus on consumption and selling, but rather to create a carnival for fans.

For example, bringing the Bilibili entrance exam into the exhibition, answering questions on the spot, scoring with machines, and the highest scoring individual appearing directly on the electronic screen. Everyone is willing to queue for 2 hours just to take the exam. Some people just want to see the real person who has been scrolling on the internet, get their signature, and join in the fun.

In 2021, the exhibition strategy was adjusted and more IP exhibitors were introduced. Later on, there were zones such as anime zone, game zone, and simulation zone. The entire exhibition has a diverse range of content, which cannot be fully explored in three days. Some exclusive IP copyright holders and legitimate retailers have appeared at BW, customizing limited edition, BW exclusive, and Bilibili co branded peripheral products for the exhibition, attracting crowds to queue up.

In the simulation area, industry experts share how to assemble models, paint, divide lines, paint battle damaged makeup, how to conceive, and where to select materials. Knowledge zone UP owners have their own stand up stage, live streaming UP owners have live broadcasts, and performance oriented UP owners can appear on the UP main stage. In addition, various interactive games, sports small playgrounds that generate power with love, large doll grabbing machines composed of anime figurines, and sand sculpture emoji games... Each activity may not be liked by everyone, but for the core audience, there is always something that can be satisfied when they harvest happiness, knowledge, or friends.

Afterwards, the exhibition also included competition content. Such as BW Championship Dream Card Tournament, Digimon Card Tournament, Game King Card Tournament, King of Glory Tournament, etc. Stronger playability and sense of participation.

It's more like a theme park than a comic exhibition. "Providing emotional value, leaving indelible memories of youth companionship." Someone described it this way.

Xiao Bai believes that the open and inclusive cultural environment in Shanghai has given birth to a group of excellent companies in the gaming and animation fields, and has also provided a good incubation soil for related cultural exhibitions.

This year, when the Ark of Tomorrow themed concert was held at the Qizhong Tennis Center, most of the more than 30000 players came from outside the city. As a practitioner, he feels the mutual nourishment and resonance between creators, works, and enthusiasts, and exhibitions, as a direct form of face-to-face communication, concretize this mutual nourishment and resonance.

A number of special travel strategies have emerged on the Internet - "How to visit anime in Shanghai".

For example, introduce the 100 meter Champs on Guangxi North Road. The underground space is decorated with outdated decorations, but there are many old anime IPs that can be searched around.

For example, Bailian ZX has introduced anime stores on the seventh floor, which has been rated as "the most suitable Akihabara for Chinese babies" by netizens all over the country.

There are also some unpopular places, such as squares with huge models, famous anime character models, and related exhibition locations, which may be Songjiang, Baoshan, or the city center. Every nook and cranny in Shanghai that ordinary tourists don't visit may become a hot spot for anime fans to punch in.

16-year-old Xiao Jin is studying in Lishui. This summer, he fulfilled a wish: finally, he can come to Shanghai with his classmates to participate in the comic exhibition. Please book your hotel and train tickets half a month in advance. Xiao Jin's first participation cannot conceal his excitement.

In the evening, someone accidentally mentioned that there was an anime shop a few kilometers away, and everyone decided to go out. I found the shared bicycles in the city very interesting, and thought of not riding a bicycle for a long time. So four children and two adults rode bicycles to the convenience store. The journey is longer than imagined, hungry, driving along the road with dazzling city lights above. They felt a different night in Shanghai.

Xiaobao said that the 3-day trip to Shanghai cost around 10000 yuan for admission, accommodation, transportation, and on-site consumption. Xiao Jin's shopping at the exhibition was about 700 yuan, cheaper than expected. His original budget was around 1000 yuan.

Zhang Ling, Vice President of Flipped Animation, stated that the consumption ability of young people from the "95s" to the "10s" generation should not be underestimated. One major characteristic is that they no longer consume based on social perspectives, but are more concerned about their own feelings.

They can buy impractical figurines, toys, and peripheral items at home, fill the entire cabinet, and be happy to see them beautiful. Products that embody cultural emotions and stimulate emotional value are more popular among the younger generation.

Fantasy Animation is a deep partner of Bailian ZX. It has become a "resort" in the hearts of national anime fans since its opening at the beginning of this year. Some brand stores, such as TAMASHII NATIONS STORE, a high-end simulation brand under Bandai, only have stores in Shanghai Bailian ZX worldwide except for Japan, highlighting their uniqueness. There are also some of the world's top anime IP proxy brands, attracting many people.

FanFanFanAnime's March Beast brand currently has five direct stores, mainly selling popular IP peripheral derivative products, which have always been popular. When encountering game events, rice festivals, or new product sales, queuing is even more common. Exclusive products can fetch a premium of thousands of yuan in the secondary market.

In Japan, derivatives of anime and game works account for over 60% of IP revenue. In China, most of the profits from works rely solely on themselves, and there is not much profit from peripheral derivatives. There is still a lot of room for growth in the industry chain. If the latter can be improved, the greater the motivation to reciprocate the original. And Shanghai, from the perspective of favorable timing, location, and people, is the best soil and experimental field for the development of cultural peripheral derivatives.

Anime fans may have different magic in Shanghai.

Most of them don't care about food and accommodation or famous tourist attractions, but there are unique anime cultural landmarks in this city. They can buy cultural products that they can't buy on weekdays, and meet fans and industry experts whom they have admired for a long time but haven't seen in person.

During summer vacation, here, everyone can find their own like-minded friends and partners, and gain a sense of group identity and belonging through a glance and a tacit laughter.

In the end, these will all turn into the companionship of youth and the long-term memory of the city.

Cultural exhibitions may bring more to a city than imagined.