Shanxi's historic attractions a big hit at international travel mart

With the help of professional cosplayers dressed as the Monkey King, and the romantic backdrop of a fantastical, mythological world, the Shanxi province pavilion drew numerous visitors at the China International Travel Mart in Shanghai, which concluded on Nov 24.

Farther inside the pavilion, visitors were taken on a trip through time, courtesy of a layout that reflected stylistic elements of ancient Shanxi buildings and courtyards. The idea was to expose visitors to traditional architectural elements like flying eaves and brick carvings.

The images and videos highlighting Shanxi's three world cultural heritage sites — the Ancient City of Pingyao, the Yungang Grottoes, and Mount Wutai — impressed many international travel agents at the expo.

Ren Yongfu, deputy director of the Shanxi culture and tourism department, describes the province as a "museum without walls", with every artifact and historical site the result of generations of artisans and their craftsmanship.

Shanxi has 28,027 ancient buildings, and is home to over 80 percent of the country's ancient wooden architecture.

Since August, the popularity of the video game Black Myth: Wukong has fueled tourism to the province.

In the first three quarters of this year, it has received 318 million domestic tourists, a year-on-year increase of 13.88 percent, with spending reaching 276.15 billion yuan ($38.11 billion), a growth of 25.91 percent, according to local authorities. During the National Day holiday, the number of visitors and tourism expenditure increased significantly by 84.99 percent and 101.85 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.