CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- It is grassy and sparsely traveled, and there are mossy slabs with water spots everywhere... Without the cultural relic protection sign at the gate, few people know that there is a “first” in China in Wanglongmen, Yuzhong District.

It is Wanglongmen Cable Car, China’s first passenger cable car, built in April 1945, stopped operation in 1993, and listed as a municipal cultural relic protection unit at the end of 2009. It is 78 years old now.

On August 22, Wanglongmen Cable Car Renovation Design Plan officially passed the expert review. At the end of this year, Wanglongmen Cable Car, which has been out of people’s sight for 30 years, will officially begin its own rebirth.

Xu Xiaoyu, Director of Yuzhong Cultural Relic Protection and Management Administration, said that it was designed to preserve the original structure and ecological appearance of the cable car to the maximum extent, and landscape would be designed in open spaces so as to retain the historical memory about the original cable car route and create a natural and harmonious ecology.

After the renovation, artificial intelligence will be used to create immersive visiting experience

What will the renovated Wanglongmen Cable Car look like? What kind of experience will visitors have here?

Xu Xiaoyu said that according to the Plan, Wanglongmen Cable Car would show its heritage value, reconstruct the historical and cultural scenes through the means of cultural deduction, activate the function of the cable car, and use the strategy of activating the experience to revitalize the heritage.

The cable car used to be a very important urban infrastructure in Chongqing, and the conservation project will respect the characteristics of the site and continue the historical context to ensure the authenticity of the cable car, while restoring some iconic scenes outside the scope of cultural relic protection for the display of cable car culture or implanting new functions to serve the development of surrounding cities.

In addition, on the basis of preserving the state of the cable car building and site, it will focus on using innovative methods to reuse the symbols of the site, carry out contemporary interpretation of the history and culture, create a new landscape full of symbols of the cultural elements of the cable car, and reproduce the memory about the site.

After the restoration, Wanglongmen Cable Car will also combine digital information and artificial intelligence means such as virtual reality to create an interactive and immersive visiting experience so that visitors can deeply feel the vicissitudes of history through visual, auditory and tactile ways and accordingly the cable car heritage can be revitalized and vibrant.

In short, the renovated Wanglongmen Cable Car will let visitors once again feel the unique charm of China’s first passenger cable car. (Translated by Liu Hongyan, Fathom Language Limited)