Hundred Million-Level Financing: Why It's Being Poured Into Chang'an at Twelve Hours

Everyday Economics News Editor: Zhang Wenyu

The long-awaited cultural and tourism sector financing has begun in Shaanxi.

Recently, Shaanxi Immersive Culture Tourism Management Co., Ltd. (referred to as Shaanxi Immersive Culture) completed a multi-million yuan Series A funding round, with investors including Shaanxi Guotou and Xi’an Financial Capital Management’s Chenggeng Fund. The funds will mainly be used for the construction of Phase II of Chang’an Twelve Hours “Qingcheng’s Joy,” technology experience upgrades, and national brand expansion.

This indicates that, after long-term emphasis on “resource endowment” and “location advantages,” the core operational capabilities that can continuously create blockbuster projects and successfully replicate them are becoming key scarce assets attracting capital.

Phase I of Chang’an Twelve Hours used a “film and TV IP + immersive operation + cultural tourism scenes + urban renewal” model, successfully revitalizing traditional commercial entities, proving its profitability and market appeal. Phase II will further deepen experiences, integrate technology, and promote project expansion and iteration. Currently, this model has also entered cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Wuhan, demonstrating strong cross-regional vitality.

Its focus on urban renewal, immersive experiences, new scenes and consumption, and technological integration aligns closely with current policy encouragement and market consumption trends.

This capital injection essentially reflects confidence in its market-oriented team’s ongoing innovation in content creation and operational scenarios, as well as its long-term profitability potential for standardized and branded replication.

Securing Multi-Million Yuan Financing

In the current climate of overall slowdown in cultural tourism investment, a multi-million yuan financing in Xi’an injects new imagination into the industry.

Data shows that the number of financing events in the cultural tourism sector is declining, but the average size of each financing round is increasing. Capital is shifting away from concept hype toward projects with mature operational capabilities, high-quality content, clear return paths, and strong brand value.

The successful investment in Shaanxi Immersive Culture is seen as a significant industry signal.

One of the investors is Shaanxi Guotou, a provincial financial institution whose investment logic combines strategic vision with market considerations, aiming to serve local development while also requiring efficacy verification. Especially in selecting cultural tourism projects, they look for sustainable profitability and the ability to drive industry chain extension and cluster growth.

The Chang’an Twelve Hours themed street block is a typical product of this logic. Phase I transformed Tang-style market culture into a phenomenon-level cultural tourism landmark; Phase II will focus on “Joy Culture,” incorporate more technological experiences, and build an attractive closed loop, using new cultural and tourism productivity to promote Shaanxi’s trillion-level cultural tourism industry cluster.

Another investor, Chenggeng Fund, with a total scale of 10 billion yuan, was initiated by Xi’an Financial Capital Investment Management Co., Ltd. in 2022. The fund explores a “urban renewal + industry introduction” model, mainly focusing on “industrial park construction,” “regional comprehensive development,” and “renovation of old assets.”

This investment in Shaanxi Immersive Culture is a practical application of their concept of “transforming old assets, upgrading formats, and revitalizing vitality.” The Phase I site of the Chang’an Twelve Hours street block, Mandi Square, was once a quiet commercial space but has become a highly influential new cultural tourism landmark in Xi’an after renovation.

This “urban renewal + cultural tourism embedding” model also provides a replicable path for subsequent asset revitalization.

The large investment from investors reflects high recognition of the project’s IP value, brand influence, cross-regional replication ability, and integrated business creativity.

The funds will mainly be used for high-return growth segments, including Phase II construction, technological experience upgrades, brand promotion, and building a nationwide brand output platform.

Team as Core Asset

The heavy capital stake in Shaanxi Immersive Culture is no accident.

In April 2022, the first phase of “Chang’an Twelve Hours,” after three years of development, debuted in Xi’an and quickly became a phenomenon-level IP. Over nearly four years of operation, despite pandemic impacts and tourism fluctuations, the project has not only maintained short-term popularity but also demonstrated sustained vitality and resilience.

Especially amid overall pressure on domestic tourism, it remains one of the top destinations for many tourists visiting Xi’an from home and abroad.

Data shows that since opening, the Chang’an Twelve Hours themed street block has received over 7.5 million visitors, with an average daily footfall of 6,500, exposure exceeding 45 billion times, and has successfully driven related industries such as nearby hotels, Hanfu styling, and travel photography, promoting market-based employment and entrepreneurship, and generating significant economic and social benefits. Its sustainable operation capacity has been validated by the market.

The key to its success is a professional team with full-chain operational capabilities.

Zou Linfeng, Chairman of Shaanxi Cultural Tourism Integration Technology Group, previously stated, “When creating the Chang’an Twelve Hours themed street block, there were no mature precedents in China. From early planning, art scenery, business layout,招商推广 to operation management and brand marketing, we explored and summarized experience step by step, gradually building a complete project methodology and innovation system.”

This from-zero-to-one, then from-one-to-N operational capability creates distinct competitive barriers and exclusive advantages, which was a key consideration for this capital injection.

Based on proven operational ability, this round of financing will focus on expanding the second phase.

The second phase, “Qingcheng’s Joy,” will use “Princess Wedding” as the narrative thread, extending the theme from the first phase’s “market fireworks” to “romantic love,” and linking joy culture with the first phase’s blessing culture to create a comprehensive Tang cultural life scene. The core breakthrough is the deep integration of “performance + technology,” breaking the boundary between virtual and real through the “Show City Model,” reconstructing scenes, stages, and business systems, further enhancing immersion and interactivity.

It is noteworthy that this project continues the “stock activation” update concept, adding software and content development on the basis of mature hardware, aligning closely with urban renewal policies. Its business model emphasizes “light assets, heavy operation,” focusing on technological empowerment and immersive new scene development, which reduces initial investment and better meets current consumer experience demands.

Compared to traditional cultural tourism heavy-asset models with long payback periods and high uncertainty, this approach significantly shortens capital recovery time and reduces trial-and-error costs.

In an era where traffic is easy to gain but long-term popularity is hard, continuous operation and iterative innovation are key to gaining capital and market trust.

Expanding from Xi’an to the Whole Country

The second phase of Chang’an Twelve Hours, “Qingcheng’s Joy,” is expected to open within 2026. Once connected with the first phase, this super Chang’an destination cultural tourism complex, centered on film and TV IP and Tang-style immersive scenes, will exceed 70,000 square meters in total scale.

This expansion will significantly increase visitor capacity and dwell time, creating conditions for deeper experience offerings.

During Phase I operation, daily performances exceeded 80 shows, NPC immersive interactions nearly 100 times daily, with an average stay of 4.5 hours, and nearly 80% repurchase rate.

With expansion, high-value projects like script murder games and technological experience spaces will further attract premium brands, optimize revenue structure, and form a positive cycle of “experience drives consumption, consumption fuels experience.”

Meanwhile, ongoing featured performances and interactive projects enrich sensory experiences and, through large-scale visitor flow, effectively share costs. Compared to early exploration and trial, Phase II benefits from existing operations and market understanding, greatly reducing marginal costs and accelerating returns.

More importantly, this model has begun to expand regionally. Projects in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and other cities are forming a standardized “cultural creativity + film and TV IP + immersive experience + multi-scene” system. This indicates that Shaanxi cultural tourism enterprises’ business models are starting to go nationwide.

Many of Shaanxi Immersive Culture’s projects rely on popular film and TV IPs, closely following trends of “culture + tourism,” immersive experiences, and new scenes and consumption. They realize physical translation and aesthetic extension of film scenes, leveraging technology to narrate stories, creating a seamless blend of virtual and real sensory immersion.

By reinterpreting Tang culture and Eastern aesthetics in a contemporary context, they redefine the new scene of immersive cultural tourism consumption. Visitors are no longer mere spectators but become “characters” in an era-crossing immersive space, fully engaging in a cultural dialogue spanning thousands of years.

From a business perspective, a cultural tourism project capable of landing in several high-economic, culturally rich cities nationwide has a valuation potential far higher than a single attraction. The maturity of brand licensing and management output further broadens its value boundary.

The “Chang’an Twelve Hours” operational team has developed a “1+6” product model and a four-level output strategy, sharing premiums through light-asset management and brand licensing across multiple projects. This allows the project to achieve system iteration and standardized expansion like technology or consumer products, enhancing growth predictability.

From an investment standpoint, the current cultural tourism sector is gradually moving away from resource dependence and blind expansion toward operation-driven, model-based, content-driven development. Projects that can convert cultural connotations into sustained appeal, distill success into standardized systems, and verify across regions are undoubtedly more certain for growth and more resilient to risks.

Industry insights and market expectations suggest that the second phase of Chang’an Twelve Hours, “Qingcheng’s Joy,” and its brand expansion have established a leading advantage, with ongoing development worthy of continued attention.

The Series A funding completed by Shaanxi Immersive Culture may just be the beginning of capital rediscovering the value of cultural tourism.