Air burns with Sun Music Festival sounds

The Labor Day weekend air was once again filled with the sound of music. The Sun Music Festival, near Dishui Lake in Lingang and the fresh air of the East China Sea, was arguably the best since its inauguration.

An audience gathered on the big lawn of Lakeside Park to see performances by veteran David Tao, nursing student-turned-pop sensation Mao Buyi, One Million Star winner Yoga Lin and independent Shanghai singer Isabelle Huang.

Other artists and bands on the stage included Huzi & Edo, Kawa, Mr Miss, Nocturnes and NZBZ.

Unmanned convenient stores and food vendors were also on hand to treat visitors to thirst-quenching beverages and tasty snacks.

The two-day event, set on the picturesque waterfront, was part of Lingang’s efforts to integrate culture with local resources, entertainment and tourism programs in keeping with the port town’s characteristics. A future intelligent manufacturing center will never miss a combination of culture and technology.

At the Labor Day music festival this year, four Bingo Boxes provided customers hundreds of snacks. All a shopper needed to do was to scan the QR code to enter, pick items, scan the barcode to pay and leave.

Not far from the lakeside lawns was a sponge city exhibition center. The neighborhood service center and the leisure square next door have been renovated to become a sponge park.

Rainwater is allowed to penetrate through the pavement, ditch and be collected to serve the greenery in the park. The specially designed rooftop and parking spaces are also good rainwater collection points. Even the fitness trail in the park is water penetrable.

The Lingang Contemporary Art Museum also offered four exhibitions during the Labor Day holiday, featuring the latest art forms and technologies, as well as applications of new media, digital photography and installations.

Ocean Park’s big splash

The steel structure of all the main stadiums and buildings of the under construction Haichang Ocean Park has been completed as they aim toward a grand opening in September. Before that, trial operations are scheduled to begin in August.

In the five themed areas of the park there will be six pavilions, three interactive and performance venues, two cinemas and 10 amusement facilities.

Visitors will be taken on a journey to explore the unique polar landscape, magic ocean world and stunning lava. They can also participate in various exploration events in mermaid bay, polar town, snow kingdom, submarine world and ocean tribe. The onsite hotel will feature five marine animal-themed guest rooms and a panoramic rooftop.

The park, which covers an area of 29.7 hectares, is expected to welcome 3.2 million visitors in its first year and 5 to 6 million visitors a year later after the opening. It offers people in Shanghai easy access to polar bears, penguins, white whales and a thrilling volcano outburst.

Meanwhile, an ice world near the park will have the largest indoor ski slope in the world. Visitors can even ski to the slope directly from their hotel rooms after its opening next year.

Solar planetarium nearly complete

Construction on the world’s largest planetarium is expected to be done by the end of the year.

The Shanghai Planetarium in Lingang is famous for its 38,000-square-meter dome, which will open to the public in 2020, providing educational and entertaining shows about astronomy through advanced technology that can simulate the solar system.

The planetarium comprises a main building, a solar tower, a youth observation base and a public observatory. It will be operated by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. From the observatory, space enthusiasts will be able to look through an astronomical telescope to observe the solar system. The telescope will serve students to support their research projects and database will be built to provide pictures taken by the astronomical telescope.

First bookstore open

The first bookstore in Lingang, Dayin Bookmall is now open.

The lakeside outlet will also host reading events, present art performances and organize handcraft workshops.

An in-house café at the store helps put readers in a good mood. A book sharing initiative, the first of its kind in Shanghai, allows book lovers to enjoy a free week-long read. After that, 1 yuan (16 US cents) per day will be charged.

The bookstore extends the pleasure of reading in a comfortable environment near to the seaside town and becomes an alternative to a public library.

Facing the sea, flowers blossom in the warm spring. The bookmall on the shore is naturally tied to voyages and discoveries. It has more than 2,000 travel books.

Additionally, a variety of cultural activities, ranging from a quartet in the afternoon to a weekend DIY course, are on the store’s agenda for the year to promote a relaxing and interesting lifestyle among local residents.