STORY: Sino-French cooperative cultural project becomes new festive hit
SHOOTING TIME: recent footage
DATELINE: Jan. 30, 2025
LENGTH: 00:01:35
LOCATION: SHANGHAI, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the theater
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): GILLES LEDOS, Creative Director of Puy du Fou Asia
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ANTOINE LAPOINTE, French tourist

STORYLINE:

Shanghai SAGA City of Light is an immersive theater operated by French tourism and culture giant Puy du Fou. This Spring Festival, the theater has become a new landmark.

Beyond the special Spring Festival performances running from Jan. 21 to Feb. 4, visitors can also explore intangible cultural heritage activities such as paper-cutting, sugar painting, and dough figurine making.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): GILLES LEDOS, Creative director of Puy du Fou Asia
"Especially this year, it's an intangible (cultural) heritage, so we need to push and to make sure that people feel what they feel outside as they feel inside the show. (There is) so much history between both countries, France and China, and it's very important to keep it close. We have different talents and we have different cultures, but when you mix them, it's where we have the magic of creating one of the best shows in Shanghai and maybe in China."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ANTOINE LAPOINTE, French tourist
"In the French community, the SAGA City of Light show is actually quite well-known because it's produced by a French company. Of course, in the community, we speak a lot about it. And so that's why I'm very interested in this immersive theater show which is, I think, very unique in Shanghai and very unique in China in general. And so this is why I learned about it and I came here today. 
I've been in Shanghai for five years, and I know about this very strong aspect of the Spring Festival and the show. And I think the way it's presented, the way it's shown, is actually very authentic in comparison to other performances that I've seen. I think it really shows the old-style Spring Festival celebrations, which is very unique."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Shanghai, China.
(XHTV)