Once cost a fortune 24 Billion-dollar construction, four years of losses exceeding 10 Zhangjiajie’s Dayong Ancient Town, once a place of quiet charm, is now welcoming a special group of “white-clad knights”—companies from Hunan Broadcasting System are stepping in with capital, aiming to revitalize this dormant cluster of ancient buildings through the “Mango Ecosystem.”

11 Month 15 On the same day, Zhangjiajie Tourism Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhanglv Group") issued an announcement stating that it has entered into agreements with Hunan DianGuang Media, Mango Super Media, and Mango Culture & Tourism, among others. 8 The company officially signed the restructuring investment agreement.

These investors all rely on “ Buy-in at half price ” Funds will be primarily used to revitalize Zhanglǚ Group, which has accumulated losses exceeding [amount] over the past five consecutive years. 13 The billion-yuan Dayong Ancient City Project.

As the first publicly listed company in China's tourism sector, Zhanglu Group has, since 2020 Since last year, it has been caught in a spiral of losses, with the Dayong Ancient City project being the core reason. As of 2024 At the end of the year, Dayong Ancient City Company's total assets 13.95 Hundreds of millions, yet the total liabilities soar to 16.97 Hundreds of millions, with negative net assets. 3.02 Hundreds of millions of yuan.

From star project to drag-down

The Dayong Ancient City project was once held in high hopes. 2016 This year, as one of Zhangjiajie City's top ten key industrial projects and priority engineering initiatives, the project occupies a vast area 240 Mu, with a building area reaching 16.55 A sprawling complex of 10,000-square-meter ancient-style buildings was hastily launched.

From project approval to construction start, it took only 3 Months.

According to the plan, once completed, it is expected to generate nearly **revenue annually**. 5 Hundreds of millions of yuan, with net profits nearing 2 Hundreds of millions of yuan. However, blindly following the nationwide boom in ancient city and town construction inadvertently laid the groundwork for future difficulties.

“Following the nationwide trend of reviving ancient cities and towns,” Zhang Jianshen, Party Secretary and Chairman of Zhangjiajie Tourism Group Co., Ltd., candidly admitted, “When we see how well others are managing their ancient cities and towns, we naturally assume that if we create one of our own, we might be able to run it just as successfully. At the time, though, our market predictions were still somewhat subjective.”

Insufficient preliminary justification led to repeated adjustments of the project plan during construction, and even resulted in The situation of "construction and related design." Originally planned 550 The construction of the project took nearly five years to be essentially completed.

2021 Year 6 After its month-long trial operation, Dayong Ancient Town’s actual performance starkly contrasted with expectations. 198 Most of the shops in the commercial area have closed down, and the park gates are virtually deserted.

Two Core Entertainment Programs ——"Encountering Dayong," the live performance and flight cinema are such that every show ends in a loss.

"The Encounter with Dayong" theater production has invested more than 5 Hundreds of millions, but peak visitor flow was only 349 People simply can't drive the entire project forward. 2024 In the first half of the year, the flying cinema and cruise ships were available only 2300 People buying tickets, averaging fewer than per day 15 Person.

Mango ecosystem's Rescue Plan

Facing the challenges of Dayong Ancient City, Hunan Broadcasting System-affiliated enterprises have arrived with substantial investment. According to the agreement, Mango Excellent Media and its wholly-owned subsidiary plan to contribute funds 4.752 CNY 100 Million Subscription 1.2 Hundreds of millions of shares—DianGuang Media and its subsidiaries plan to invest. 3.168 CNY 100 Million Subscription 0.8 Hundreds of millions of shares.

These investments not only bring in capital but also introduce Hunan Broadcasting System's IP Resources and Operational Philosophy.

Dianguang Media announced that it will collaborate with Mango Excellent Media, leveraging their cultural and tourism operations, IP Leveraging its resource and technological advantages, the Dayong Ancient City project will be transformed—through business model restructuring, traffic generation, and brand upgrades—into a hub for Mango TV’s film and television productions, variety shows, and short drama shoots. IP Transformation Experience Base.

They plan to explore building “ Virtual + Live Concert, VR Immersive Panoramic Experience ” These new business formats and models will revitalize projects and enhance Zhanglu Group's profitability across its entire industry chain.

Furthermore Additionally, DianGuang Media, Mango SuperMedia, and Zhanglv Group will jointly establish the Dayong Ancient City Operation Company to upgrade and renovate the Dayong Ancient City project, fostering its professional and market-oriented management.

This isn’t the first time Hunan Broadcasting has ventured into cultural and tourism projects. In recent years, Dian Guang Media The "New Cultural & Tourism" strategy is accelerating the implementation of Mango Culture & Tourism's "Three Xiang Starlight Initiative" within the province, leveraging Mango as its key driver. IP Use it as a starting point to deeply cultivate the region's unique culture. IP And tourism resources.

Relying on "The 'light-asset, heavy-planning, strong-operation, productized' model has enabled Dian Guang Media to successfully create several cultural landmarks, including Xiangtan Wanlou, Hengyang Dongzhou Island, and Anhua Tea-Horse Ancient Trail." + Technology + The "tourism benchmark" project has quickly become a key driver of Hunan's cultural and tourism industry.

Film, Television, and Variety Shows Can it Become a breakthrough for traffic generation

As the radio and television sector enters the scene, Dayong Ancient Town has already begun its experimental efforts. "Culture and Tourism" + The convergence path of "film and television."

11 Month 16 Day, 24 The historical spy romance drama "Poetry of Manxue North City" officially began filming at Zhangjiajie Dayong Ancient Town. The series is jointly produced by Zhangjiajie Tourism Group Co., Ltd., Guodan Film & Television, and Xueguan International Pictures.

The production team fully leveraged Zhangjiajie's unique natural resources and cultural heritage for their creative work.

The episode will The breathtaking peak forests of the "Zhangjiajie Landform" serve as a pivotal setting, while the ancient city of Dayong’s cobblestone streets and the wooden pavilions in the Tujia Folk Culture Park will also become crucial witnesses to the unfolding of the story.

Meanwhile, intangible cultural heritages such as Sangzhi folk songs and Bai Shou dance, as well as folk activities like the Ganqiu Festival and the Lantern Festival, will also be integrated into the storyline.

Jin Xin, a relevant official from the Zhangjiajie Tourism Group, stated: "This drama is not only an artistic creation but also a significant practice in the integration of culture and tourism. As the series is filmed and aired, we plan to develop a themed experience zone at the filming location, launching a 'storyline-inspired tourist route'."

This innovative practice will extend the audience’s experience from watching the performance to an immersive on-site visit, injecting fresh vitality into Zhangjiajie tourism.

In addition to film and television content, Hunan Broadcasting System's Mango Ecosystem also boasts a diverse range of content formats, including variety shows, short videos, and live streaming—each of which could serve as a powerful tool for attracting visitors to the ancient city of Dayong.

The path to reviving the ancient city is not easy.

Although the radio and television sector has brought in both capital and creativity, revitalizing Dayong Ancient Town still faces multiple challenges.

First of all, although Dayong Ancient Town is located in the bustling heart of the city, it lacks unique attractions and business formats of its own, making it difficult to stand out competitively among Zhangjiajie's numerous natural attractions.

Secondly, Zhangjiajie City already has "Dayong Fucheng," "Tusi City," and many other ancient city attractions face severe homogenized competition. Located to the northwest of Dayong Ancient City, 10 A short distance away stands an ancient-style architectural complex known as "Gu Yong City," covering a sizable area. 120 Mu, Investment 17 Hundreds of millions of yuan.

The project was approved, construction began, and Dayong Ancient City were all developed around the same period, with remarkably similar architectural styles and business-format layouts.

Moreover, debt pressure still hangs like a sword over Zhang Lü Group. 11 Month 5 Starting today, Zhanglü Group has been issued a delisting risk warning, and its stock abbreviation has been changed to “ *ST Zhang Gu."

Although 2025 In the third quarter of the year, the company turned profitable, with net profit attributable to shareholders reaching approximately 1087.49 Ten thousand yuan, but the company remained in a loss for the first three quarters overall.

Additionally, carefully designing a conversion pathway is essential to turn the young, mango-themed audience into a tourism-consuming demographic. Whether the content-driven traffic from the radio and television sector can effectively guide visitors to Dayong Ancient Town in Zhangjiajie remains to be tested by the market.

Finally,

The turning point in the fate of Dayong Ancient City has arrived.

11 Month 17 Day, Zhang Lü Group and Tianyue No.1, among others 9 Investors in the home renovation project sign the agreement, 9 Total enterprise acquisitions 0.41 The Zhanglü Group holds hundreds of millions of shares. As various capital sources gradually enter the market, “ Ancient City Revitalization Plan ” It has been fully launched.

Hunan Broadcasting excels in content creation and traffic management, but still has limited experience in operating physical cultural and tourism projects. The revitalization plan for Dayong Ancient Town, spanning these two industries, will serve as a crucial case study for observing the integrated development of culture and tourism.

In the future, whether the bustling scenes of visitors can once again grace the ancient stone-paved streets will ultimately depend on whether the new operator can uncover the unique cultural essence of the ancient city—rather than simply focusing on injecting capital and driving traffic.