Customs, culture and karsts call in Wulong

Not only were the bride and her family sobbing - so, too, were the audience members, who were moved when they watched the traditional "crying-wedding" performance in Beijing in late June.

The show portrays the local marital custom in Chongqing's Wulong district, where women bawl the night before their weddings because they're leaving their families to join their husbands'.

The "bride's mother" in the show reluctantly told her "daughter", who was clad in a red wedding gown, to show filial piety to her mother-in-law and that if she failed to live up to her responsibilities, she couldn't return home.

The performance at a tourism road show was part of Wulong's efforts to attract more visitors from Beijing.

"We hope to better showcase Wulong's culture and charm through this promotion," the district's executive deputy director, Hu Zhenqiang, said at the Beijing event.

Wulong is about 130 kilometers from downtown Chongqing. It was founded in AD 619.

The 2,900-square-kilometer district boasts karsts, caves, forests, springs and primitive wilderness.

UNESCO named Wulong's karsts as a World Natural Heritage in 2007, along with the Shilin karsts in Yunnan province and the Libo karsts in Guizhou province.

Wulong's geological wonders have made it a shooting site for many blockbuster films, such as Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower and Transformers 4.

The district received 32 million visits in 2018 and raked in 15 billion yuan ($2.19 billion) in tourism income, Hu says.

It's popular with travelers who hope to beat the summer heat.

Daily tourist visits have broken 200,000 during summer over the years, and a significant portion of travelers come from Beijing, Hu says.

Wulong also offers diverse folk customs since it's home to 13 ethnic groups.

The district is especially known for its boat-tracking history, which has been developed into the grand open-air performance, Impression Wulong, presented by over 100 actors.

In the past, the Chuanjiang River's hazardous conditions meant trackers had to pull vessels along the waterway.

Many worked while nude to prevent their clothes from being torn or tangled in the boats as they hauled them through perilous torrents.

The district has developed sightseeing, leisure, rural and sports options for travelers this year. It'll also stage international art festivals, mountain races, beer events and music carnivals, Hu says.

The Chongqing-Hunan high-speed railway is set to open by 2024 and will shorten the time between Wulong and downtown Chongqing to 30 minutes, Hu says.

The Xianyushan airport will start operation next year, enabling long-distance travelers to arrive directly, Hu says.

And Wulong has also launched an English-language website for inbound visitors.

Indeed, it seems greater marketing and enhanced infrastructure may mean Wulong will receive a growing number of visitors from nearby and from afar in the years to come.