Thousands of Shanghai mountaineers and climbers on Wednesday, or the first day of 2025, chose to begin their new year by ascending a height, hoping that the tradition will bless them with good luck in the new year.
In China, climbing to pray for blessings is a time-honored custom, symbolizing good health and longevity.
Around about 9:00, over 1,000 contestants started their tower-climbing competition from the square at the foot of Shanghai's landmark Oriental Pearl Tower.
Their destinations were the two glass sightseeing corridors of the TV tower, respectively at heights of about 90 and 260 meters.
The competition has a history of 30 years and has been widely considered as an auspicious event that will help draw good luck.
"Today is the first day of the new year and I want to send my championship to my daughter who was born on Jan 1 as a birthday gift. For this reason, I ran very enthusiastically today," said Xu Cailong, men's champion of the tower-climbing race.
"Last year, I was the No. 2 and I swore to win the champion this year. I must do better than last year," said Lu Yongyu, woman's champion.
Among the various sports and fitness activities to mark 2025, mountain climbing is many people's favorite and the Shuangzi Mountains on Wednesday welcomed over 2,000 health walkers.
As walkers raced to the hilltop they were expecting that reaching a greater height on the first day of the new year will mean a good beginning of 2025.
"Mountain climbing, I think, is linked to the Chinese idiom 'rising step by step'," said a climber.
Shanghai residents ascend height to embrace New Year
Movie fans stepped into the shooting locations of racing-comedy film "Pegasus 3" to explore the industrial site that served as the racetrack in the film during a public open day event on Saturday in Ningbo City, east China's Zhejiang Province.
"Pegasus 3" is the third installment in Director Han Han's racing-comedy franchise starring Shen Teng, one of China's most bankable comedic actors. As of Monday, it has surpassed a box office of over 41 billion yuan (around 596 million U.S. dollars), according to ticketing tracker Maoyan.
A refining plant belonging to Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company, a key filming location for "Pegasus 3," saw its unique industrial landscape transformed into a futuristic cyberpunk-style racetrack in the film.
On the open day event at the plant, many fans located the starting point of the "Muchen 100 Rally" qualifying track from the movie while gathering near the entrance. Refining towers, pipe corridors and lighting perfectly matched the shots seen in the film.
"I'm so happy to visit the plant after seeing 'Pegasus 3.' Seeing these buildings and lights in person makes me feel very proud," said Zheng Sijun, a movie fan.
Many industrial facilities, roads and embankment greenways in the plant area appeared in the film's racetrack scenes. These real industrial settings became a vital part of the movie's visual effects.
Fans also entered the central control room of the refinery to get a close-up look at operations.
"When watching the movie, we only saw a general view of the plant on screen. But coming to the site, you realize this is a truly huge, vast and awe-inspiring industrial complex," said Wang Ziyi, another movie fan.
The event's success indicates that the public's passion for film can be translated into educational initiatives, boosting awareness of China's advancements in productive forces among everyday people in the country.
Popular racing film spurs visits to shooting location in east China's Ningbo city
