SHENYANG, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- On a sweltering summer day, Zhao Mingyu stepped into the air-conditioned workshop of BMW Brilliance's production base in northeast China's Shenyang, where yellow robotic arms moved in rhythmic motion, flipping and welding components as sleek car bodies took shape.
A recent high school graduate, Zhao walked along a fully enclosed viewing corridor through the smart workshop, observing four core manufacturing processes: stamping, body assembly, painting and final assembly.
"I used to think cars were mostly assembled by workers piece by piece. But seeing so many robots working together with such precision really got me thinking about studying mechanical engineering or artificial intelligence in college," Zhao said.
This summer, BMW Brilliance, the German automaker's joint venture in China, opened its plants in Shenyang, capital city of Liaoning Province, for free factory tours for national college and high school entrance exam takers.
For people like Zhao, their exam admission certificates became passes to the cutting-edge smart manufacturing workshops at BMW Brilliance, the largest production base operated by the BMW Group globally.
His visit is part of a rising summer trend, in which Chinese families are trading traditional sightseeing spots for immersive industrial tours to escape the heat while gaining new knowledge and insights.
As schools across China closed for the summer, a two-month travel rush took off. Statistics from Tongcheng Travel, one of China's leading online travel agencies, show that families and students remained the two dominant traveler groups this summer.
Known as one of the country's oldest industrial bases, Shenyang has seen a boom in industrial tourism, driven by its modern factories and renovated industrial heritage sites.
BMW Brilliance's plant in the Tiexi District of Shenyang is now a signature attraction for travel in Liaoning, having hosted more than 140,000 visitors since 2017, when it became China's first automobile manufacturing plant approved as a national 4A-rated tourist attraction, just below the highest 5A rating.
A Coca-Cola production workshop at COFCO Coca-Cola World in Tiexi District is another of the city's landmark tourist sites. Behind a panoramic glass viewing corridor, visitors can watch beverage bottles speed through a fully automated production line. Filling, capping, coding, labeling and packaging are completed in minutes, with robotic arms stacking finished products neatly.
Liu Zihan, a 10-year-old primary school student from Shenyang, stood on tiptoes to watch this production scene, curious to learn more about how the popular bottled beverage is processed and packaged before leaving the factory. His father filmed the automated operations while explaining to him how carbon dioxide is infused into the beverages.
"Food safety was just textbook knowledge for my child," said Wang Xue, another tourist from the city of Anshan in Liaoning. "Seeing the automated production and rigorous testing equipment helps him understand the strict standards behind every bottled drink."
Beyond the production line tours, COFCO Coca-Cola World also features a museum displaying classic Coca-Cola contour bottles, ranging from Olympic and World Cup commemorative editions to polar bear-themed installations and exclusive global collections.
As one of China's time-honored industrial bases, Shenyang boasts around 700,000 square meters of industrial heritage resources. Some sites have been renovated into advanced manufacturing plants such as those of BMW Brilliance and COFCO, while certain abandoned old factories have been transformed into cultural and creative parks.
Hongmei Park is one such site that helps preserve the city's industrial heritage. Since opening in 2019, the park has converted 13 former industrial buildings into venues hosting about 200 cultural performances and displays each year, including art exhibitions, live music, creative markets and urban reading events.
In a former monosodium glutamate factory within the park, the tour route guides visitors through the history of a high-ceilinged workshop that retains old fermentation tanks and production pipelines, while displaying photos, paintings, ceramics and video artworks arranged in the space. The factory's warehouse, meanwhile, has been turned into a live concert venue.
"I came here just for the exhibitions, without expecting the old tracks, warehouse and fermentation space to tell a complete industrial story," said Zhou Yutong, a university student from Beijing.
The provincial government of Liaoning has highlighted industrial tourism as a new economic growth pillar. In the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) period, it plans to provide support for the renovation and renewal of abandoned mining areas, old factory buildings and sites to advance the conservation and adaptive reuse of industrial heritage.
The rise of factory tours reflects shifting summer consumption patterns among Chinese families. Rather than just sightseeing, some parents now expect trips to deliver knowledge, hands-on experiences and career inspiration all at once.
Ding Jianhua, a professor at the School of Architecture of Northeastern University in Shenyang, said renovating industrial heritage for cultural tourism development is continuing to foster fresh consumption scenarios. In the future, more disused industrial sites could be transformed into urban parks and wellness facilities, creating space for cafés, restaurants, various types of performances and night markets. ■
