Photo:VCG

Universal Beijing Resort officially opened to the public on Monday. It's delightful that China's opening-up has yielded another fruit. There is a Hong Kong Disneyland and a Shanghai Disneyland both in South China. Now with Universal Beijing Resort in the north, a total of three mega foreign theme parks have arrived in China, two of which operate respectively in the largest city of the North and South China. These parks have constituted the outline of China's opening-up. It is also an indicative of China's economic progress and increasingly national consumption capacity. The consumption outlook of China's middle classes has been constantly refreshed and modernized. 

Yang Lei, deputy governor of Tongzhou District, Beijing, predicted that the Universal Beijing Resort's annual revenue will exceed 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion). The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the tourism industry, and theme parks across the globe in general have witnessed a decline in patronage. But it's hoped China's "dynamic zero-case" capabilities will provide a strong shield to protect the tourism industry. The Universal Beijing Resort will become a barometer for China's tourism industry. We wish the park good luck and revenues.   

In fact, with China's continuous development, the Chinese people's vision is broadening and national cultural confidence is rising. It's fair to say the attractiveness of Western cultural symbols in Chinese society no longer represent a pinnacle of aspiration. However, those cultural symbols still have a large group of fans in China, and Chinese society has remained friendly to them 

Theme parks including Universal Studios and Disneyland remain popular in China, which reflects Chinese society's open and friendly attitude to outside culture. This is the inclusiveness of the Chinese culture. Many Chinese people are willing to join in the fun created by globalization, and some young people would like to follow international fashion. This is compatible with their increasing interest in China's own cultural symbols. All these indicate that China's development is not a zero-sum game that would only benefit China itself, but a process of integrating with the world. The deeper China's opening-up is, the more integrated with the world it is.   

Chinese society is large. The methods of gathering and sharing interests are complicated. With cultural diversity and diverse values, when it comes to foreign cultures, both complaints and welcoming voices exist at the same time. The deterioration of China-US relations has also indeed seriously negatively affected the atmosphere of cultural exchanges between China and the outside. 

It must be said that "sandwiched" by the China-US competition and the COVID-19 pandemic, Universal Beijing Resort has opened at a unique moment. Even though, many analysts are optimistic about its future. If there are other theme parks to be opened in the next few years in other countries and regions, it's hard to believe any of their performance will be subject to higher expectations than Universal Beijing Resort.  

The China-US political relationship has deteriorated to such an extent that many refer to a "cold peace," even "cold war" to describe it. But the grand opening of the Universal Beijing Resort has presented the enthusiasm of China-US non-governmental exchanges and the still expanding energy of exchanges.  

A minority of US politicians who are obsessed with confrontation have detached from reality. They are acting against reality, their strategic calculations are inconsistent with daily concerns and interests of the peoples of both countries. Therefore, from the perspective of history, those US politicians are sailing against the wind and current. And their efforts will be in vain - nothing worthy of praises from future generations will be left.