The 2023 China International Camping Congress, which was held in Longhua District over the weekend, turned the Shenzhen North Railway Station Central Park into a massive campground for citizens to relax, play sports and enjoy family time.

The park, together with the Mission Hills Resort and the Hold Land commercial complex at Dalang Shopping Mall, have been designated as pilot areas in the district to promote the development of the camping economy and the integration of camping with culture, sports and tourism industries, organizers said at the congress.

The congress, which kicked off at the park’s Talent Greenway on Saturday, featured themed exhibitions on camping lifestyle, camping gears and local camping resorts such as Nature Land Campground in Luohu District. It also had an eight-hour medley relay race around the park and a conference offering insight into the development of the camping economy and industry.

Barbara Madsen, an American and a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, set the congress as one of the stops during her third visit to Shenzhen on Saturday.

“I’m impressed by all of the incredible equipment on exhibit and the way how camping can be so beautifully integrated in life,” she said. “Through camping, we can have a better appreciation of our planet, our ecology and our world.”

Madsen’s friend Isabel Cauas is a Chilean artist who often goes camping with her family in areas like Patagonia. “I would like to add some gears to my camping inventory,” Cauas said. “I like the portable battery chargers and solar panels the most. You can also connect to internet with the charger.”

The gears Cauas mentioned are developed by Shenzhen Yiwashi Technology Limited, a Bao’an-based tech company for new energy charging solutions.

“The charger is equipped with an industrial wireless router, which can connect to a mobile network using a SIM card and provide mobile hotspots for over 50 nearby devices,”said Lin Zekai, a staffer from the company. “So, there is no need to worry about losing touch with your contacts while camping in remote areas.”

Other popular family camping gears including tents, camping chairs and tables, sleeping bags, recreational vehicles, picnic utensils and portable loudspeakers were also exhibited at the congress.

Another highlight of the congress was the integration of camping with traditional Chinese culture and intangible cultural heritages. Visitors not only got in touch with camping lifestyle in ancient China depicted by performers dressed in Hanfu, but also appreciated the mythical bronze drum performance from Donglan County in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region — a national intangible cultural heritage accredited by Ministry of Culture since 2006.

The congress also announced a proposal advocating for wasteless, low-carbon and ecological-friendly camping lifestyle at Saturday’s opening ceremony.

The event was guided by the General Administration of Sports of China’s wireless aeromodelling management center and public sports instruction center and Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports and hosted by Longhua District Government and the organizing committee of China International Camping Congress.