Visitors wearing XR glasses experience immersive scenes at Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province on April 28. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily]

Recent visitors to Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province have likely come upon the brand new XR immersive experience center, a strikingly modern facility that's bringing science and technology to the thousand-year-old world heritage site.

Wutai Mountain, located in Xinzhou, is one of the world's five great Buddhist holy sites. In 2009, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming a world-level cultural heritage attraction. The new facility, opened in April, is a step toward embracing the future.

Visitors wearing XR glasses experience immersive scenes at Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province on April 28. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily]

Liu Yong, the chief of the XR experience center, said that the project's research and development team spent seven months collecting images of the surrounding scenic spots as references to produce authentic recreations.

The center is equipped with a hundred pairs of XR glasses that employ a spatial location system for centimeter-level precision. The experience hosts groups of 10 to 15 people and lasts 24 minutes.

Visitors wearing XR glasses experience immersive scenes at Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province on April 28. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily]

In recent years, Wutai Mountain has embraced the wave of digital cultural tourism. The fashionable digital experience is an effort to meet young visitors where they stand, so they can learn about the mountain's history and cultural legacy in a modern way.

Xiao Qiong, a 54-year-old visitor from Guangdong, came for the usual reasons: hiking, Buddha worship, and meditation, and was pleasantly surprised to find the state-of-the-art XR project. "In reality, we can't fly," he said. "However, by wearing those devices, we can feel the magic of flying high."

Visitors wearing XR glasses experience immersive scenes at Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province on April 28. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily] 

Visitors wearing XR glasses experience immersive scenes at Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province on April 28. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily] 

Visitors wearing XR glasses experience immersive scenes at Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province on April 28. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily]