Recently, the first 919 Community Carnival began its cruise ticket booking, and the level of excitement reached “tickets sold out in a flash.” This maritime celebration, initiated by Wu Xiaobo Channel, planned and executed by Play Gravity, and co-produced by Ctrip Travel, brought together seventeen vibrant communities including Shidu Reading, Zhang Dexin, Zhenghedao, Soul with Fragrance, and New York Jun. It is being hailed as the largest-scale community carnival experiment in history. At that time, the luxury cruise ship “Sapphire Princess” will carry more than ten celebrities and opinion leaders, including China’s top financial writer Wu Xiaobo, internationally renowned music legend Zhu Zheqin, veteran Taiwanese cultural figure and host Cao Qitai, and top-selling Mandarin self-help author Zhang Dexin, along with nearly 3,000 active community members. Together, they will set sail from Shanghai’s Wusong Pier on September 19, visiting South Korea’s Jeju Island, Busan, and Japan’s Kagoshima, for a magical 6-day, 5-night journey.
From virtual to reality, building warm and genuine social scenes
Communities and the community economy are not products of the internet era. Before the internet, relationship circles formed in real-life spaces based on blood ties, geography, or shared values—such as families, churches, book clubs, and hometown associations—could also be called communities. However, the internet broke down spatial barriers and created new ways of connecting, enabling “like-minded” individuals from different regions to connect more efficiently and freely in virtual spaces. As a result, communities gained greater vitality and higher economic value, but at the same time, they also gave rise to a lot of bubbles, presenting a glamorous yet superficial appearance.
Thus, at a time when the so-called “community economy” is advancing rapidly, those at the forefront have begun to consider whether a return from the virtual to the real is needed—to understand the essence of communities through genuine social interactions, discover new paths ahead, and thus this cross-boundary journey between the virtual and the real was born. “When everyone is rushing in one direction, there must be someone who pauses to think, observe, and try something different,” said Fang Yan, chief planner of the 919 Community Carnival and founder of Play Gravity.
The breakthrough significance of the 919 Community Carnival lies in transcending the boundary between the virtual and the real. For the first time, through a large-scale collective social travel event, it brings online community participants back to real life, establishing more authentic, deeper, and warmer social relationships through face-to-face interactions. From this, it seeks to uncover the essence of community relationships and people’s most genuine desires, while exploring and guiding the future direction of the community economy. Taking a step back is actually taking a step forward—it’s a return and also a breakthrough.
Multiple cross-industry celebrities join throughout, resonating with 3,000 community enthusiasts
In this offline carnival dedicated to building real social scenes, the celebrities will deliver multiple themed speeches: Wu Xiaobo, one of the most outstanding financial writers and entrepreneurs in the Chinese-speaking world, will discuss how to “waste your life on beautiful things”; Zhu Zheqin, the first Eastern music artist to release albums globally, will share how to let “the world see” the beauty of traditional Chinese craftsmanship; Cao Qitai, a veteran Taiwanese cultural figure and renowned host, will talk about how he “accidentally fell into the art circle”; Zhang Dexin, author of “Meeting the Unknown Self,” will explore the infinite possibilities of life with fellow enthusiasts focused on mind-body-spirit balance; Liang Jianzhang, co-founder & chairman of Ctrip and a population economist, will analyze “The Impact of Demographic Changes on China’s Economy”; Zong Yi, CEO of Phnix, will discuss “Hyperlinked Fractal Innovation”; “New Feminist Writer” Li Xiaoyi will teach everyone how to “secure a livelihood before seeking love”...
In addition, the organizers have carefully prepared multi-layered community interactive activities that will create a rare high-density social scene, allowing participants to experience the endless possibilities of rapid connections and high-frequency interactions in a limited space. These include a costume dinner featuring figures from the Republican era, maritime private boardroom investment and financing exchanges, the “Left with Cao Qitai, Right with Zhu Zheqin” art space exhibition, the 80-Day Global Victory Celebration Banquet, the JEEP Wild Night, pool wet party, no-holds-barred sports games, a “Pretend Couple” experience activity, and several cutting-edge tech showcases expected to make an appearance... A wide variety of fun and engaging interactive events will keep attendees enthralled. The interaction between community influencers and the celebrities will no longer be limited to text-based or multimedia “spiritual connections,” but rather equal mutual resonance and face-to-face zero-distance communication. Everyone will be able to break down barriers and connect with one another in rich, high-quality carnival activities, resonating at high frequency.
17 Major Communities and Premium Lifestyle BrandsCross-Industry Integration Experiment
As one of the first explorers of China’s community economy, the organizer Wu Xiaobo Channel has previously organized and planned influential community events such as the Entrepreneur Antarctica Expedition that shook the financial media circle and the in-depth Germany Hannover Industry 4.0 Study Tour. Fang Yan, the chief planner of this event, has developed a deep understanding and insight into communities and the community economy through organizing multiple past events. For both Wu Xiaobo Channel and Fang Yan personally, the 919 Community Carnival represents a huge challenge and breakthrough: evolving from a single-community event to a cross-boundary integration of seventeen communities. These communities each have their own values and organizational structures, collectively influencing nearly ten million people. Bringing them together is no easy task. But once they blend, collide, and integrate across boundaries, they will undoubtedly form a powerful force that can influence the development of China’s internet, and also hold tremendous commercial potential. This is destined to be a highly valuable exploration in the history of China’s community economy.
As the co-producer of this community travel event, OTA leader Ctrip stated, “In traditional travel, the only thing you can look forward to is the scenery. But this time, we’ve connected you with many people who share your values and interests. The sparks between fellow travelers become the most anticipated part of the journey. And this kind of deeply interactive ‘like-minded travel’ is clearly more engaging than ordinary group tours, significantly increasing travel frequency.”
In addition to Ctrip, several premium lifestyle brands have also joined this exploration: Jeep’s “Jeep Night” themed event will convey the brand’s philosophy in a new setting; Baihe.com’s “Pretend Couple” one-day experience activity interprets its services through fun, engaging experiences... More innovative brands are soon to join this marketing exploration journey within an ultimate community setting.
The 919 Social Carnival will become a community carnival experiment themed around “integration,” bringing together celebrities, opinion leaders, mid-to-high-end audiences, and premium lifestyle brands to explore more possibilities for unlocking the commercial value of communities. Beyond the current popular self-media content monetization models, how can community links be more effectively transformed into business links? How can brand placements deliver value to brands, communities, and consumers alike? How can C2B consumer customization be achieved based on communities? How can public welfare crowdfunding be carried out through communities? Answers to these questions will begin to emerge from this grand experiment.
“Experiment” is how Fang Yan describes this event, and the subjects of the experiment are the tens of millions of “premium audiences” covered by the seventeen communities centered around Wu Xiaobo Channel: they are people with positive values who pursue a high-quality life, forming “circles” based on shared values and interests. The 919 Community Carnival will break down barriers between different premium communities through carefully designed cruise social settings, achieving integration, resonance, and value recreation among diverse communities in a cross-industry aggregation. Undoubtedly, this will be a groundbreaking large-scale experiment in the history of China’s community economy, with influence reaching millions of community members, and the 3,000 participants holding tickets will personally engage in and witness this groundbreaking feat “on the front lines.”
On the great wheel of the times, not everyone can be the helmsman, but every ambitious person is changing the ship’s course.