Mandarin’s House launches an augmented reality (AR) mobile application to diversify the presentation of its history and enrich the visiting experience
The Mandarin’s House, one of the World Heritage sites under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), has launched an augmented reality (AR) mobile application. Starting from 31 January, with the help of AR technologies, residents and tourists can explore the history of the Mandarin’s House on their mobile phones by scanning a specific QR code or accessing the mini-application of IC’s official WeChat account during their visits to the Mandarin’s House. In order to promote the AR mobile application for the Mandarin’s House, from 31 January to 25 February, the first ten visitors on each day, who complete the designated tasks will be entitled to receive an attractive gift, while stocks last.
With the aim of continuously promoting the use of digital cultural heritage resources, IC launched online virtual reality (VR) tours of the Guia Fortress and the Mandarin’s House in November 2021, allowing residents and tourists to enjoy the respective “cloud tour”. On occasion of the 180th anniversary of the birth of Zheng Guanying this year, IC has launched the augmented reality (AR) mobile application for the Mandarin’s House, allowing visitors to explore different AR interactive scenarios that combine the reality and virtual technologies through their mobile phones. The application uses virtual technologies to present the compilation of Zheng Guanying’s masterpiece Words of Warning in Times of Prosperity and past scenes of “The House of 72 Tenants”. Animated videos about the Mandarin’s House from different periods are also made available. The application features a map with a navigation function and provides guide tours in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese and English, which facilitates visitors to follow along. Moreover, in order to enhance the public interest and unique visiting experience, there is also a mini-application on WeChat that includes a treasure hunt game and a number of photo scenes with special effects, which will encourage visitors to explore every corner of the Mandarin’s House, offering a good visiting experience and enabling to deepen the understanding of the World Heritage of Macao.
In order to promote this new AR mobile application, residents and tourists who have successfully unlocked all the ancient scenes can redeem a gift. The first ten visitors on each day who complete the tasks will be entitled to receive a gift at the reception of the Mandarin’s House. Gifts are available on a first-come, first-served basis, while stocks last. IC will strictly follow the relevant guidelines of the Health Bureau and implement appropriate measures for cultural activities. All visitors must wear face masks, undergo body temperature checks, present a “Macao Health Code” of the day and scan the venue QR code, maintain social distancing and co-operate with the relevant anti-epidemic and crowd control measures.
IC has been actively promoting Macao’s cultural heritage with innovative technology in a diversified way. By integrating heritage buildings with AR interactive elements that appeal to young people, IC has further promoted the cultural interest of the Mandarin’s House as a World Heritage Youth Education Base, while raising young people’s awareness about Macao’s history and Chinese culture, optimising the visiting experience of residents and tourists by adding smart tour features. IC will continue to actively promote the integration of cultural heritage resources with technologies, exploring new technological applications for more cultural heritage attractions, so as to continuously enrich the promotional and educational dimensions of Macao’s cultural heritage and improve the integrated experience of cultural tourism.
