As gold prices reach record highs, a gold panning craze is sweeping across China’s old mining towns, where tourists sift through sand and shallow streams for tiny flakes they can take home for free. 

In eastern Shandong and Zhejiang provinces, former mining towns now let visitors explore underground tunnels, learn mining techniques, and chase glitter in streams and sandpits. 

As of late August, ticket revenue of a mining-themed park in Suichang County, Zhejiang was up 13% from a year earlier. Over 15,000 people booked tickets during the past eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, according to state-run outlet Economic View.

Gold prices have hit record highs this year. On Oct. 8, international prices topped $4,000 per ounce.

One visitor to the Suichang mining park said her husband managed to find a tiny gold flake. Though hard to find and not worth much, “the kids were thrilled,” she said. Flakes weigh between 0.03 and 0.05 grams, worth roughly 35 to 60 yuan at current prices. 

Entry tickets cost 126 yuan, with an additional 30 yuan for the gold-panning experience. The “panning pool” is man-made, and since the park opened in 2007, a total of one kilogram of gold foil has been added to it, said Luo Feng, general manager of the park. 

Besides gold panning, the park also features a tour through Tang (618–907) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasty mining tunnels, and a museum. 

In Zhaoyuan City, Shandong, a “Gold Panning Town” and a gold museum have been built on a decommissioned mine. Local authorities in Jiapigou, a town in northeastern Jilin province, have also pledged to build a museum at what has been China’s major gold mine for the past 200 years. 

The trend also reflects a broader shift from sightseeing to “hands-on experiences,” said Wu Liyun, executive vice dean of the Beijing Institute of Culture and Tourism Development. 

Luo, the manager, added that the park plans to launch new workshops in gold jewelry making and gold-foil art to attract young adults. “Gold represents wealth and stability, a symbol that resonates across generations,” he said. 

Modern gold-panning in China acts as a form of “industrial tourism,” in which tourists visit industrial sites. The concept first emerged in Europe in the mid-20th century and took root in China in the late ’90s.

From steel mills in the northeast’s “rust belt” to gleaming electric-vehicle factories in the south, China now has more than 1,000 industrial tourism destinations under policy support.

But for long-term growth, industrial tourism needs to go beyond “factory tours and souvenir shops,” and bring in “immersive, narrative, and interactive designs to help bring industrial stories into everyday life,” Zeng Bowei, a professor in tourism economy at Beijing Union University, told domestic media. 

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson. 

(Header image: Left: Tourists visit a gold mine in Zhaoyuan, Shandong province. From CNS Economic View; Right: Tourists pan for gold in Suichang County, Zhejiang province. From @遂昌金矿旅游区 on WeChat)