Uber rolls out the option to request a hot air balloon or boat ride as competition in China heats up

Uber unveiled two new services, UberLIFE and Uber + Travel, at TechCrunch Shanghai over the weekend as the ride-hailing company works to beat out its Chinese competitors.

The new offerings, exclusive to China for now, will be rolling out this year.

According to TechCrunch, Uber found that its passengers look at the app for more than a minute once their ride arrives, and the company wants to capitalize on that. With UberLIFE, Uber will be working to keep users in the app for a longer period of time with a digital magazine that informs riders of cultural events in their cities.

Uber is also adding another service for its Chinese customers: Uber + Travel. The new service will include UberBoat and UberBalloon, which will connect passengers with - you guessed it - boats and hot air balloons.

The additional offerings come as Uber tries to compete with messaging app WeChat and ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing in China. WeChat has more than 700 million monthly active users and acts as more of a full-service app, giving users the option to make voice and video calls, shop and play games. Ride-hailing app Didi has been operating in China for four years, boasting 11 million rides a day and 300 million users in 400 cities in China.