What attracts merchants and tourists?, Without Stinky tofu and Pickled vegetables hooves, Shen Siyi, an old street in Qingxi, Shanghai | New Pattern. "Qingxuan | Pickled vegetables

After more than two years of opening the street, the low-key Qingxi Old Street in Fengxian has been a bit high-profile, playing some new tricks.

A few days ago, Qingxi Old Street launched a national style market called "Qingxi Yaji · Remembering the Summer", which enables tourists to enjoy the fun of ancient people's summer market, and also makes this old street without Stinky tofu Pickled vegetables and featuring cultural and creative features welcome the highest passenger flow since its opening.

In the summer evening, when passing through the marble memorial archway on Renmin Road, the first thing you can see is the elegant and simple stall. Bamboo lanterns hang high on the stall head. Calligraphy shops on rice paper rustle in the evening wind. Colorful Dim sum and handicrafts attract many tourists wearing Han suits, with an ancient atmosphere.

Going deeper, passing through the secluded bluestone road, under the stone arch bridge, a rowboat floats in the golden microwave. The hanging foot buildings with white walls and black tiles along the river separate the bustling night market from the old street, making it quite peaceful.

The old street exudes vitality and novelty

Fengxian Qingcun was formed in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties. The stream flowed through the village and connected to the sea, hence the name Qingxi. When it comes to Qingxi Old Street, perhaps many urban tourists are not very familiar with it. Among the well-known ancient towns and streets in the suburbs of Shanghai, this old street, which has only been open for two years, appears young and low-key.

This low-key attitude comes from two aspects. Firstly, the development time of Qingxi Old Street is not long, and the commerce has not been fully improved yet; Secondly, the business format of the old street is "clean". Walking on the street, tourists will not see the butcher shops and Pickled vegetables shops in the crowded shops on both sides. Instead, they will see the glassware workshops, calligraphy shops, personal photography exhibitions, folding fan painting, pottery studios and other shops with relatively young tonality; The air will not be filled with the smell of Stinky tofu. There are no bamboo skewers or oil stained paper towels littered everywhere on the bluestone road at your feet.

The feedback given by tourists after visiting Qingxi Old Street is: "The environment is very clean, the atmosphere is very young, and it's different from other ancient towns when strolling, it's quite comfortable."

Shen Siyi/Photo of shops with different styles on Qingxi Old Street

"If you just crowd in the scenic spot with a small bridge and flowing water, and then buy a piece of Stinky tofu and mutton skewers, it is the same as all the ancient towns in China." In the view of Zhang Xia, the deputy general manager of Shanghai Qingxipan Cultural Development Co., Ltd., the development of Qingxi Old Street does not want to repeat the old road of the traditional old town. Although Qingxi Old Street has a history of nearly 700 years, in other words, who stipulates that its core cannot be young, exuding vitality and innovation?

The most direct way to achieve the goal of "ancient street style and youthful core" is to raise the entry threshold for Qingxi Old Street. Zhang Xia told the reporter that the business forms of the Old Street are divided into six categories, namely, historical culture, luxury catering, boutique hotels, China-Chic cultural innovation, traditional Chinese medicine health care, and traditional marriage customs. Each type of business has a fixed proportion, such as catering is 30%, and cultural innovation is 20%. "These precise ratios cannot be imbalanced, and even within the same category, we rarely allow homogeneous merchants to settle in," Zhang Xia said. On the one hand, we do not want the business format to be too homogeneous, nor do we want to deliberately pursue the richness of the business format and let it be placed in low-end, disorderly commercial entities.

Shen Siyi, a Yunnan style coffee shop on Qingxi Old Street/Photo

A shop owner who runs a bamboo weaving handicraft shop on the old street has a deep understanding of this. He told reporters that he used to do tea business in Zhaojialou Ancient Town and only moved to Qingxi Old Street this year. When he first bid, he was rejected because there was already a tea shop on the old street, and finally he was able to settle in with bamboo weaving handicrafts.

Zhang Xia mentioned that in order to enhance the "youthfulness" of the old street, Qingxi Bank will "consciously" attract young people to start businesses during the investment and operation process. "Their innovative ideas can also make the development of the old street more innovative."

There are studios for young people to start businesses on the old streets of Qingxi, taken by Shen Siyi

In fact, rather than being an ancient town attraction, Qingxi Old Street actually follows the path of a cultural and creative district. In March this year, Qingxi Old Street was selected as a Shanghai Municipal Cultural and Creative Industry Park for the years 2023-2025. At present, more than 80 characteristic industries such as Yichi Garden and Qingxi Time Post Office have been introduced into Qingxi Old Street, including 32 cultural and creative studios and 18 entrepreneurial projects for young people. This primitive ancient village is gradually evolving into a bustling neighborhood that integrates catering, homestays, coffee, cultural and creative activities.

Shen Siyi from Qingxi Old Street/Photo

"Comfortable yet popular" attracts many young people

However, from the perspective of commercial tourism, can tourists and merchants buy into the transformation of ancient towns and old streets into cultural and creative parks?

Chen Wei, a young man from Jiangxi born in the 1990s, opened an original tea drink shop called "Qinghe" on Qingxi Old Street. He was one of the first merchants in the old street. Before settling down, he had inspected other ancient towns and streets in Shanghai, but the high tourist attractions made him feel the pressure of commercial overdevelopment. At that time, Qingxi Old Street was still in the early stages of development, with few shops along the street and a streamlined and non repetitive business structure. This slow paced water town gave Chen Wei confidence to cultivate his commercial brand here.

"Qinghe" tea shop, with ordering area on the right and public seating area and ceramic product display area on the left. Shen Siyi/Photo

Chen Wei admitted that while high passenger flow commercial districts may bring temporary benefits, the corresponding competitive pressure will also be magnified exponentially. Even though the passenger flow on Qingxi Old Street is not as high as that of popular tourist attractions, the lack of homogeneous stores allows him to focus more on brand building as the store's revenue is still acceptable. His other important identity is as a ceramic artist, so the public rest area of the store also displays his own fired ceramic utensils. This is more like his small-scale exhibition, and his goal is to export ceramic culture through tea drinks as a carrier.

On one side of the ancient bridge, the wooden lintel, colorful decorations, and warm atmosphere often attract young girls to stop at "Qingxuan Handmade". Customers can make cream gel products here by themselves, draw traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy on folding fans, and buy Chinese style products such as hairpins. In the view of shop owner Gu Jie, compared to providing the same service in the mall, Qingxi Old Street can make the presentation of these activities more contextualized and also better stimulate the cultural heritage of the old street. "For example, tourists wearing Hanfu and qipao, writing calligraphy in shops, and then fanning their own painted folding fans as they walk through the old streets of small bridges and flowing water, will have a very artistic conception and charm."

Shen Siyi from "Qingxuan" Handmade Shop/Photo taken

On a weekend in August, 26 year old Zhang Siyi was attracted by the Chinese style market held in Qingxi Old Street. She felt that the overall environment and facilities of the old street were very new, with a variety of merchants and different business operations. This made her willing to stop at each store or even take a group photo. For example, her favorite tea house is located deep in the alleys of the old street, with two rattan chairs and exquisite tableware for meals, paired with blooming skyflowers on the walls. "It's both comfortable and vibrant, and young people love the atmosphere of 'chill'.".

The cultural and creative industry cluster that Old Street focuses on building will also promote cooperation among these "small and beautiful" brands. Chen Wei mentioned that by the end of this year, the Garden in the Garden "Qingxi 15" on Qingxi Old Street will soon be put into use. The Chinese Press, which will settle in it, has expressed its intention to cooperate with him, hoping to provide Qinghe tea drinks in the store.

The white building is "Qingxi 15" by Shen Siyi/Photo

Can there be lasting competitiveness without "fireworks"

For slightly older tourists, the clean business format of the old street maximizes the preservation of the original appearance of the ancient village, and the relatively low passenger flow also ensures a sense of play experience. In the eyes of 65 year old Fan Juying, being able to fully enjoy the beautiful scenery is the top priority for visiting the ancient town, and the old street needs to be clean to have charm.

Shen Siyi's Cruise on Qingxi Old Street/Photo

However, some tourists feel that the old street should be bustling and full of smoke. If the standard configuration of ancient towns such as Stinky tofu and Pickled vegetables is missing, the cultural and creative atmosphere is too strong, it will become "tasteless". Ms. Xu, a tourist in her forties, came from Pudong to Qingxi Old Street. After strolling around, she felt that "the food was too little and not lively enough.". Some merchants also feel that the business format of the old street is difficult to attract customers from traditional ancient towns, and the commercial density is not enough, resulting in insufficient popularity.

How to attract traffic? The Qingxi Yaji · Remembering Ming Xia national style market emerged. The market has attracted a large number of customers to the old street, and some merchants told reporters that the turnover during the market period was ten times higher than usual.

In the long run, how to create a unique cultural and creative park while providing stable customer flow and revenue for merchants remains a question that Qingxi Old Street needs to consider.

Regarding this, Zhang Xia told reporters that on the one hand, the operation side of Qingxi River will regularly hold market activities to attract tourists with innovative theme styles; On the other hand, it is to continue to focus on the development concept of "cultural and creative+commercial+industrial chain", welcoming enterprises with their own industrial chain to settle in the old street, and encouraging existing shops to extend the industrial chain in the old street and Qingcun town.

Zhang Xia admitted that due to innate conditions, Qingxi Old Street does not have the ability to compete with other ancient towns and streets with better natural scenery. Therefore, exploring the value of industry, economy, and regional revitalization may be more meaningful for the sustainable development of Qingxi Old Street.

Successful cases have emerged. The original restaurant "Qingxi Old Eight Samples" on Qingxi Old Street has developed the pre made vegetable industry one year after its opening. Now, it has contracted a systematic operation of a 2000 square meter factory in a park in Qingcun Town. After upgrading the track, the brand's revenue has significantly increased. The reporter also observed that there are many shops on Qingxi Old Street that are dual-use, with shops along the street used for business and shops owned by the owners inside.

In the second half of this year, the "Qingxi 15" cultural and creative park built adjacent to the old street will soon be put into use. In the future, it will introduce cultural and tourism industry projects such as "Chinese version bookstore, film and television media, online game and animation production", forming a borderless link with the old street of Qingxi. By relying on local enterprises to settle in, the industrial chain will be prioritized, further enhancing the image of the old street cultural and creative block and enhancing the commercial resilience of the old street.