"Come, lady, see your uncle as a candy blower, this is our traditional Chinese culture, you study hard, in the future, you will be admitted to Tsinghua Peking University." A witty remark by the craftsman attracted a string of hilarious laughs, and the words "interactive blowing and pinching candy man" on the sign in front of the booth attracted many onlookers to be eager to try.
"Look, I bought memories and sweetness, and I felt the old Chinese craftsmanship." The little girl stepped forward, and the sugar man master taught by hand, pinched the billet, and began to blow. "Oops, your lung capacity is too big, blowing up, let's do it again..." The atmosphere was so joyful.
Bell Tower Street in the first month, the east alley of kaihua market is designed for the New Year to open a "original new light" market, lanterns of different colors and shapes decorate the entire alley, both sides of the street, blowing sugar people, making rock sugar gourds, freshly fried chestnuts, sugar paintings, intangible cultural heritage toys, all kinds of snacks... In the hustle and bustle, everyone's face was full of happiness.
This is the first Lunar New Year ushered in after the completion of the upgrading and transformation of Zhonglou Street, and the whole street has added more joy and New Year atmosphere than when the street was opened more than four months ago.
If "bustling, old-fashioned, merchants gathered" is the former mark of Zhonglou Street, then "integration, new formats, large commercial circles" is its modern symbol. After the transformation, the charm of Bell Tower Street is infinite, the brilliance blooms, and the "strong magnetic field" effect attracts people to come here and re-examine and look at this old street full of memories with unique feelings.
The driving effect after the opening of Zhonglou Street can be described as "continuous release and full of staying power". During the National Day in 2021, the total flow of people on Zhonglou Street exceeded that of Beijing Wangfujing Commercial Pedestrian Street, ranking first in North China, and the highest passenger flow in a single day reached a record 200,000 passengers. During the Spring Festival in 2022, the flow of people on Zhonglou Street reached 533,600.
The wind is raising the sails, and the time is right. Yingze District of Taiyuan City borrowed zhonglou Street to seek development, concentrated on promoting the quality improvement and transformation of the service industry, and the long-brewed "cultural tourism integration business circle" showed its rudiments. Yingze District, which takes the service industry as the industrial base, has once again burst out of new vitality.
Embrace the opportunity of improving the quality of large business districts
Embracing new opportunities, Yingze District has confidence, patience and determination.
After the transformation of Bell Tower Street, step by step, the scenery is full of charm. From the south exit of Food Street in the west to the intersection of Qiaotou Street and Haizibian East Street in the east, the 700-meter pedestrian main street is only part of the upgrading project of Zhonglou Street. Small streets and alleys such as Nancang Lane, Boot Lane, Second Market Lane, and Rat Cave Lane, which are being transformed simultaneously, will echo with Zhonglou Street to achieve "street and alley linkage" and "complementary business formats". At the same time, Yingze District is comprehensively upgrading the quality of Chaishi Lane, which will also form a new commercial pattern of "precinct linkage" with Zhonglou Street.
Embracing new opportunities is not only at the government level, but also the merchants in the Zhonglou Street and Liuxiang areas are also "rubbing their fists" and preparing to show their skills. Maoye Department Store is carrying out business format adjustment and local transformation; Qinghe Garden, Zhiyili and other long-established brands have launched new dishes; Causeway Bay area has been upgraded... Bell Tower Street has brought hot popularity and business opportunities, benefiting from the opening of Bell Tower Street, and the turnover of surrounding retail, catering, accommodation and other industries has increased significantly.
For the transformation and development of Zhonglou Street, Yingze District aims at a national-level high-quality characteristic pedestrian street. The person in charge of the Zhonglou Pedestrian Street Integrated Service Center said: "For the future development of Zhonglou Street, Yingze District has enough confidence, patience and determination. We have introduced the domestic first-class Operation Team of China Resources, in accordance with the positioning of the 'full ecological retail block that resonates with tradition and trend', and carry out investment promotion in three phases, after two to three years of business adjustment and reshaping, the traditional business circle of Zhonglou Street will surely become a gathering place of the whole ecological service industry and become a new landmark for brand and consumption. ”
Deeply cultivate the fertile soil for the development of the service industry
Zhonglou Street is 462 meters from east to west, and the length is not enough, but here are 16 Chinese time-honored brands such as Qianhexiang, Hengyicheng and Huataihou.
After hundreds of years of profound accumulation, Zhonglou Street has become a fertile land for commercial development that integrates business and cultural context. Through the long river of years, the original leader has finally become a well-known old brand, it can be said that the Bell Tower Street and the old brand have achieved each other.
Deeply cultivate this fertile commercial soil, achieve integrity and innovation, let more new formats develop and grow in Zhonglou Street, and drive the further transformation of the service industry.
In accordance with the national high-quality characteristic pedestrian street standards and the "Daliu Lane Block Planning", Yingze District has transformed a total of 25 municipal roads in and around Zhonglou Street, of which 12 streets and alleys with a total length of 1500 meters have been transformed into pedestrians.
This year, the Bell Tower Street upgrading project will be fully put into operation. The first phase of Zhonglou Street is positioned as a light cultural tourism commercial block, creating a business card of Shanxi cultural tourism merchants, focusing on the selection of brands with a leading role in passenger flow; the second phase of Zhonglou Street is positioned as an urban social, focusing on the layout of catering, entertainment and other formats to create an urban social destination. In this process, the Tangfeng Jinyun theme commercial street, the Sanjin folk custom theme historical and cultural street, and the fashion night economic consumption area will successively "debut", and the traditional business and modern service industries will collide here to create a dazzling spark.
Cultivate a unique cultural tourism temperament
Courtyard of No. 120 Zhonglou Street, typical of the Qing Dynasty residential style. In this restored old mansion, people feel the changes of time, and understand Taiyuan, feel Taiyuan and taste Taiyuan from the art works exhibited here.
This is a successful planning of the integration of cultural tourism and businessmen, and it is also a useful attempt to inject the temperament of cultural tourism into traditional commercial streets.
For the integrated development of cultural tourism and business, Yingze District has long laid the groundwork. In 2019, Yingze District launched the "Fucheng Tour" boutique route, relying on cultural monuments such as Chunyang Palace, Confucian Temple, Chongshan Temple, and the former site of Provincial No. 1 Middle School, connecting food streets, Bell Tower Street, Liu Lane and other commercial circles, allowing tourists to experience the original and unique cultural charm.
The "gorgeous turn" of Zhonglou Street will undoubtedly greatly promote the development of the cultural tourism service industry in Yingze District. From Zhonglou Street to the east, Shangma Street will rely on cultural heritage such as the Temple of Literature, the Imperial Temple, and the Chongshan Temple to further promote the tour of fucheng, and create a historical, cultural, tourism and leisure block through the adjustment and upgrading of service formats; from Zhonglou Street to the west, Nanhai Street will rely on the folk culture formed by multi-ethnic integration and the local cuisine produced by ingenuity to create the most "fireworks, city flavor" folk culture characteristic dining block.
After the upgrading and renovation project of Zhonglou Street is fully completed, the radiation effect and spillover effect will be more powerful, and eventually form a comprehensive cultural tourism and leisure ecological service industry chain integrating cultural heritage, modern entertainment, trendy commerce, and tourism distribution.
Li Hui, secretary of the Yingze District Party Committee, said: "The 12th Provincial Party Congress put forward the goal of promoting high-quality development in an all-round way, and Yingze District will take the transformation of Zhonglou Street as an opportunity to accelerate the realization of the transformation of the service industry and high-quality development, promote the Liuxiang business district in terms of commercial layout, service functions, historical style, characteristic brands, cultural and creative industries, etc., and strive to build it into a well-known tourist destination for the integrated development of cultural and tourism businesses." ”
Photo courtesy of: Propaganda Department of Yingze District Committee of Taiyuan City
(Editor-in-charge: Li Lin)