During this year's "May Day" holiday, the popularity of Hangzhou's cultural tourism market remains high, and all kinds of "fancy" plays are frequently searched, and the Qinghefang Historic District, an old core scenic spot, is also full of tourists. According to the statistics of Shangcheng District's cultural tourism data, during the "May Day" period, the total passenger flow of Qinghefang Historic District reached 481,500, a year-on-year increase of 24.45%, and the daily passenger flow reached 125,900 person-times per day, setting the highest single-day passenger flow since 2024; The total revenue was 52.3548 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.17%.
It has been more than 20 years since the opening of the street, as a traditional district with a profound historical heritage, what is the source of the vitality of Qinghefang Historic District? The answer to this question is worth exploring in the neighborhood.
Slow down your pace and create a slow living space
Each city has its own historical and cultural blocks, which span the long river of time, and as a unique landmark in the change of the city, it not only records the development process of urban commercial civilization, but also records the changes in people's consumption habits and lifestyles. However, after years of development, historical and cultural districts are now facing many development difficulties and bottlenecks, and in the face of more diversified cultural tourism needs, how to innovate, change, and maintain vitality and vitality has become a "must answer" in front of every historical and cultural district.
In order to get rid of the one-time tourist check-in destination label of fast travel and fast walking, Qinghefang Historic District anchors the goal of building an urban micro-vacation travel destination, focusing on the needs of multi-level customer groups and creating a slow living space that can be visited and rested by optimizing supporting facilities and promoting commercial outreach. In order to further preserve the charm of the historical streets and alleys and outline the market scene of the south of the Yangtze River, the Qinghefang Historic District focuses on the "micro transformation and fine improvement" of the façade, green landscape, urban furniture, characteristic nodes, etc., with a "magnifying glass" to pick out the details, and work hard from the urban interface and tourism experience. It is reported that as a window of Hangzhou's cultural tourism, Qinghefang is not only satisfied with the clean, tidy, beautiful and comfortable appearance of the block, but also combines the construction of natural landscapes to launch a number of cultural tourism check-in points. Since 2023, the block has completed 64 cultural tourism projects of "micro renovation and refinement", with a cumulative investment of more than 100 million yuan. "The reception capacity is strong, the play experience is good, and the traffic naturally doesn't have to worry." The relevant person in charge of Shangcheng Culture, Business and Tourism Development Co., Ltd. introduced.
At the same time, in order to change the traditional duck chasing style of tourism, let tourists slow down to sit down, from "watching the flowers" to "counting the falling flowers". With the strong support of the urban management departments of Hangzhou City and Shangcheng District, the commercial outward placement policy has been implemented in the Qinghefang block. In the Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street and Dajing Lane, a variety of commercial displays have found a perfect balance between fireworks and quality here. More than 10 kinds of external elements such as Yinyin green plants, intangible cultural heritage bamboo weaving, and traditional Chinese medicine culture enhance the appearance of the block, activate the commercial atmosphere, and provide tourists with a place to rest and check in. "The requirements of commercial outward placement should not only be beautiful and comfortable, but also ensure normal functional needs, and be able to keep up with the normalized management force, which actually puts forward more detailed requirements for urban management. Thanks to the joint efforts of the local streets, the urban management bureau and the majority of merchants, the phased results of the Qinghefang block have formed a win-win situation. The relevant person in charge of Shangcheng Culture, Commerce and Tourism Development Co., Ltd. was deeply touched when he talked about the commercial outreach.
It is understood that in order to effectively solve the problem of parking difficulties around the block, the block is gradually improving the parking lot and other supporting facilities, and it is expected that more than 200 parking spaces can be added, effectively improving the convenience of tourists.
(Trendy float market in Wushan Square)
(Bird's-eye view of Qinghefang Historic District)
Let the streets and alleys be flooded and create a gathering place for young people
At a time when Generation Z has become the main consumer force, the content upgrade of historic districts will inevitably need to pay more attention to the interests and living conditions of young people. How to enhance consumer stickiness and create more dynamic cultural tourism products through the presentation of unique cultural formats? This is a topic that Qinghefang has been thinking about in recent years.
Taking Dajing Lane as an example, in the past few years, the once quiet Dajing Lane has frequently released fresh vitality and has gradually become a leisure check-in place favored by young people.
Time has washed away the lead of the old traditional trade industry, but it has changed the place into a new outfit of Song Yun's elegance and casual trend. On one side is a century-old cultural preservation ancient building, on the other side is a new treasure shop, and the short alley of 300 meters gathers coffee shops, book houses, handicraft shops, homestays and other diversified formats. Turning from the noisy Hefang Street into Dajing Lane, you can deeply feel the unique culture and temperament charm of Fangxiang in the south of the Yangtze River.
And the magic weapon to further "stick" young people is the cluster of managers.
There are 36 owner brands in Qinghefang Historic District, such as Yuheling, Narita Handmade, and Wuzhixian. "Through 'community co-construction', breaking the original layout of a single low-quality self-employed business, the block will glue together us, the managers, to create a platform for brand incubation, communication and co-creation of the owners who carry the creative power of local businesses." The relevant person in charge of the Huancuilou Comprehensive Park in the Qinghefang Historic District said that the relationship between the manager and the block has now become a deep content collaborator and co-creator.
People tend to enjoy the small things in life more than the grand cultural concept. Focusing on the concept of community, Qinghefang Historic District integrates social attributes into the content of the block, and provides emotional value for multi-level consumers by creating a full-scene space and diversified experience, which not only broadens consumer demand, but also increases consumption frequency.
The recent popularity of Wushan Square's "Tianfeng Collection" and the mobile trend float format are a major breakthrough and innovation of Qinghefang. During the "May Day" period, the owner of the lacquer fan stall who set up a stall in the "Tianfeng Collection" was so busy that he couldn't raise his head at all, he pointed to the customer queue that was five or six meters away and said: "You see so many people waiting!" According to reports, it takes at least 6 minutes to make a lacquer fan, but everyone waited patiently, and most of the customers in the queue were young people, and half of them were young men and women wearing exquisite Hanfu.
Art and culture empowerment to cultivate new highlights of culture, business and tourism
The changes in Qinghefang seem to be a mirror, reflecting the dual scenery of urban development and cultural evolution. Every attempt at innovation here is not only to attract the attention of tourists, but also to inject modern vitality into traditional culture.
Now walking into Qinghefang, the "surprises" around the corner are everywhere. On the small square of the Drum Tower, on one side is the lively "Evening Breeze Concert", with natural stage modeling and on-site atmosphere layout, bringing you a music experience no less than a concert; On the other side is the quiet and elegant Southern Song Dynasty study, looking for a Song Yun classic, and understanding the long history under the roots of the Southern Song Dynasty Imperial City. Walking along the Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street, the cutting-edge art beauty Chen flash mob sets off the water system of the Royal Street more and more smart and lovely. Coming to the "four corners", the low-chanting and tactful balcony opera passes through the noisy human voices and lingers among the historical buildings for a long time. If you're lucky, you'll be able to catch a surprise blind box concert on the street corner, where you can get an up-close look at the fusion of architecture and performing arts.
At this time, the art space restored the "Dunhuang murals" thousands of miles away to the ancient buildings in the south of the Yangtze River, and received hundreds of people on the first day of the exhibition. Relying on rich cultural resources, Qinghefang Historic District has built a "museum without walls" in the whole area, with more than 10 cultural and art venues such as Huqing Yutang Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhu Bingren Bronze Sculpture Museum, and Liujiang Art Museum, and at the same time, it continues to introduce high-quality thematic cultural and museum institutions such as Jiangnan Tin Museum and Yiyitang Iron Art Museum.
From the in-depth promotion of the construction of museum communities to the innovative launch of new performing arts of the national tide, Qinghefang has created a number of cultural display belts that blend nature and humanity in the ancient streets and alleys.
The relevant person in charge of Hangzhou Shangcheng District Culture, Commerce and Tourism Group said: "Qinghefang has gradually departed from the original and single tourist attraction attributes, and is more like a comprehensive cultural theme park, hoping to further reduce the threshold of cultural tourism and broaden the audience of historical culture and traditional culture through high-quality commercial formats and diversified cultural and tourism activities." ”
Strengthen industrial radiation and reconstruct the city's "new fireworks"
The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Tourism in Zhejiang Province" points out that culture and tourism should achieve in-depth integration and development in a wider range, deeper and higher level; Promote "excellent traditional culture + tourism"; Create a cultural identity with Zhejiang recognition such as Song Yun culture. Qinghefang's new business format is in line with such high standards, thus showing super competitiveness and development prospects. This year, Qinghefang Historic District has entered the 2024 Zhejiang Province 10-million-level core scenic spot cultivation list.
The relevant person in charge of Hangzhou Shangcheng District Cultural and Commercial Tourism Group said that he hoped to build Qinghefang into a cultural and tourism destination that locals are willing to come, young people love to come, and outsiders want to come to through high-quality commercial formats and diversified cultural and tourism activities. In the future, Qinghefang Historic District, which is turning gracefully, will continue to focus on the method of "business district linkage + industry pull", make overall use of historical and cultural resources, actively explore and give full play to the radiation role of "cultural tourism +", and provide new vitality and new ideas for historical districts and traditional scenic spots.
(The national tide performance at the "four corners" of Qinghefang Historic District)
(Photo courtesy of Uptown Culture, Business and Tourism Development Co., Ltd.)
Source: Zhejiang Daily (Guo Wen, Jiang Yun, Fu Jingzhi, Ni Keyi)