Renovation smoothing the way for shoppers

Ti Gong

Hangzhou Silk Pedestrian Road has opened to the public after a five-month renovation to offer visitors an experience that integrates culture and shopping.

The route linking Tiyuchang Road in the north and Fengqi Road in the south was pedestrianized in 1987 and has evolved into a trade and retail hub for silk products, attracting merchants and tourists from home and abroad.

In recent years, Hangzhou Commerce Bureau has adopted a new consumption concept by transforming traditional shopping streets into destinations that combined shopping with sightseeing and the creative industry.

Last year, the revamped Hubin Road was a huge success. This year, due to the COVID-19, it is hoped the upgraded Silk Pedestrian Road will revive the silk industry and further boost consumption.

The renovation included more plants and flowers along roads and outlining pavilions and houses with lighting to create an impressive atmosphere at night.

The facades of buildings along the road have been decorated with Hangzhou characteristics. Roofs are highlighted with silk lantern lamps, and a group of time-honored brands, including Dujinsheng (都锦生) and Cathaya (凯喜雅), have opened outlets.

Formerly, physical stores faced stiff competition online, and some had to shut down. Now they are adopting e-commerce and livestreaming to revive their business.

Local authorities have built a livestreaming studio at the entrance of the road with wanghong, or Internet celebrities, invited to boost sales.

Ti Gong

Outlets along the road shut at 5pm in the past. Now, they are being encouraged to open through 8pm to develop a new night fair in Hangzhou. Catering brands are allowed to set up food stalls along the road, and visitors can sample snacks as they stroll along the road.

Intangible cultural heritage inheritors are invited to display their craftsmanship. Button makers and silk painting artists are among the first to show off their skills.

The local government has cooperated with e-commerce giant NetEase to establish a digital exhibition hall on the road. Artificial intelligence interactive technology is used to display Hangzhou’s history of silk, looms and the Silk Road.

The road will also become a site for the “new retail” concept of online commerce combined with offline shopping.

NetEase has built a Cloud Silk City platform, providing consumers with an online shopping center where they can buy all types of silk products from home and abroad. A corresponding offline shopping outlet has a batch of top-flight silk brands typifying the city’s rich silk culture.

Ti Gong

Hangzhou has two large hanfu (traditional Han clothing) societies with many lovers of traditional clothing. They have regular dress-up meetings but with limited places to take photos. Now, the silk street is expected to be a new spot for them since the street’s vintage decorations and facades perfectly match the style.

Though people no longer wear hanfu in everyday life, hobbyists or historical reenactors still use the garments, and it has become a new industry in the city.

The street is expected to attract more hanfu aficionados and sell hanfu in the future. A corner stage has been set up for hanfu and traditional music performances.

Providing services from maps to parking and livestreaming management, the street is equipped with a smart platform, sharing information from market supervision and urban management departments.

Hangzhou has been a production center of silk for millennia. In 1987, the Silk Pedestrian Road was established with 72 stores, a new commercial approach for the industry.

Today, the street has more than 450 outlets, ranging from wholesale textiles to creative silk brands in Hangzhou.