Lantern fair spotlights shopping vitality at Yuyuan malls
A new art installation at the Yuyuan Garden Malls for the city's annual shopping festival.
Shanghai's landmark Yuyuan Garden Malls will celebrate the annual shopping frenzy with a lantern fair, food and art shows, shopping coupons, as well as innovative products of its time-honored brands.
The Yuyuan lantern fair, one of China's national intangible cultural heritages, will light up the dining and shopping facilities near the historic garden on Saturday night for the opening of the 4th Double Five Shopping Festival.
More than 20 famous brands of the Yuyuan Inc will release 56 new products for the shopping carnival.
The 239-year-old Tonghanchun TCM pharmacy, for instance, will unveil a new soft candy made of ginseng and other TCM materials. Shanghai Watch will release a limited edition on "The Monkey King," a classic animation film from 1964. The city's gold and jewellery brands Laomiao will launch its new jewellery collection.
The historical eateries of the malls, such as the more than century-old Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant and Lu Bo Lang Restaurant, which is famous for hosting dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 and former US President Bill Clinton in 1998, will take part in a food festival with new products and classic cuisines.
Cat-themed graffiti on the walls of old neighborhood near the Yuyuan malls
Yuyuan boasts dozens of time-honored brands and some 30 UN-designated categories of intangible cultural heritage, including two national-level skills – the Lantern Fair and cooking skills of the Shanghai Classic Hotel.
The malls will release more than 1.5 billion yuan (US$217 million) in shopping coupons during the festival to boost consumption and tap into Shanghai's ambition to become an "international consumption center city," an official with Yuyuan Inc said.
Customers will be able to spend the coupons on tourism, health, food, fashion and cosmetics both online and offline at the malls. The Family Day event of Shanghai-based conglomerate Fosun, owner of the malls, and the 2023 Diamond and Jewellery Culture Festival will be held during the shopping carnival.
As a highlight, a number of public art installations, exhibitions and paintings will be unveiled for the third Bund Art Festival between May 6 and 31.
Graffiti paintings of cats will be created on the walls of the city's old town neighborhood on Fangbang Road M. to create a "Bund Cat Street" between the Yuyuan and the BFC mall on the Bund.
An artist's rendition of a new art installation at the BFC mall
If you go:
Venue: Yuyuan Garden Malls
Address: 265 Fangbang Rd M. 方浜中路265号
Admission: Free
How to get there: Exit 7, Metro Line 14
