Spring is coming. The weather in Ningbo has been fine, and the temperature is getting warmer, accompanied by the strong popularity in the consumer markets. These days, the Nantang Old Street is full of tourists. Even when the lights are on at night, there are still a lot of them, having dinner, strolling, or taking photos at the bank of the Nantang River dotted with lights. What lively scenes! Against the background of the night, the steam released by the merchants along the street converged into the lively scenes that had been missing for a long time due to the epidemic.

The Nantang Old Street is one of the eight historical and cultural blocks in Ningbo, and the only historical block with unique river basin residential landscape south of the Yangtze River Delta. In recent years, it has become a new landmark for fashion and leisure activities under the local overall planning and layout. Among them, the South Street retains more than 300 meters of traditional streets and alleys, with many Ningbo time-honored brands such as Wang Shengda, Meilong Town, Dong Shengyang, etc. available; the North Street is an experiential themed commercial block integrating tourism, cultural leisure and folk characteristics. The ingenious integration of new fashion and traditional ancient buildings, the distribution of diversified dynamics and creative experience show the unique spirit of the new generation, attracting numerous tourists. Last year, the Nantang Old Street was selected as one of the second batch of national-level night culture and tourism consumption clusters.

As the night falls, walking along the Nantang Old Street, every store attracts many citizens and tourists. The driving force of the "night economy" has brought new vitality to the consumption market. Mr. Liu, from the North China, together with his friends, came to Ningbo for traveling. Referring to online traveling "plans", they specially came to visit the Nantang Old Street with a strong flavor of traditional river basin south of the Yangtze River Delta, so as to have a taste of various "old" Ningbo snacks in a one-stop way.

"Unexpectedly, it's so busy here at night. At some stores, tourists have to wait for seats. They are so popular!" He said that they had tasted special food such as Yong Shui Ma Ci, Xie Ke Huang (a crisp pastry browned on one side with sweet or salty stuffing and with sesame on the upper crust), soy bean crunchy candy and multi-layer steamed bread and so on. They also queued up to buy the most recommended Chinese doughnuts and so on, and planned to take some of them back to their hometown to share with their friends and relatives.

Under the night lights, a series of new changes also attract young consumer groups. Miss Wu, a "post-90s" living nearby, took advantage of the weekend to come to the Nantang Old Street with her family members. After enjoying authentic and delicious Ningbo food at the time-honored restaurant of "Dong Fu Yuan", she couldn't help but stroll into various snack shops, fast fashion stores, trendy cafes, etc.. "Not only does it have my favorite 'Times' Cafe, but also it often carries out nostalgic fairs, live music performances, open-air movies and other activities in the evening. I feel that the Nantang Old Street is becoming more and more fashionable." Miss Wu said.

Only when there is popularity can there be consumption. Developing the "night economy" is a new measure taken by the Nantang Old Street in recent years, focusing on the trend of the consumer market and following the actual needs of consumer groups. "Take last summer for example, at weekends, we carried out a series of summer night themed activities, which stimulated the enthusiasm of young people to participate through activities such as open-air movies, nostalgic old objects exhibition, Little Overlord Arcade game, cool wind market and so on." The person in charge of the Nantang Old Street said. In addition, the Nantang Old Street also actively mobilized the enthusiasm of merchants, enabling them to make full use of the available space in front of their doors to carry out activities to interact with consumers, and also provided places for tourists and citizens to take a rest, so as to extend shopping time.

Activities are frequently held, topics hot and projects innovative, making the Old Street popular and "more beautiful at night". According to statistics, after the "night economy" mode was launched in the middle of July last year, the average daily turnover of merchants in the Nantang Old Street block increased by about 18% year-on-year, and the total passenger flow increased by about 20% year-on-year. And thanks to the recovery of the tourism consumption market, the passenger flow in the Nantang Old Street has increased significantly since the Spring Festival this year, with nearly 100,000 passengers per day during the Lantern Festival.

This year, new changes in the younger, more fashionable and more interesting consumption scenes will also take place along the Nantang Old Street, further boosting the development of the "night economy". A relevant person in charge of the Nantang Old Street said that at present, the Nantang Old Street is further adjusting and planning the business dynamic of the block, and the key word is "fashion". "We plan to build a 'fashion night economy' region on the basis of the original region. In the process of investment attraction, we are more inclined to attract fashion businesses, so as to enhance the attractiveness of consumer groups, and further attract tourists." In addition, the Nantang Old Street will also create more diversified consumption scenes with the help of activities such as a trunk market and so on.