What Hong Kong can learn from Hangzhou in Night Bazaar?
It is a night to remember on this National Day not just because of the fireworks display not seen in five years that gathered over 430,000 people along Victoria Harbour, but also because the Hong Kong football team broke into the semi-final with a 1-0 win over Iran in the Asian Games.
I cannot help switching over TV channels for the fireworks in Hong Kong and the football in Hangzhou but ended up choosing to stay with the mainland city that offers more excitement.
Perhaps the same can be said of the night bazaar in Hangzhou, where its famous Wulin spot has become such a sensation in the past decade. Thanks to the Asian Games, Wulin Night Bazaar became even hotter this month after it had cleared a daily 150 rubbish bins per day in the golden holiday this May.
A major economic and e-commerce hub famous for being the home of Alibaba Group, Hangzhou is the second biggest city in the Yangtze Delta after Shanghai. With a rich cultural root and a relatively young population, the Wulin Night Bazaar, 500 meters away from the famous West Lake, is a must-go local and tourist destination.
Half of the stalls sold cultural and creative handmade products such as ghost masks of Sun Wukong aka Monkey King and Spiderman. One can easily imagine the scene we saw over Halloween weekend in Hong Kong was in fact the normal routine in Hangzhou.
Known for being trendy and young, one stall owner Mr Ye told a Hong Kong newspaper the key lies in “doing what the young people want”.
“Only youngsters could attract youngsters,” Ye said. “We must offer an entrepreneurial platform for the college students who know how to use new ways to sell old products”.
Apart from offering a parade show twice a year, the organizer of Wulin Night Parade offered training for live broadcasts and guaranteed compensation for consumers who were not satisfied with their products.
Using the management theory of running shopping malls to the night market, it is not hard to understand why one-third of the stores in Wulin have been operating for over five years since the Night Bazaar started in April 2013.
So, how our once Pearl of the Orient could learn from Wulin to outshine its bigger neighbour city and reclaim the title of the city that never sleeps? Perhaps there is no better way to start with a good understanding of the local youth and how to motivate them for building a better Hong Kong.
-- Contact us at [email protected]
-
Is certainty a sin？ Brian YS Wong
A few weeks back, I watched one of the most widely anticipated releases of 2024 – Conclave, a riveting political thriller directed by Edward Berger. Without giving too much away, I would settle for
-
Why Carpe Diem Brian YS Wong
“Carpe Diem” – we are told. To seize the day, is a moral prerogative. We must expend each and every hour, minute, and second with due care and caution, paying conscientious heed to the fact that our
-
British doctor’s autobiography describes remarkable life in HK Mark O'Neill
Dr John Mackay arrived in Hong Kong in 1963 and has lived here ever since. For 30 years. he was one of the city’s most respected physicians in one of the largest medical practices and then chose a
-
To build Hong Kong into an AI training base Dr. Winnie Tang
Since 2022, the Government has introduced a number of measures to compete for talents, and this year's Policy Address has made more persistent efforts to nurture local and lure I&T talent from all
-
Correlation between emotional health and academic performance Dr. Winnie Tang
What can we learn from the latest research which shows a positive relationship between mental health and academic achievement? In view of the sharp increase in student suicide cases in recent years,