Changsha thrives with blend of old and new

As a tourist destination, a city of the post-2000 generation and a region that is home to more than 30 percent of the population aged 14-35, Changsha in Central China's Hunan province has become an "internet-famous city" and is increasingly beloved and sought-after by young people.

With a history spanning 3,000 years, Changsha is also known as a noted city of the Chu state that existed before China's unification by the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). This picturesque city is home to mountains, rivers and islands and a lively, leisure-filled and creative atmosphere.

Changsha, capital of Hunan province, boasts a deep cultural heritage. Today, the ancient Yuelu Academy, with its quaint charm, attracts numerous visitors each year to experience Hunan culture and the influence of the academy's culture.

Across the river from the Yuelu Academy lies the bustling Wuyi business center, where stylish young people explore the streets, and the popular Modern China Tea Shop attracts long queues. Ancient streets there combine classical and fashionable elements, gathering speciality Changsha snacks that are favorites among tourists.

Located in the busy center of Changsha, Chaozong Street has a history of more than 400 years and is one of the four remaining ancient granite streets in Changsha. Through urban renewal efforts, Chaozong has been able to preserve the original style of its buildings through meticulous renovations and develop new cultural tourism consumption scenes.

Each of the 6,500 granite pieces in the street are numbered. The historical buildings with their ancient charm harmonize with modern tea and coffee shops and Hunan cuisine restaurants, attracting young tourists to visit and take photos.

Culture and technology

In a new micro-movie created at the Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park in Changsha, Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) is "revived" with the help of special technologies. This film combines Chinese classical art with digital technology, achieving a fusion of the metaverse and reality.

The integration of culture and technology results in an emerging industry and has drawn a large number of innovative talents. The Malanshan park in Changsha has also attracted a group of cultural and technological enterprises.

Zhao Shuai, vice-president of a Changsha-based information technology company and a native of Shandong province in East China, settled in Changsha in 2020 after having worked and lived in Guizhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Nanchang and Zhuhai. Zhao leads a team at the Malanshan park, spearheading the research and development of several pioneering platforms for virtual reality education, industry and cultural creativity application. They have also integrated metaverse technology with cultural tourism, constructing a virtual world related to the Zhangjiajie scenic area and providing visitors with immersive visual experiences.

"We hope to make excellent Chinese traditional culture more vivid and vibrant through digital technology and artificial intelligence, interpreting traditional stories and the Red culture and creating new business forms, new models, and new applications for cultural tourism," Zhao said.

The Malanshan park is building itself into a globally influential audio and video industry hub, with more than 4,000 upstream and downstream enterprises, forming a digital cultural industry chain covering aspects such as cultural creativity, content production and video broadcasting.

As a noted historical and cultural city, Changsha boasts heritage involving the Mawangdui Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) Tombs and Tongguan Kiln. Today, through digital technology and AI, these ancient cultural treasures are shining with brilliance.

Recently, the 3D digital representation of the Han Dynasty's Lady Xin Zhui, who was unearthed from a tomb at the Mawangdui site, has been revealed to the public. The digital representation is lifelike, with clear skin and highly realistic hair. This year, Hunan Museum used AI technology, with collaboration across multiple disciplines such as medicine, imaging and archaeology, to restore the appearance of Xin Zhui who had been "asleep" for more than 2,000 years.

Zhang Rihui, general manager of a Changsha-based science and technology company, said that they used ultra-realistic digital human technology to create a highly accurate model of Xin Zhui's face, with pores being visible. Based on historical records, unearthed relics, observation and measurements, they digitally reconstructed Xin Zhui's body, hair and clothing.

The fusion of traditional culture and modern technology is providing new impetus to Changsha's new quality productive forces in the cultural field and injecting new vitality into the city's development.

Nighttime economy

The nightlife of Changsha embraces the unique lifestyle of young people and showcases the city's nighttime vitality. In the evening, crowds flow through the ancient Taiping Street; the Huangxing Road Pedestrian Street buzzes with activity; at a popular wharf, diners enjoy their meals and engage in lively conversations. In recent years, based on its urban characteristics, Changsha has been creating a calling card focusing on "urban culture and metropolitan leisure" and developing the nighttime economy.

The Wuyi business center is popular in Changsha. According to statistics, during this year's May Day holiday, key commercial areas in Changsha received 13.62 million visits, with the Wuyi business center alone attracting almost 5.6 million visits.

Visitors can enter the center to buy specialty snacks, take photos in front of iconic signs and listen to live rock music at an outdoor bar at night.

A related executive said that the Wuyi business center has evolved from a 1.0 model consisting of shopping, dining and bars to a 2.0 model integrating emerging consumption such as tourism, cultural creativity and performances. It is now accelerating toward a 3.0 model characterized by cultural tourism, a combination of the online and offline, and the symbiosis of technology and fashion.

In addition to exploring the new potential of traditional consumption scenes such as night markets, night tours and nightlife, Changsha has introduced more new scenes, attracting a large number of young people.

Since 2023, Liuyang, a county-level city in Changsha, has held shows every Saturday, combining fireworks, dances and music, making it the highlight of the new nighttime consumption scene and attracting visitors from all over the country.

In recent years, Changsha has issued guidelines on accelerating the development of the nighttime economy and on building an international consumption hub and selected nighttime consumption demonstration blocks and stores for four consecutive years. Changsha has ranked among the top 10 cities in terms of nighttime economy influence in China for several years in a row, with nighttime consumption accounting for 60 percent of total daily consumption and more than 1 million employees in the industry.

Mutual growth

Despite these attractions, for young people, Changsha's advantages in aspects such as innovation capacity and industrial ecology are decisive factors that draw them in. These young people can also promote the city's development.

In 2023, Changsha embarked on making itself a global R&D center city, issuing related guidelines and policies. It implemented "seven major projects" in 2023, attracting professionals via industries and advancing sectors via talent.

The paths for young talents' employment and entrepreneurship in Changsha have broadened and more leading enterprises are also choosing to develop their business in the city. Internet giants such as Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and JD have planned operations in Changsha, and some other companies established their "second headquarters" in the city.

Six years ago, Zhou Bowen, a postdoctoral researcher from Tsinghua University, started his business in Changsha instead of Beijing and Shanghai. Within a few years, his intelligent technology company has helped various industries.

"Low-cost entrepreneurship, high-quality living" may be a distinctive feature of Changsha, attracting both domestic and foreign talents to settle down.

At the beginning of 2021, Sheng Weitian, who had studied and worked abroad for seven years, returned to Changsha to engage in the thriving field of intelligent driving. Today, he has become a manager at Changsha Intelligent Driving Institute. Sheng and his team are responsible for the R&D of advanced autonomous driving technologies and have applied for several invention patents. Their research achievements have positioned Changsha at the forefront of related fields, from technological implementation to commercialization.

To create a new Changsha where young people aspire to live and work, the city introduced a pilot implementation plan for the construction of a youth development city in 2023. It has also carried out the "six youth projects" and "18 key actions" and made efforts to meet the development needs of young people on various aspects such as job hunting after graduation, innovation and entrepreneurship, relationships and marriage, elderly care and children's education.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn