BEIJING’S PARKS, HISTORICAL SITES GET CREATIVE
New range of souvenirs and cultural products available
Computer engineer Ye Rui, 31, sipped coffee as he viewed a painting depicting the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests adorning a wall at a coffee shop in Beijing’s Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) Park.
“I don’t normally drink coffee, but I felt like having a cup of it on my own at this shop in the grounds of the heritage site,” said Ye, who discovered the outlet during one of his regular walks in the park.
Blessing Coffee is just one of the shops selling coffee, tea and creative souvenirs that have opened at Beijing’s parks and historical sites.
Li Yan, head of cultural and creative special projects at the Beijing Administration Center of Parks, said instant noodles, sausages and bread used to be standard fare provided in Beijing’s parks, while other types of food and drinks were seldom considered.
Maps and small toys also used to be sold in the parks, but now the authorities want to present “attractive, informative, enjoyable and useful” products to improve visitors’ experience, she said.
Located near the east gate at Temple of Heaven Park, Blessing Coffee opened to the public in December, and within a month the outlet had ranked fourth on the restaurant and cafe rating platform Dazhong Dianping.
The shop now sells about 300 drinks a day on average. Eleven kinds of specialty and regular coffee and six types of tea are available at the store.
Yang Fei, assistant general manager of the Beijing Cultural and Creative Industry Development Service Co, who founded the coffee house, said it was opened in order for more people to gain a better understanding of the culture at the Temple of Heaven.
“The quintessence of various types of traditional Chinese culture is deeply embedded in ancient sites in Beijing. However, many people are not familiar with this culture, and are only familiar with the appearance of these ancient buildings,” Yang said.
The Corner Tower Cafe, Beijing’s first cultural heritage coffee house, opened near the north gate to the Palace Museum on Dec 1, 2018. During weekends, crowds gather at the coffee shop to chat and pose for photographs.
Perfect place
Zhang Rui, an associate researcher at the Palace Museum, said the design of the cafe blends well with the site’s architectural style.
The cafe is a perfect place for visitors to contemplate cultural relics after they complete sightseeing tours of the Palace Museum, which start at the south gate and end at the north.
“Tourists tend to stay at a coffee shop for a long time. After visiting the museum and seeing the exhibitions, they have a place to appreciate the culture even more,” Zhang said.
Yang believes that a good way to spread knowledge of traditional culture is to integrate world-class cultural heritage with dynamic, creatively designed products.
He and his team have been working hard to introduce little-known cultural heritage to more people through such products.
As an example, Yang cited a newly launched ice-cream designed in the shape of a tiger with a serrated back that resembles the yu, a wooden percussion instrument played during court rituals in the imperial palaces of ancient China.
The yu was played by striking its head three times with a bamboo implement. The implement was then used to scrape the instrument’s serrated back to mark the end of a piece of music.
Since the Chinese character for
is hard to write and pronounce, it makes it more difficult for people to learn about these instruments and the ceremonial music they played.
Yang said, “The ice-cream design resembles the original appearance of the yu, so more people can learn about the meaning behind the shape of the wooden tiger and better understand temple prayer culture.”
Shan Jixiang, former curator of the Palace Museum, said in an earlier interview, “Cultural relics can be more easily accepted and loved by young people when the knowledge and interest related to their heritage are vividly depicted and disseminated through various products.”
In August, a consumer attitude report released by CBNData, a consultancy based in Shanghai, found that in China, members of Generation Z (people born from the midto-late 1990s to the early 2000s) are more willing to pay for their diverse interests, and the consumption power resulting from these interests continues to rise.
The report said traditional Chinese culture is one of the four major interests for Generation Z.
Gan Lu, 35, manager of the coffee house at Temple of Heaven Park, said that during the Spring Festival holiday — he noticed a group of clients — who wanted to recommend the shop to friends and revisit it, were keen on a certain type of takeaway coffee cup.
These red-bottomed blue cups bear the design of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.
“One particular type of coffee suddenly sold extremely well during the holiday. We were confused at first, before finding that it was the coffee cups that were attracting customers’ attention. They wanted to hold a cup and take a picture of it,” Gan said.
He reported this discovery to the company, and after Spring Festival, all cups for takeaway coffee were changed to the type in demand among customers.
Yang said his shop has hired a coffee specialist to develop new drinks for each season.
For example, the flavor of the oatmilk latte is changed according to the season — in spring it tastes of plum blossom.
Yang said his team is working hard to build connections between the Temple of Heaven and the coffee house.
“A coffee house located at a heritage venue with a long history should be a pleasant addition to the site and contribute to its culture. It is vastly different from coffee chain shops,” he said.
“The design of the shop, the display of artifacts and the selection of drinks should add to the attractions of the historical site,” Yang said.
On the floor of his coffee store, white circles representing “heaven” are filled with red tiles depicting “earth”. The golden tables resemble the roof of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.
“We’ve been looking at every detail of the shop, and we are still improving,” Yang said. “We hope our efforts will help make the heritage site more vibrant and that people can appreciate the relics in a number of ways.”
Better understanding
Beijing’s parks are also offering well-designed souvenirs and other cultural products.
Xia Guodong, deputy director of Temple of Heaven Park, said the venue sees 18 million visitors every year.
“We realize that offering creative products is a good way for our visitors to better understand the sophisticated culture at the Temple of Heaven,” he said.
Since 2016, parks in the Chinese capital have introduced a wide range of creative and cultural products to attract visitors.
More than 5,400 such items in 14 categories are on offer in the city’s parks, according to the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks. Most of the products cost less than 100 yuan ($15.50).
Li, from the administration center, said, “People now have high requirements for the appearance of products, and souvenirs no longer look anything like they used to.”
In 2019, sales of cultural and creative products in Beijing’s parks reached 138 million yuan.
“We hope to cooperate with leading companies in the culture and creative industry to explore better prospects and possibilities for products,” Li said.