Editor's note: "Two Towns and Six Street Districts" are important carriers for West Lake District to build a cultural and creative highland. They each have their own characteristics and complement each other, forming a colorful new picture of West Lake. Whether it is the inheritance and development of historical culture or the innovation and development of modern cities, they have been perfectly reflected and integrated here. Starting today, this newspaper will launch a series of reports titled "Strolling through the Two Towns and Six Streets" to witness the flourishing development of cultural and creative industries in West Lake and explore the unique charm of West Lake life.

Correspondent Lou Xiaohan and Zhang Jie

When night falls and the evening breeze is gentle, young people in Hangzhou always love to take a stroll in Tianmu. The traffic queuing at the entrance, the long queue at the restaurant entrance, and the bustling creative market all highlight the hot and bustling cultural and tourism economy of Gudang Street.

The rising "fireworks atmosphere" reflects the new vitality of the city. Since the beginning of this year, Xihu District has been striving to build a cultural and creative highland by focusing on the "two towns and six street districts". In Gudang Street, the Tianmuli International Block, with Tianmuli as its core, is being constructed vigorously, giving rise to the cultural brand of "Xiyun Tianmu" and accelerating the formation of new urban cultural spaces.

From 'creating circles' to' leaving circles'

Continuously heating up traffic passwords

This summer, every Friday at 7:30 pm, musician Rao Yue would always carry his guitar and appear in an open-air area in Tianmu, without the need to set up a stage. As soon as the accompaniment sounded, he would start singing.

This is different from traditional performances, as it has not been rehearsed in advance. It is a pure process of music creation, expression, and sharing, "said Rao Yue. He hopes to convey the beauty of music to young people by constructing this kind of scene that directly faces the public.

In Tianmu, distinctive scenes of dialogue with young people like this can be seen everywhere. We like to make some interesting attempts "was the first official tweet title from Tianmu in 2019. Afterwards, a new way of life that suits the taste of young people grew wildly here, continuously attracting people who travel to busy cities to come here for fame.

The first time entering Tianmu, it is easy to label the international master architecture in front of you as "trendy, fashionable, and outstanding". If you get closer, you will find that whether you love the lively "fireworks flavor" or the static "artistic style", leaning towards natural environments or bustling cities, you can always find a suitable corner here. To this day, this complex that combines urban commerce and diverse art remains popular. Since the beginning of this year, the daily average number of visitors to Tianmu has been about 17000, with a weekend visitor count of 20000 to 30000.

Under the new consumption trend, the continuous innovation of cultural and tourism consumption scenes has become the main breakthrough point for gathering popularity, vitality, and improving consumption. "In the view of the relevant person in charge of Gudang Street, a series of new consumption scenes and experiences in Tianmu have been activated one after another, with various activities overlapping and empowering in multiple directions, forming a strong attraction for young people. While enriching the cultural and tourism economy in the jurisdiction, it also brings a strong cultural and creative atmosphere to the city.

Unlike traditional "late night canteens", the "night" in Tianmu has a more artistic atmosphere. From the perspective of the new business model, Tianmu is filled with various interesting and distinctive shops, mainly focused on catering, clothing, and entertainment, with an overall inclination towards originality, niche, and artistic elements. Walking into any store here, you can feel the merchant's dedication to environmental design, product display, and event design, "said the person in charge of event planning at Tianmuli.

From a new perspective, Tianmu Li seamlessly integrates elements such as night shopping, night watching, and night drinking, providing consumers with an immersive experience. For example, visiting the Tianmuli Art Museum to appreciate international exhibitions, savoring fashion trends at independent brand concept stores, and exploring the beauty of originality along the mountains and rivers... The occurrence of different types of cultural behaviors has given new vitality to architectural spaces and also increased the "cultural concentration" of Tianmuli, a gathering area for nighttime culture and tourism consumption.

Change 'traffic' to 'retention'

Culture leads the city's' youthful power '

At present, the cultural and creative atmosphere in Tianmu has been further amplified, showing a vigorous development trend.

We are building a Tianmuli International Block with Tianmuli as the core, radiating to 10 surrounding buildings, forming an area ranging from Gudun Road in the east, Tianmushan Road in the south, Zijinghua Road in the west, and Lianhua Street in the north. In the future, it is expected to become a large-scale, comprehensive, diverse, and popular international block complex, "said the person in charge of Gudang Street.

With the rise of the cultural brand "Xiyun Tianmu" in Gudang Street, Tianmu International Street has been injected with stronger development momentum. Specifically, "Xiyun Tianmu" is a cultural brand developed by Gudang Street on the basis of bringing high-end quality art performances to urban public spaces in Tianmu. Through cooperation with Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, the stage has been directly moved to residents' "doorstep" in a highly recognizable cultural way, further enriching and integrating residents' spiritual and cultural life.

At present, the "Xiyun Tianmu" cultural brand is gradually carrying out creative and performance activities in various forms of theatrical art such as drama, musical theater, and opera, and is fully expanding to the jurisdiction of Gudang Street with Tianmu as the center. For example, Gudang Street has turned the cultural homes of various communities in its jurisdiction into public cultural venues, establishing drama training classes, drama workshops, hosting drama competitions, creating drama blocks, guiding participants to immerse themselves in drama performance and creation, and providing a broad stage for residents in the jurisdiction to deeply experience the charm of drama.

This year, the "Gentle Human" themed performance season of Xiyun Tianmu · Tianmu Li continues to be hot: hundreds of outstanding groups from home and abroad gather together to stage various exhibition activities at a monthly frequency, including the Tianmu Li performance season, classical music season, Tianmu Li improvisation club, outdoor music party... While meeting people's personalized, multi-level, and high-quality consumption needs, it also provides a place for contemporary young people's "dual faced life".

During this period, Tianmuli Improvisation Club has launched weekly activities such as "Improvisational Comedy Experience Class", "Improvisational Blind Box Show", and "Comedy Showdown", and invited outstanding comedy labels from all over the country to perform at Tianmuli.

Improvisational comedy can create a sense of security in communication, and this inclusive and joyful atmosphere is difficult to experience in society. "An improvisational player who has just crossed cities from Shanghai to Hangzhou expressed his feelings after being exposed to improvisational comedy.

Last July, Nao Theater reached an agreement with Tianmu Li to create the "Tianmu Li Improvisation Club", attracting a group of young people who are passionate about improvisational comedy. They come from all walks of life, but they gather here because of a common hobby.

Since settling in for a year, Wu Sibin, the manager of the Hangzhou branch of Nao Theater (hereinafter referred to as "Nao Hangzhou"), has found that they have quickly integrated into this inclusive small world, and their audience is steadily expanding. At present, there are two WeChat operation groups in Hangzhou, which have attracted more than 700 people to participate. Wu Sibin said:

The initial performance had only a few to dozens of people, and now the audience has exceeded expectations

With the high-quality development of public cultural services, 'watching plays' has gradually integrated into contemporary people's lives and evolved into a way of life, "said the person in charge of the Drama Department of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music." As our artistic practice base, Gudang Street will have more excellent plays and practical activities spread throughout the streets and alleys in the future

The unique cultural atmosphere of a city gives people more expectations and imagination for life. The construction of Tianmuli International Street provides a more complete public space for residents to enrich their spiritual and cultural life, and also promotes a more diverse and radiating cultural and tourism economy. The main person in charge of Gudang Street hopes that Tianmuli International Street will not only be a high-quality traffic landmark, but also a trendy gathering place for youth culture, and a "new benchmark" for Hangzhou's commercial complexes.