Chongqing’s First Temple Culture Street Opens

Chongqing - During the recent Yuzhong District Economic Conference and the first Chongqing Urban Host Conference, Chongqing's first temple culture street, Miao Street, in the Luohan Temple, was officially opened on April 7. Visitors can enjoy a unique shopping experience while immersing themselves in the thousand-year-old Lohan Temple's Buddhist traditions.

Miao Street is located inside the Luohan Temple near Chongqing's Jiefangbei area, with a temple culture as the foundation, featuring temple architecture and a serene atmosphere, and integrating shopping, cultural exhibitions, leisure vacations, and business meetings into one street for a humanistic living experience.

Miao Street boasts several specialty stores, such as cafes that serve noodles and specialty drinks, popular Japanese restaurants, and small pubs. Additionally, it hosts a thematic market that combines food and cultural creativity. The street's unique blend of contemporary and traditional styles attracts many visitors.

A theme market was held with a combination of food, creative culture, and healing therapies. The play Red Tiger also premiered at Miao Street during the event. 

Xie Chen, project manager of Miao Street, said that they will continue to develop Miao Street by focusing on the Luohan Temple's history, commercial spaces, and fun experiences. They aim to make Miao Street unique and create an environment that attracts both locals and visitors.

"Luohan Temple Miao Street is just one of the projects in Yuzhong District to promote the transformation of small alleys. Next, Yuzhong District will focus on building more characteristic alleys," said Jiang Nan, Director of the Yuzhong District Commission of Commerce.

In recent years, the district has focused on leveraging its unique resources, such as its mountains, rivers, and culture, on creating several cultural streets, including the Luzu Temple and Daijia Alley. This year, the district has rolled out several policies aimed at supporting the development of its unique streets, such as introducing new brands, creating thematic street blocks, hosting fashion events, and promoting the growth of its fashion industry.

For example, the policy supports the renovation and upgrading of small alleys in Yuzhong District into a characteristic commercial street area, with a renovation area of 2000 square meters or a street length of 150 meters, an investment of more than 2 million yuan ($0.29 million), and a unified management. Such projects can receive up to 20 percent of their investment as support, with a maximum of 5 million yuan. 

The district has already selected ten potential street blocks for development and compiled detailed renovation plans for each.