Inside the fresh food area of Shuangta Bazaar The pictures in this article are all taken by Zhu Zhe, a reporter of Surfing News (except for the byline)
From the famous Pingjiang Road to the south, there is a Dinghui Temple Alley, where the granite plaque at the entrance, the introduction plate of the local history, and the antique buildings on both sides, all tell the ancient city's long history. Inside the alley, there are the famous twin towers of Luohan Temple, which represent the achievements of Tang and Song Dynasty architecture and stone carving art, and further ahead, you will reach the twin towers bazaar which got its name from this - it was called the twin towers vegetable market in the past 20 years, an ordinary farmer's market to serve the people in the surrounding area.
Entrance and interior of Shuangta vegetable market before remodeling Screenshot from the program "Dream Makeover Home"
With the aging and relocation of the residents around the area, and the strong impact of e-commerce and supermarkets, the farmers' market is facing a crisis in its development and survival, and at the same time, in the context of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, the Gusu District, as a 2500-year old urban area is facing the challenge of revitalizing its new life.
Under the double challenge, Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, Gusu District Committee and other units and departments at all levels worked together, determined to start from the most closely related to the people's livelihood of the vegetable market, to come to a revolution. Undertake this double tower bazaar project of Suzhou Historical and Cultural City Construction Group Chairman Zhu Jun told the surging news, "from April last year to start planning, closed in August construction to resume business in December, time, manpower, material resources and other aspects have encountered multiple challenges, but we firmly believe that walking the road of the ancient city revitalization to 'new', 'new', 'new', 'new', 'new', 'new', 'new', 'new', 'new', and 'new', 'new', 'new'.
The old city's revitalization will be a great success, and it will be a great success.
In the remodeled double tower bazaar wandering, with the sensory experience can find it "new" in where. In front of 2310 square meters to become a new composite business space, aggregated shopping, dining, entertainment, learning and leisure multi-functional, and each functional area reflects the fusion of tradition and fashion **** born. The design and transformation of the entire new Twin Towers Bazaar was documented in Shanghai Oriental TV's "Dream Makeover" series. Well-known designer Shen Lei removed the original wall of the vegetable market, the entrance of the bazaar from three to seven, the original frontage removed and retreated, leaving plenty of space in the street and the bazaar to flow, which can accommodate more people to hang out and relax.
Remodeling motion picture Screenshot from the program "Dream Makeover Home"
The fresh food area is located on the north side of the bazaar, and the designers have changed the storage display from the original flat type to a stacked type, which increases the space utilization rate and visual aesthetics. There is also a special "Daily Food Market News" on the wall, which introduces market intelligence.
The bustling fresh food area Group photo
The products in the area are planned and laid out according to categories, while corresponding decontamination systems are planned according to the drainage and sewage situation of different functions such as vegetables, aquatic products and eggs. Shuangta bazaar project leader, Suzhou "80" Jia Zijun in an interview, to ensure that the rent remains unchanged, the price of food on the basis of the same, originally in the old vegetable farm business of more than 60 vendors are relocated back to the new bazaar, since the re-opening of the 17th of December, basically the average daily turnover of each trader have increased dramatically.
Auntie Chen Mingyue, the owner of a tea business that has been operating in Shuangta for more than 20 years, told reporters, "We never thought we could sell and buy vegetables in such a beautiful, clean environment, and now there are snacks and coffee, which is a real joy!" The articulate Auntie Chen is a representative of the excellent vendors, and her image was also used on the specially designed human stand-up sign for the opening art exhibition, "It's so trendy, it's a new gadget for you young people!"
Auntie Chen Mingyue, a tea seller, poses for a photo with her artistic image
Walking around the different stalls in the fresh food area, you can see stall owners smiling everywhere, listening to them recommending fresh ingredients to their customers in authentic Suzhou dialect, and they will also sincerely introduce the food custom of "no time, no food" to their foreign customers, which is a friendly and warm scene. The scene is friendly and cozy.
Smiling vendors
The new snack area is located on the south side of the bazaar, and the stalls are designed in a triangular shape, which greatly increases the utilization of space and realizes the function of "buy and eat".
The snack area of the market
This time, we have introduced snacks with Suzhou's local specialties, such as Chen Boss's plum blossom cake and Haitang cake, which are listed in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Suzhou, as well as red bean dumplings, sugar congee, Suzhou-style noodles, and wontons.
Mrs. Chen, the inheritor of Boss Chen's Plum Blossom Cake, and a collection of marketplace snacks
There is also a small stage in the corner where performances can be staged, and after that, there will be different cultural and entertainment performances on weekends and vacations, which will bring the scene's liveliness index to a higher point.
Near the entrance of the snack area on the side of an electronic screen, showing the current advanced "smart farming" system, through the collection of real-time total market traffic, the day and the previous week's transactions, transaction amount, the first six transactions stalls and other data, an important reference indicator of the scientific and digital management of the market, transparent and open information also allows visitors to understand the market's scientific and digital management, transparent and open information. The open information also allows visitors to understand the operation of the bazaar.
The "Smart Farming" display at the Double Pagoda Bazaar
Another new meaning of the Double Pagoda is the revitalization of Suzhou's cultural elements. The logo and store signs of the twin towers are the new ideas of the designer Zhao Qing, who rearranged the ancient Suzhou commercial figures - Suzhou codes - in calligraphic characters. The signboards in the snack area use the peach red and willow green color of Suzhou's Peach Blossom Dock New Year's Paintings as the background color, with the names of the snacks coming from the Suzhou dialect.
The signboard of the snack area is composed of the logo of the Twin Towers evolved by the Suzhou code and the Peach Blossom Dock New Year's painting and the Suzhou dialect
What's also touching is the background soundtrack of the bazaar, which is the euphemistic and touching Suzhou commentary. On the day of the interview, the reporter met Pang Xi, the designer in charge of the overall furnishings and soft furnishings of the bazaar, who particularly introduced the straw raincoat, fish baskets and other farm supplies that can be seen everywhere.
Pang Xi in Shuangta Bazaar
"The fruits and vegetables on the wall and the knitting utensils embody the mood of Jiangnan farmers, and I hope to let visitors feel the mood, and restore the true look of life," Pang Xi explained.
The farm life mood decoration on the wall
The rattan chairs in the snack area are also representative of the Gusu style. Pang Xi said that at that time they looked for local craftsmen in Taohuawu, finalized the basic style, but taking into account the high-frequency use of public **** occasions, they decided to replace the bottom frame of the rattan chairs with a wooden frame, and also did the follow-up reinforcement treatment. The black characters on a white background in the food court illustrated the twenty-four seasons of the seasonal dietary customs, which is written by a professional designer one stroke at a time. Along the street store signs are used in the old plaques, mottled cracks through the traces of time, their reuse is also an old thing new life.
Along the street signs are used in the old plaques
Along the street tailor store, key store, grocery store, teahouse, after Lai Xudong, Sun Huafeng, Chen Bin, Xie Ke four designers remodeling, all new, orderly display, and now attracts young people to gather around to take pictures.
The tailor's store, the key store, and the grocery store are also crowded with customers
In the outdoor riverfront area, the 24-hour bookstore "1/9 Bookstore", which is only 9 square meters, is also a new model of intelligent retail bookstore for Chinese communities. The bookstore's manager, Chu Haifei, who is in charge of the book selection team, told Punch News that the bookstore plans book exhibitions on different themes in conjunction with Suzhou's local culture and bazaar business. The opening exhibition is centered on "edible books", which introduces stories and illustrated books about ingredients from around the world, invites artists to make exhibition models of related themes, and designs unique souvenir gifts and surprise book bags.
Group photo of Chu Haifei and the interior and exterior of the bookstore
Since opening, Chu Haifei has been surprised by the number of elderly people who come over to buy the books, and who carefully look through them, listen to the staff's introductions, and in some cases give their positive opinions.
In addition to this book selection, the creative organization "What to See Curatorial", which is committed to promoting the "daily use of art", has also joined the creative team of the Twin Towers Bazaar, and they have coordinated the planning of the first exhibition, which tells the history of the Twin Towers Bazaar, the stories of the little people, and the design of the New Year's Eve of the Bazaar. They coordinated and planned the first exhibition, telling the history of the bazaar, the stories of the little people, and designing the bazaar's New Year's calendar, postcards, aprons, and other creative products.
The bazaar's cultural and creative products display area
The outdoor riverfront area has a specially designed parking lot and a movable activity area, where flash mobs and special themed activities will be held from time to time, and it is reported that there will be a Twin Towers Bazaar Folk Culture and New Year's Eve Festival from January 18th to 20th, which will add a Soviet-style flavor to the Chinese New Year of the Year of the Rat.
Xiaohu and his partner took photos at the bazaar
Shuangta Bazaar has successfully bridged the younger generation with traditional business forms, and the overall area of Pingjiang Road in Gusu District are in the process of further upgrading planning and building, more than 40 old houses on Pingjiang Road will be renovated and given a new positioning and function, and "let the young people over! "is one of the key objectives around which the development is centered.
Outside the market is the Wu Wang Bridge built in the fifth generation of the Southern Dynasties had been reconstructed in 1980
Zhu Jun introduced in the interview, the planning team is researching and analyzing the consumption behavior of young people and the corresponding commercial business mode of operation, and actively exploring a convenient, stylish, can be told to the new generation of the past, to attract new generation of power for the new city to contribute to the new look.