Various cultural activities have been held in Beijing to revive the city shadowed in the coronavirus epidemic for more than half a year. From night fairs to outdoor film screenings, the municipal authorities, together with online life service platforms and offline businesses, kicked off a consumption season in August.
Summer night markets
At the city's iconic landmark Longfu Temple Area, young visitors were attracted to a night fair that gather 140 domestic cultural brands, including the popular Forbidden-City-themed creative cultural products.
The night fair in Longfu Temple Area, Beijing, August 8, 2020. /CFP
"I ate some street food, bought several books and am going to select some beautiful accessories," said Xiaorong (nickname) who visited the market with her friends.
There are also exhibitions underway in the area, such as a virtual-reality screening of entries in the Cannes Film Festival VR competition.
It is reported that the daily visitor flow in Longfu Temple Area on the second weekend of August exceeded that of the highest before the epidemic.
The crayfish festival is held in Gui Jie, Beijing, August 9, 2020. /CFP
Crayfish festival held in iconic food street
The capital's iconic food street Gui Jie held a crayfish festival, leading the revival of the city's catering industry.
"I got some consumption coupons from the mobile application of JD.com (an e-commerce platform), and specially came to Gui Jie for eating crayfishes," said Sun Xu, who met his friends at a crayfish restaurant.
To boost consumption, the authorities rolled out millions of coupons on some e-commerce platforms, which can be used in restaurants and shops both online and offline.
The visitors flow in Gui Jie has returned to its daily level under the stimulus of consumption. Consumers lined up before the gate of a branch of Huda Restaurant, a popular destination in Gui Jie, even at 10 p.m. The staff said that it is opening until 4 a.m. for the time being, and after its flagship restaurant finishes it interior decoration, the restaurant will open for 24 hours.
Moviegoers watch an outdoor film screening in Nanluo Bookstore, Beijing, August 24, 2020. /Xinhua
Film festival, an added boost
The ongoing Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) has added an additional boost, as cinema screenings and outdoor screenings successfully lure moviegoers.
Du Ke, in his thirties, watched an outdoor film screening with his girlfriend on the roof of a bookstore in the center of Beijing on Thursday. "Since my childhood, I watched films in cinemas. I specially came here to experience an outdoor screening," said Du.
Fenghuayuan Drive-in Movie Theater Park is among the four venues designated by the BJIFF to display films outdoors. When the cinema screened "Wet Season" on Sunday evening, rain poured down. "I could hardly differentiate the rain sound in the movie from that outside the car. I doubt that the rain was created by the BJIFF to make a 5D effect," jested a moviegoer.
(Cover image: Two visitors attend an open-air concert in Longfu Temple Area, Beijing, August 8, 2020. /CFP)