Craftsmen to take root at Shuhe Old Town

A street featuring 7,149 square meters of craft stores is expected to open before July 10.

The project arises from an agreement between the government of the Old Town of Lijiang and Lijiang Dingye Shuhe Old Town Tourism Development Co Ltd on March 16.

The street was designed to further improve Lijiang’s tourism transformation and upgrading.

The government of the Old Town of Lijiang and Lijiang Dingye Shuhe Old Town Tourism Development Co Ltd reach a cooperation agreement on a craft store street on March 16. [Photo/lijiang.cn]

Yan Wenqiang, the company's project manager, said that the project will adopt a mode of PPP (public-private partnership) and will effectively integrate entrepreneurship and creativity to create a new landmark in Lijiang's folk culture.

Yan said he hopes the project will speed up cultivation of traditional craftsmen and folk artists and enrich the specialty tourist products of time-honored brands. It will be built into an R&D and distribution center for local ethnic handicrafts and intangible cultural heritage products.

Li Kang, member of the standing committee of the Old Town of Lijiang district CPC committee, urged the company to obey related regulations and provide strong support to local tourism's transformation and upgrading.

A design sketch of the street featuring craft stores in Shuhe Old Town. [Photo/lijiang.cn]

"We should introduce creative projects and help business tenants to survive and be deeply rooted in the town so as to truly contribute to our industrial transformation and upgrading and economic development," Li Kang added.

Shuhe Old Town is four kilometers away from the Old Town of Lijiang to the northwest and is the Naxi ancestors' earliest inhabited region in Lijiang basin, as well as a living demonstration of Naxi people's development from farming to trading.

A traditional leather shop tenant in Shuhe Old Town [Photo/lijiang.cn]