Gao Jinzhu shows off a horse-head fiddle he's making in his studio. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

Hohhot hopes to cash in on its historical legacy as a center of commerce and has revived its ancient trade hub as a new tourism zone.

Travelers hoping to understand the ancient legacy of what's today the capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region can visit the new Dashengkui Cultural Creativity Industrial Park.

Yuquan district's 8-hectare attraction vends items from its heyday along its commercial street in its south that's built according to period-style architecture. Visitors can also enjoy restaurants, coffeehouses, cross-talk performances and shows in a theater with 800 seats.

The northern area hosts four private museums, 33 ethnic handicraft studios and stores selling goods from such surrounding areas as Xilinhot.

The crown jewel of its cultural treasure trove is the Dashengkui Museum, constructed on the site of Dashengkui Trade Company. Traditional quadrangular buildings in which bosses and workers once cohabitated are today populated by displays of old bank notes, measurement instruments and brick tea.

The establishment elaborates upon the lives of the traders who trekked from such locations as Henan and Shanxi provinces to ethnically Mongolian regions in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1368-1911) dynasties.

The government plans to open more ethnic and folk custom museums and offers spaces free of rent and utility fees, says Li Shali, vice-president of Yuquan district's Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The Dashengkui Trade Company, which was founded at the end of the 17th century, dealt in such goods as draft animals, furs and medicine. The joint-stock company is believed to be the first in China that separated management rights and proprietorship. It also opened private banks throughout China and Russia.