Night markets return to Chenghuang Temple

The bustling Chenhuang Temple night market. (Photo by Shen Tianzhou)

Recently, the hot and scorching weather in Ningbo has ignited the citizens' enthusiasm for summer consumption, with various summer cultural and tourism activities such as Beer Festival, Shaved ice Festival and Ice and Snow Festival being held one after another. All kinds of night markets, cold drinks stalls and other places were flourishing. Many places in the city presented the scene of both summer consumption and lively urban vibe.

On July 3rd, the highest temperature in Ningbo exceeded 37 ℃, and the "hot and scorching" weather ignited the night economy. At about 8 p.m., the City God Night Market in Chenghuang Temple, Ningbo Prefecture, Haishu District was brightly lit and full of people.

At the scene, there were various snack stalls one by one, including rice cakes cooked with vegetable, spicy crayfish, meat buns, roasted quails... The smoke and fire were rising, and the sounds of selling and talking were intertwined, presenting a lively and fragrant picture of daily life in the market.

"My memories of childhood have been awakened!" sighed the citizen Tong Tong. As a "post-80s generation", she often came to Chenghuang Temple to eat various snacks during her student years. Now night markets have returned to Chenghuang Temple, which surprised her. "It's too hot during the day, so I chose to go out at night," Tong Tong said. In less than half an hour, she and her best friend had already placed orders at three stalls.

In the scorching summer, cold drinks are a must for many people to cool down. At a cold drink stall, the supply of fresh iced watermelon juice at 9.9 yuan per cup was in short supply, and the prompt of Alipay and WeChat payment kept ringing. "I started my stall at 5 pm and have sold over 60 cups of watermelon juice. The juicer hardly stops," said vendor Xiao Huang. After three hours, I have sold an average of one cup of watermelon juice every three minutes.

In the Chenghuang Temple, the "Old Temple Coffee" shop was full of customers. The most popular thing in the shop is not coffee, but cold tea. "In response to the scorching heat, we have specially launched this summer limited edition drink with iced tea brewed with tea leaves, which is popular among young consumers." said Chen Xiuyan, the coffee shop owner.

The hot consumption in summer is a microcosm of the return of night markets in Chenghuang Temple". It is learned that there are currently 73 catering stalls and 43 cultural and creative stalls in the Chenghuang Temple Night Market. The operator will update the stalls regularly according to market reactions. "Since the opening of the night market on December 30 last year, the popularity of the night market has grown increasingly, and it has become an important project for the Chenghuang Temple area to attract customers." The relevant person in charge of Haifa Holding Company, the operator of Chenghuang Temple in Ningbo, said, "Since the summer, the traffic volume of the night market has significantly increased. At present, the night market is operated until 10 p.m., and the Chenghuang Temple has also extended the opening time at the same time."