Nanluo Eateries Required to Move Food Sales, Dining Indoors From Today

From today (Sep 1) onwards, all businesses selling food on Nanluoguxiang from windows will be required to stop all food sales from said windows and move dining indoors, according to BRTV.

The measures, put in place by the Nanluoguxiang and Jiaodaokou Management Committee, will reportedly affect 166 merchants selling everything from lamb chuanr, to soup dumplings, and other snacks.

It’s all happening due to an unprecedented amount of garbage piling up on the pedestrian street. According to BRTV, Nanluoguxiang saw an average of 30 tons of garbage per day over the summer, which has seriously affected movement along the street.

Along with moving food sales and dining indoors, all food businesses will be required to use non-disposable tableware, in order to further mitigate waste. Local officials told BRTV they hope the new measures will clean up the street while continuing to spur business.

We visited the pedestrian street in the early afternoon a day before the new rules went into effect (on Aug 31) to find most shops starting to carry out the rules. All places that had previously been selling food from windows had been shut, with business taking place inside most shops.

First constructed during the Yuan Dynasty in 1276, Nanluoguxiang has today become a popular tourist spot – or tourist trap, depending on who you ask – filled with knickknack shops, snack stalls, botique stores and a few bars and restaurants.

READ: The Fate of Gaobeidian Furniture Street

Images: Uni You