Construction Done, But Nanluogu Xiang is Same Old, Same Old

The Great Nanluogu Xiang Facelift is over and the result is a resounding "meh."

Those harboring secret fantasies of having the alley revert back to the days of the late Qing Dynasty (or at least the late 1990s) will no doubt be disappointed.

Despite a Beijing News report claiming that almost one in three businesses have been shuttered on the popular shopping street, NLGX remains as crowded – and tacky – as ever.

According to local media sources, the total number of businesses fronting the busy lane has dropped from 235 to 154 after authorities closed the street for renovations late last year. Many of those businesses have shuttered for good and there are several vacant storefronts waiting to be filled by new occupants with pockets deep enough to afford the notoriously exorbitant rents charged by area landlords.

Some of the more popular fast food kiosks have been combined and moved indoors, sharing space together in mini food courts that have replaced streetfront service windows.

Attempts to inject a more authentic Beijing cultural flavor to the street have also mostly fallen flat, apart from ersatz indoor "food streets" with vendors hawking overpriced chuanr and sweets. Cultural flavor is provided instead by tourists from Anhui spearing you in the back with half-eaten chuanr sticks while local high school students dribble frozen yogurt on your trousers.

One noticeable change is that many of the smaller outlets are gone or have been consolidated with their neighbors.

One long running Nanluogu Xiang clothing shopowner says that the changes are part of an effort to phase out the quirky street eats that have long made the street popular in favor of less generic fare. "They want to move away from snacks and towards more creative businesses," he says, adding that many of the axed outlets were smaller than 10 meters square in size.

However, we didn't notice any evidence of such a boost in creative businesses during our recent visit, despite what the authorities told that shop owner. But who knows? Maybe the tacky snack hawkers and other exorbitantly priced newbies will become more inspired soon enough (though we're not overly optimistic).

Chatter about major changes on Nanluogu Xiang began in earnest  in October when the street was temporarily closed for what authorities called a repaving.

When we visited a reopened portion in late November, many of the street's store fronts were spiffed up, while others were boarded up or undergoing refurbishment. With all the reconstruction now complete, casual visitors are unlikely to notice any significant change in the experience.

Most of our favorite spots – places like Passby Bar, Sandglass Cafe, Reef Bar and Plastered T-Shirts – remain.

An owner of a Nanluogu Xiang bar said that many of the businesses that remained open have been paying their taxes and are properly licensed, as opposed to many of the businesses that were shut down. He remains uncertain about whether the recent changes are overall for the better, voicing concerns about officials "managing the area too stringently."

However, another Nanluogu Xiang bar owner was more optimistic, saying she wasn't worried about the street losing much of its personality during the purge of these smaller businesses. "Were they really that fun or interesting?" she asked rhetorically of the shuttered shops, adding that the recent changes have cleaned up the street and improved it.

It's clear from the holiday crowds that the changes have done little to affect the street's popularity. Despite heavy security and restrictions remaining from last year preventing large tour groups or motorized traffic from accessing the street during peak hours, the crowds on a Wednesday afternoon were as thick as ever.

Photos: Jeremiah Jenne