Located in the Liuye Lake Tourist Resort, Changde Hejie Street, as a popular cultural and tourism landmark and distinctive cultural symbol, with ancient-style buildings and bustling street markets, became a new tourist destination during the Qingming Festival holiday.

With shops on both sides, the granite-paved street was crowded with tourists on April 6. 

On the day, the Hakka Salt Baked Chicken Shop was still busy. “In recent days, parking lots have been full of tourist buses from other places. I have heard almost all the accents of people from all over the country, and there are even many tourists from Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia,” said Li Hui, owner of the shop.

Changde’s specialty snacks such as Lei Cha, beef noodles, and spicy stewed soft-shelled turtle in an earthen bowl greatly satisfy tourists’ appetite.

Xie Yuan, an inheritor of Changde Lei Cha, displayed Lei Cha making skills at the Hejie Street. Traditional Lei Cha, improved modern Lei Cha, and exquisite Chinese tea cakes were eye-catching and appetizing. Over 100 bags of Lei Cha samples for on-site display every day were sold out.

The restaurants in Hejie Street launched set meals. “It aims to attract more friends from other places to taste the unique cuisine of Changde,” said a restaurant manager, adding that the set meals, with a small price and good quality, were popular among tourists. The daily average revenue of the restaurants increased by about 30% compared to that before the holiday and doubled from the same period last year.

Such delicious and portable local specialties of Changde as spicy salted duck, cured meat, and tea leaves became the best gifts for tourists to send to their friends and relatives.
At noon, shop assistants had no time for lunch and were busy introducing, packing, and delivering products for customers in the Hejie Rural Revitalization Hall.

“In the morning, a tourist from Kunming City of Yunnan Province purchased special products such as jars of pickled vegetables and let us deliver them directly by courier. In the holiday, the number of tourists has been more than three times that of normal days, and the sales have also been more than twice,” said a salesman.

“The best-selling products are Lei Cha, spicy salted duck, and cured meat. Yesterday, two customers from Nebraska of USA liked Changde’s tea leaves and Lei Cha very much and bought some home,” said Tang Yining, manager of the Rural Revitalization Hall, who was introducing Shimen Yinfeng Mingqian tea to customers.

Intangible cultural heritage opera programs such as Changde string music and high-pitched tunes were staged on an ancient theatrical stage, with all seats occupied and even many people standing. Tourists could watch performances for free with their ID cards. Many young people dressed in Hanfu appreciated the operas while taking photos, soaking up the cultural charm of the ancient street.

Besides, there were also a constant stream of tourists in intangible cultural heritage workshops.

Pan Nenghui’s woodcarving workshop attracted many tourists from other places to admire the ink wash paintings of the giant woodcarving work “The Journey to Hunan” up close.

Li Jianying’s flax linen painting workshop, now hidden in the quiet Tea Street of Hejie, still received many tourists from Shandong, Hubei, and other places. They bought the cultural and creative products of fans with flax linen paintings for collection or as gifts to family and friends. Zhu Aiguo, deputy director of the Bast Fiber Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, also visited the workshop and said that flax linen painting techniques should be further promoted to the world.

责编：王柯沣

一审：王柯沣

二审：唐煜斯

三审：秦慧英

来源：文旅湖南