Dongmen Old Street: Finding the original warmth of a homogenous city
Homogenization turns large cities into cold models. Perhaps, only by searching for the roots can feel the original warmth of cities. Dongmen Old Street, a physical business shopping street, is the root of Shenzhen. With the coronavirus in 2020 and ‘Double Eleven’, China’s annual online shopping carnival which robbed the commercial customers from physical shopping streets, similar to Black Friday, will Dongmen Old Street still be able to keep its original warmth under the double whammy?
The history of Dongmen Old Street can be traced back to the Mid-Ming Dynasty, 400 years ago. At that time, villagers set up a business market among villages, called ‘Dongmen Xu’.
When arriving at Dongmen Old street, I saw a McDonald’s in the shape of a building overhang in the central street, the characteristic building of local historical culture. McDonald’s was founded in 1990 as the first McDonald’s in mainland China. Looking at this McDonald’s with its historical beauty and western food, one can imagine that Dongmen Old Street was not only the commercial core of the mainland but also had the ambition to meet the international standards.
However, the current business situation of Dongmen Old Street is somewhat desolate. Few tourists, quiet streets, and many shops with signs for rent. The whole street is as quiet as a ‘dead street‘. Cries of sale and frolic are frozen in the past.
Dongmen Old Street is the earliest, most mature and largest commercial centre in Shenzhen. The previous Dongmen Old Street, clothing, groceries, snacks, everything can be purchased; from cinema to the amusement park, from snacks to desserts, everything you can enjoy. Previously, the daily flow of Dongmen Old Street could reach £55,500 to £111，000. The annual sales volume could reach 10 billion(GBP).
Now, everything changes.
Zhi and Hao, a couple, have been doing business in Dongmen Old Street for 30 years. Zhi used to run a clothing business for young people but has changed to middle-aged men’s clothing in recent years. The reason why they changed their business types is related to the development of Shenzhen.
At the early stage of Shenzhen’s development, factories were being established everywhere. Therefore, at that time, the consumers of Dongmen were the young people who worked in factories. In the past few decades, with the gradual development of Shenzhen’s economy, Shenzhen has become a high-tech city. Many factories have withdrawn from Shenzhen, and more office buildings have been built. The consumers in Dongmen have changed from trendy young people to white-collar office workers who need to wear formal clothes.
Although they have changed their business model following Shenzhen’s development, their business still has not made significant progress and even tends to get worse.
One of the fundamental reasons is the change of Chinese people’s consumption patterns. ‘Since the double eleventh in 2019, the business has started to deteriorate, and this year is the worst year.’ Zhi expressed, ‘Since online shopping, many people have not come to Dongmen Old Street.’
Another important reason is that with the development of China’s economy, Chinese people’s lifestyle has changed. Mai, 49 years old, has been doing his men’s clothing business in Dongmen Old Street since 1990. ‘People prefer upscale places, like shopping malls rather than here.’ Talking about the current situation of Dongmen Old Street, Mai seems helpless.
Previously，people would choose Dongmen Old Street for shopping. Nowadays, with the development of the economy and the improvement of consumption, Chinese people have more choices. You can choose faster and more convenient online shopping, and you can also go to higher-end and comfortable shopping malls to buy expensive goods. Especially in an economically developed city like Shenzhen, buying costly goods and going to high-end shopping malls are more in line with the current Shenzhen people. Therefore, Shenzhen is growing quicker because of the above two reasons while Dongmen Old Street is staying in the original place tremblingly.
Fortunately, some people still stay in Dongmen Old Street. ‘We worked, started a business, and get married here. For us, Dongmen Old Street is our second home.’ Zhi and Hao expressed. Mai said，‘I’ll stick with my business until I can’t.’
Dongmen Old Street is less vigorous and lively, just like older people. Those who stay here retain the warmth of Dongmen Old Street. Therefore, if you have seen enough of the homogeneous cities, you might visit the hidden corner of the town, find the root, and feel the tremendous previous years of Dongmen Old Street.
