Beijing districts celebrate warm season with colorful summer

As the midsummer heat sets in, Beijing is buzzing with renewed vitality. A massive summer consumption carnival, dubbed the Jingcai Yixia (Colorful Summer) series, has officially kicked off, weaving together the city's historical charm with modern commercial trends.

Running from June through October, the citywide initiative features over 1,000 deeply integrated activities spanning culture, commerce, tourism, sports and exhibitions. Coordinated across all 17 districts of the capital, the campaign focuses on five major themes: vibrant nightlife, sporting events, trendy shopping, children's summer activities and culinary exploration.

The underlying logic of this urban economic upgrade and the city's strategic direction were recently highlighted during the 2026 Wangfujing Forum, which coincided with the fifth anniversary of Beijing's development as an international consumption center city.

Setting the tone for this transformation, Sun Xinjun, secretary of the Communist Party of China Dongcheng District Committee, emphasized that the district will expand the "diamond effect" of prime locations like Wangfujing and Qianmen. Sun noted that the district will vigorously develop the headquarters economy and the first-launch economy, promoting the deep integration of traditional culture with new technologies to create a vibrant commercial ecosystem.

To truly understand this transformation, consumers must experience it firsthand. "If you want to make this summer wonderful, you must personally step into Beijing's new business formats, new models and new scenarios," said Piao Xuedong, director of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau.

Piao proudly unveiled the city's first batch of 10 benchmark cases for new consumption scenarios, noting he had personally visited all of them to witness how scenario innovation drives economic upgrades. In Dongcheng district, the "Longfu Trendy Market" integrates historical heritage with modern vitality. Piao shared that he had visited the market six times since February, praising its blend of intangible cultural heritage, creative stalls and immersive interactive performances.

Similarly, in Xicheng district, Zhonghai Daji Lane positions itself as an "urban cultural living room". Situated on Luomashi Street, it preserves heritage sites like the former residence of Kang Youwei, a Chinese political thinker and reformer in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), while introducing modern retail in a way that, according to Piao, "blurs the line between above-ground and underground shopping".

High-end commercial landmarks are also redefining the city's consumption heights. In Chaoyang district, the Sanlitun Taikoo Li North Area has completed a massive upgrade, hosting top-tier international brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany and Hermes.

Meanwhile, emerging consumer demand is being met through highly specialized, theme-driven experiences. The Pop Mart City Park in Chaoyang district has built an immersive fairy tale world wrapped in popular intellectual properties like Monsters and Dimoo.

Other benchmark scenarios include Zhongguancun Darongcheng in Haidian district, which Piao noted is affectionately called the "Sanlitun of Haidian" by local college students. In Fengtai district, the Changxindian historical block has been revitalized, utilizing its thousand-year postal road history and red industrial memory.

In Tongzhou district, the Well-Town (Wanli) project next to Universal Studios serves as a micro-vacation destination for eastern Beijing, combining outlet retail, family amusement and themed dining. Furthermore, Canal West Bank in Tongzhou and Yongding River Market near Shougang Park highlight the city's waterfront economic potential, while the Aerospace Science Center in Changping district offers visitors a unique "space journey".

Beyond these current summer hotspots, Piao unveiled a robust pipeline of upcoming projects that will debut over the next one to two years. These include iQIYI Land, Courtyard 277 and Harbor City renewal projects in Wangfujing, Xidan Shopping Center renewal and the Chinese mainland's first Taikoo Place. He also highlighted major transit-oriented development projects like the Chaoyang MixC and Haidian Yongfeng TOD, as well as Apex Park in Tongzhou, which will feature five major IPs including Peppa Pig and become Asia's largest indoor children's park.

The evolution of these urban spaces aligns closely with the shifting dynamics of the tourism sector. Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy and director of the Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, emphasized the critical role of urban commercial environments. "The era of tourists defining the tourism industry has arrived," Dai explained. "Today, what attracts tourists to a destination is the prospect of a beautiful life."

Dai highlighted Beijing's unique advantages, noting its 22 million permanent residents and a high concentration of wealthy households, which generate immense local consumption power that simultaneously attracts global visitors. He specifically pointed to Dongcheng district's "cultural golden triangle" comprising the Forbidden City, Wangfujing, and Longfu Temple, as well as its emerging "tech golden triangle".

Dai summarized the ideal urban tourism environment with three key elements: an authentic local lifestyle (often referred to as the "smoke and fire" of a city), cultural flavor and technological sense. "The most heartwarming aspect for tourists is the authentic local lifestyle," Dai noted, adding that foreign visitors increasingly seek out everyday commercial environments like the Hongqiao Market. "We must satisfy their needs for cultural consumption and spiritual enjoyment, while integrating modern technology to share contemporary beautiful living spaces with both residents and visitors."

This transformation in consumption is not merely about upgrading retail spaces; it is deeply rooted in broader macroeconomic and industrial shifts. Li Haitao, a professor and dean at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, highlighted how high-quality industrial supply is fundamentally reshaping the consumer market.

"In the past, we were accustomed to the logic of consumption driving the industry — the market had a demand and the industry met it," Li said. "But at this current stage, the logic is being inverted. High-quality industrial supply is beginning to actively define the content, form and boundaries of consumption."

Li pointed to six emerging industries — integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, the low-altitude economy, new energy storage and smart robots — as the key catalysts capable of generating a 10-trillion-yuan ($1.48 trillion) market opportunity by 2030. He explained that these sectors are breaking out of traditional sector boundaries to create entirely new consumer supplies. For instance, the aerospace industry is transitioning from serving national defense to entering the mass consumer market, providing the public with previously inaccessible technological experiences. In the health sector, biomedicine is shifting the consumption model from passive disease treatment to proactive, lifelong health management, creating a highly resilient economic model.

Li also noted significant shifts in consumer demographics and preferences. Citing 2025 data from Accenture, he highlighted a marked increase in consumers prioritizing domestic brands, reflecting substantial improvements in domestic manufacturing quality and design. Furthermore, the market is segmenting rapidly, driven by over 400 million middle-income earners seeking quality and innovation, and over 300 million elderly citizens requiring health and convenience services.

"This structural change requires enterprises to seize the window of supply upgrades, transforming technological capabilities into perceptible product experiences and sustainable service relationships," Li concluded. By bridging the gap between high-quality supply and genuine consumer demand, Beijing is not only elevating its own summer economy, but also providing a robust blueprint for the nation's high-quality economic development.