The commission plans to establish 50 featured streets for commerce, entertainment and leisure before the Expo, of which several would be picked as night markets.
Zhang Xinsheng, assistant director of the commission, said, ‘Those night markets would prolong their business hours and enrich the city’s nightlife by providing entertainment, leisure, shopping and food.’
The first pilot streets include Yunnan Road S, Yuyuan Tourist Mart and Wujiang Road, which is seen in our illustration.
So far, Shanghai has no legal night markets.
Tu Haiming, a member of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, suggested last December the establishment of night markets to stop vendors crowding footpaths and other densely populated places.
English.East.Day.com reported that Tu visited some vendors around Hongkou Football Stadium and the Pengpu residential area in Zhabei District and found the vendors popular with shoppers.
Tu Haiming said, ‘Most of street vendors I visited expressed their willingness to move into regular night fairs if the costs were reasonable. They are tired of dodging urban management officers.’