Old commercial heart finds new life in Fuzhou

In a century-old villa in Shangxiahang, a historical commercial quarter in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian province, visitors can now spend an afternoon over coffee, Nanyang-style cuisine and books.

Known as Caifeng Villa, the building was constructed in 1920 with funding from overseas Chinese businessman Yang Hongbin. A provincial-level protected cultural heritage site, it is one of Fuzhou's best-preserved examples of early 20th-century residences blending Chinese and Western architectural styles.

Today, the villa houses a cafe, a restaurant and a bookshop. Original features, including decorative windows and floor tiles, have been retained.

"Some visitors can spend an entire afternoon here," says Yang Jiayu, a staff member at the venue.

The transformation reflects a broader effort to breathe new life into Shangxiahang, once a bustling commercial hub and an important center of Fujian merchant culture. The area is also regarded as an important node of the ancient Maritime Silk Road and is known as Fuzhou's "traditional commercial museum".

Rather than making large-scale changes to the historical district, its operators are seeking to fit new businesses and activities into its existing architectural and cultural fabric, according to Chi Yingyue, deputy general manager of Fuzhou Shangxiahang Protection and Development Co.

The approach can be seen in another courtyard nearby, where Fuzhou Teahouse offers jasmine tea, desserts and fragrances.

The shop is operated by a local brand focused on Fuzhou jasmine, but its approach goes beyond selling tea. Alongside traditional jasmine tea, it offers cold-brewed drinks, jasmine-flavored pastries, fragrances and cultural products — an effort to turn a familiar local flavor into a lifestyle experience for younger visitors.

"Traditional Fuzhou jasmine tea is usually brewed in a gaiwan, a traditional lidded tea bowl, or a large pot," says Zeng Xiang, manager of the teahouse. "We have introduced cold-brewed tea and modern tea drinks to make it more accessible to younger consumers."

Fuzhou is recognized as the birthplace of jasmine tea, and its jasmine tea processing technique is part of "traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China", which was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022.

Zeng says younger people now make up a large share of the shop's customers. International visitors have also come to experience Chinese tea culture. Their first reaction to jasmine tea, he says, is often its fragrance.

For Shangxiahang's operators, such businesses have provided new ways for visitors to experience local culture, while the historical buildings provide businesses with distinctive settings.

The district hosted more than 1,000 events in 2025, while figures provided by the district show that visitor numbers reached about 12.88 million, up 28 percent year-on-year.

The goal is to move visitors beyond simply looking at old buildings toward experiences in which they can participate, according to the local administration.