Market update

"When I was in Barcelona, Spain, I was impressed by their market, like La Boqueria. Its cozy, yet spacious, room, with stalls providing a small terrace in the most central place in town got me to reevaluate my notion of what a vegetable market should be. Imagine the feeling of buying carrots in such a glorious place. I am happy that I can now have a similar place, like Shuangta Market, in my hometown, " enthuses Liu Wenxuan, a local patron.

"There is a big livelihood in a housewife's food basket. From the dirty and messy stalls to a standardized market, the changes reflect the city's improved taste and positioning."

For Yan Meiling, another local who now resides in Beijing, her memory fogs like a Tik Tok filter when she thinks of Suzhou. "The sound of the city grazes the pale white sky, rubbing out the clamor of the many streets and lanes during the daytime. When the city lights are illuminated at dinner time, the smell of family kitchens and the familiar sounds call to all my senses and I begin to slowly drift toward the direction of 'home'", she says.

The designer of the market, Shen Lei, focused their design concept on "home" and regards the market as a link to the center of community life. Coffee shops, bistros, bookstores, performance stages and outdoor leisure areas all come together to enrich the lives of local residents. The market has also set up a special "pet rest area" at the entrance for owners to temporarily leave their pets while they take in all the market has to offer. The "One Nineteenth Bookstore", the first 24-hour bookstore in Suzhou, also opened in the market.

Both the indoor and outdoor spaces have been replanned and used extensively in order to help contribute to the city's innovation and its governance. The most direct and significant change is the setting of parking spaces along the riverside outside the market, which encourages residents to prevent vehicles arbitrarily blocking the road.

Lookurating, a Suzhou-based art creation company curated the "Market Art Museum" exhibition in which the market became a gallery and its street vendors, art creators.

The exhibition selected six stalls for designers to help merchants create image illustrations as exhibits. Fruits and vegetables collected in the market are used as the medium to showcase a food-based, everyday social life. The artists hope to attract more attention to the beauty of face-to-face communication.