Industrial site renewal unlocks services boom

Among 12 rust-streaked oil tanks on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River in Changsha, Hunan province, young visitors sip coffee, browse art and shop for handmade crafts, while live music and an immersive dinner show stretch spending into the night.

Tank Changsha (1936) creative park, converted from an industrial site left idle in the 1990s, shows how Central China's Hunan is trying to turn local culture, idle urban assets and nighttime activity into new demand for services.

The strategy comes as China seeks to make domestic demand the main driving force and a stabilizing anchor for economic growth as consumers increasingly channel more spending toward experiences.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's service retail sales rose 5.3 percent year-on-year in the first half, outpacing the 1.1 percent increase in goods retail sales. Overall retail sales of consumer goods rose 1.3 percent year-on-year.

"Services consumption is not only a stabilizer for consumption now, but also the main engine for future growth," said Li Yi, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.

In July, the State Council, the country's Cabinet, approved a plan to build China into a nation strong in tourism during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), emphasizing its efforts to improve the modern tourism system, optimize the spatial layout for the sector, foster new growth drivers, and enrich the supply of tourism products and services.

Hunan followed in late July with a 2026-28 program tailored to its tourism and cultural assets. It calls for converting tourist trains, developing sightseeing by helicopter, hot air balloon and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and using old factories and historic streets for immersive experiences. It also seeks to streamline the 240-hour transit visa-free process at Changsha and Zhangjiajie ports, increase departure tax-refund stores to more than 200 in 2026, and develop internationally oriented consumption clusters.

The push has an economic imperative. Hunan's economy grew 2.7 percent year-on-year in the first half, with the services sector expanding 3.5 percent, compared with 1.1 percent for the secondary sector. Hunan aims to raise the sector's full-year share from 55 percent in 2025 to 57 percent by 2028.

Gong Jun'an, an assistant researcher at the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, a think tank under the National Development and Reform Commission, said Changsha's influx of young residents and relatively low housing costs provide a favorable base for services spending.

"Lower housing costs leave more disposable income for tourism, culture and entertainment," Gong said, adding that demand was shifting towards upgraded services.

Night-time consumption accounts for about 64 percent of Changsha's daily total, according to provincial government data.

The former oil depot shows how that policy can look on the ground. Founded in 1936 as the Changsha office of the China vegetable oil factory, it stored and distributed edible oil and closed in the 1990s. Renovation began in 2023, preserving the tanks' weathered exteriors and reusing 60,000 bricks from old buildings and walls.

Since reopening in July 2025, the 5,717-square-meter site has signed 14 brands, with leased and self-operated space accounting for 93 percent of its 3,534 sq m of commercial area as of May. It receives about 3,000 visitors a day on average and up to 12,000 at peak times, while exhibitions have drawn more than 60,000 visits, project data showed.

He Wei, the project's manager and deputy general manager of its operator, a unit of Changsha Urban Development Group's cultural tourism arm, said its core customers were aged 20 to 35, and typically spent 50 yuan ($7.40) to 80 yuan per visit. Rather than filling the compact site with chain stores, the operator recruited independent designers, craft makers, cafes and performance producers, and stages markets, live music, artist talks and signings.

"With only about 3,500 sq m, the question was how to keep attracting young people and give them a reason to stay," He said. Its location near Changsha's famous Wuyi Square shopping district meant the project had to compete through distinctive content, he added.

The test is repeat spending after the social-media novelty fades. With rental income constrained by the site's size, He sees the main growth opportunity in jointly developed exhibitions, performances and other content that can travel to venues operated by the parent group.

Zhang Dandan, dean of the Changsha New Consumption Research Institute, said industrial heritage alone was not a formula that every city could copy.

"An industrial space is only a carrier, not a standard answer," Zhang said. "What cannot be replicated is the cultural imprint accumulated over time." The lasting opportunity, she added, lay in turning local memory into experiences and services that bring consumers back.

lijing2009@chinadaily.com.cn