[The Flourishing Night Economy and Fitness Culture in China]-[Nighttime economy: The after-dark sports craze]

Joining the show today are Lee and Braden Yees and since this is the first episode of the series, we begin with some general pictures about what people do in nighttime here in China.

Well, sure, so basically when talking about night economy, usually we are talking about activities, actually various activities taking place, especially in town and urban centers between the hours of 6 p.m.

and 6 a.m. and these activities can include, say, retail, catering, culture, leisure, transportation, and accommodation, and of course sports and fitness we are talking about today.

And actually, China's nighttime economy has grown rapidly since the year of 2016 and especially in 2019, the State Council proposed to activate nighttime business and markets.

And according to a very interesting survey conducted by the Ministry of Commerce on Urban Residence Consumption Happens, about 60% of consumption here in China occurs at night and period from 6 p.m.

to 2 a.m. next day has become really a golden time, a prime time for many residents to make purchases.

And when you look at the current size of the business, I mean according to a survey released by China Media Group CCTV Finance, our channel on March 13th, nighttime consumption revenue here in China reached about 1.5 trillion, that's about 216 billion US dollars in 2023.

And it's so popular here in China, I think the sports we're talking about today is definitely an event or a category that people are getting involved.

And of course, say, restaurants and nighttime tourism, including museums and gardens and even bookstores are also popular destinations for people to go out for during nighttime.

nighttime economy really has become a keyword much talk about by government officials and businesses in recent years, given the impact of COVID-19.

We really want a reason for us to feel that we are safe again in the streets and in the society and we want a reason for businesses to prosper.

We want people to go out and spend money.

But really, even before the keyword became so popular in recent years, nighttime economy was pretty much prosperous.

I remember the first time I traveled outside of this country, it was to Sydney, Australia, and then to what was the capital of New Zealand?

Sorry, it's more, my memory really fails.

Auckland? Yeah. So my first impression traveling outside the airport to downtown was that the streets were really empty.

And my experience in China was the exact opposite.

Sometimes I've been on the weekends, for example, I've got two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning and I thought, geez, there's going to be no traffic, there's going to be no people on the streets.

And it seemed like it was five o'clock in the afternoon.

There were people walking around, seeing it like one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning.

There was heavy traffic, well not heavy traffic, but more like a similar amount of cars that you would see at a regular time during the day.

And taxis were operating buses were operating.

So it seems like it's a business as usual, no matter what the time is in Beijing, it's pretty incredible.

Yeah, and if you take a walk in the middle of the night, like eight or nine p.m., to a nearby park, you'll find that it is crowded.

Yeah, I mean, even just...

Yeah, like, I mean, just even outside my apartment building, there's a little square where kind of, you know, people take parts in various activities.

And like the hours we've mentioned, generally between, I would say, six p.m.

and ten p.m., there's always some sort of activity going on over the kids playing football or basketball, you know, parents playing badminton with their kids.

Elderly people doing, you know, like Tai Chi or dance classes, there's all playing board games.

There's always some sort of activity happening in this little square, just outside my apartment.

And I think that's just one example of thousands, if not millions, of other, you know, little squares around apartments, around Beijing and China as a whole.

That's the impression you get from arriving in Beijing.

For sure. And Beijing's not even the busiest city when it comes to the nighttime economy because it's really located in northern China.

It's much higher in terms of altitude and therefore it gets very cold in winter time.

If you were to live in Shanghai, for instance, or in southern city like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, you might get more impressed from the kind of activities you're likely to experience.

And so, again, going back to the general picture of the nighttime economy, like I said earlier, in recent years, there's a lot of importance being attached to the encouragement and promotion of nighttime economy.

And these efforts have somehow yielded some positive results according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in the Dwayng Wall Festival or the Dragon Ball Festival.

At nighttime tourists was about 22.3 percent among all the tourist activities and that's an increase of 7.9 percent.

And this only is about tourism and there's plenty of activities that people can get involved like dining and also doing nighttime sports.

Yes. Actually, we can see that sports and fitness are actually among the most popular items that people are getting engaged with during nighttime.

Let's look at another report released by Studio CCTV Finance.

Actually, in the nighttime leisure industry, sports and fitness ranked fifth in total revenue with a year-on-year increase of about 17 percent in revenue and the nighttime revenue increased by 84 percent year-on-year in sports venues for ball games, 25 percent in streaming pools and 21 percent in yoga studios and 6 percent in dance studios.

And especially we are here in living and Beijing at nighttime cycling is so popular in recent years especially during the summer.

And I would say every night you can see a large crowd of cyclists.

It's just a cycle along the Chong and the M&E.

That's the main opportunity going east to west.

Yes, it's so popular not only because of these spacious cycling lanes but also you can visit actually quite a bunch of cities, I mean the Beijing's landmarks alongside the road.

Yes, I've seen that a lot.

And also at what I would consider odd hours.

I mean sometimes at two o'clock in the morning you would see young people on their bicycles going along the long road.

Is that with the forbidden city and so that street is always packed with cyclists no matter time of day or night which is pretty awesome to see.

And so nighttime cycling that's one of the events.

Also I think a lot of cities have committed a lot of efforts and resources into making their cities safe and convenient for people to hang out.

Beijing specifically did a lot of jobs in terms of creating these cycling lanes for cyclists to hang out.

Not only the Chang'ai Avenue but also many parts of the city that you can find biking lanes so people are hang out.

And then I guess this regional differences as well for Beijing is cycling maybe a different city as a different kind of sport.

In Shanghai I imagine people would do a lot of walking and shopping.

Just the week before last week I had a chance of visiting Shanghai and really took a tour around Huai Hai Road which is quite close to the to the Bumd but there's a bit of a distance and then the Hong Road where it's quite famous for people hanging out and taking pictures of themselves very Instagram mobile pictures.

So shopping and walking could be one of the events that people will like to get engaged in.

Any other regional specialties that we can highlight for our audience here?

Yeah I think we have this observation that basically here in China people have this perception that topped here cities and big cities actually lead the development of nighttime economy especially when it comes to nighttime fitness but actually I think there are more cities they are trying to attract people to get involved in this.

I was a national fitness player.

Yes campaign for example the Kunming city in Yunnan province.

That's South China Southwest China.

Low altitude low low latitude low latitude and therefore quite warm in summer and winter as well.

Yes it's also known as the flower city actually many people love to run at night around the Atsui Hool Lake in the city and I think they're having like a very diversified this crowd and young middle age and even elderly renters they would just come out and for a nighttime ren and mean time enjoy the beautiful scenery of this lake and mean time ball games are especially popular nighttime ball games are also popular here in Kunming many citizens also come to play basketball in an outdoor court night in Kunming and according to local citizens and certain of the Lee he always play basketball at night because he is quite busy during the day and he actually even makes a lot of friends through basketball so I think these are very interesting trend I mean nighttime fitness trend coming from different cities across China and also freesby is a popular sport item for the night.

Yes and because there are more like venue special venues open during nighttime so that young people who are quite busy during daytime and they can really enjoy a very fun and exciting freesby game.

There's great lighting at these venues I mean I must say that for example like that long road that we were talking about where people cycle to few you know touristy sites in Beijing there's definitely no issue in terms of creating space for them number one and then also the lighting it really it doesn't it almost feels like it isn't nighttime because some of these areas are so well lit but I mean for me there's something about the nighttime market that is just appeals to me personally because for some reason like even when back to looking back to my childhood something about 24 hour activities you know something that was available 24 hours a day was always appealing to me so 24 hour gyms 24 hour you know food outlets for some reason just having the option to have access to something whenever you want that's always been something that's really appealed to me I don't know why.

So the idea of these nighttime activities nighttime markets and just a nighttime economy I think is appealing to me because I just love the idea of being able to do what I want when it's convenient for me and just providing that safe space and option for so many Chinese citizens I think it's such a great initiative because we all have different hours of the day when we are able to do things that we enjoy and the fact that those hours have been extended to allow people to take part in activities that they enjoy I think that's going to be really appealing for multiple people because you know we all work at different hours we all find different energy levels and have time at different periods throughout the day.

So having activities available to you almost 24 hours a day in a safe space I think is really appealing and for me personally and I'm sure for many other people across China.

And this is actually happening even as we find growing interest in nighttime activities I think given the rate of urbanization in the past few decades in China I think a lot of residents who have moved into cities might find initially the difficulty of looking locating a place to hang out I mean I think before we moved into cities when we were living in small towns it was quite easy for us to find a square or an empty space where we can hang out and just I'd remember as a kid I used to go after fireflies that was fun I know really I'm also crazy and but then as people moved into big cities and in such a short period of time I think we are not there yet when it comes to providing the facilities and the locations for people to hang out and then also given the kind of a schedule and Brandon mentioned earlier we all have our different schedule so that most people work during day time there's also the issue of commute if office workers are compelled to commute like two hours three hours a day then maybe they all but exhausted their energy going to and front work I'm not sure if this is possible but this is also something that I would really love to see not just in Beijing but you know across the world I know that for example the subway stops operating at a certain hour all right I wonder if it would be possible for you know public transport to maybe keep up with the emerging lifetime markets and maybe extend the hours of the subways for example interesting thing as you mentioned the working hours of subways when we were little kids or when we were when I was college kids I tried to go out venture outs after campus to try and see the city where I was living and try to experience the culture but that was about more than a decade ago and the railway construction project was still going on and the coverage wasn't that perfect and also the working hours was crack frigid if say if you want to celebrate the new year at some point in the city and after that you guarantee to you know walking the code for for why before you can get a get away from the crowds or you can get a taxi that that used to be the case I just well I just had that experience recently where I you know went to celebrate Chinese New Year at um shogun park and I'm finding a taxi once that event had finished was probably one of the most challenging experiences I've ever had in my time like not because they wasn't access but just because there were so many people all trying to get access to taxi which is incredible yeah which is why more platforms like taxi hailing applications they're really useful yes there was a time when I had to know stop a car taxi and say would you like to go back to shooting side and many of them were saying no because it's too far and people in shooting some area back then didn't want to travel a lot so there weren't a lot of people taking taxis so the taxi drivers were concerned that once they take me here they wouldn't they get any returning passengers so they would say no but I think we do have like say nighttime bus operations services here in Beijing and it's so yeah now I mean and also like 10 years ago because I remember when I was celebrating New Year with my college mates together and we we we we we we we also had like during late time a late nighttime and I think in the end we just get overself a nighttime bus that does seem to be the form of transport that really does run 24 hours a day I seem to see buses running all hours of the night all hours of the day we have seen the traffic authorities getting more flexible when it comes to the schedule especially on very important occasions like the New Year or special locations of the year so that that seems to be real quest where we can identify that seems to be encouraging nighttime economy and another area where China is very far ahead in terms of you know public transport options around the world not just the amount of options that they have but the safety that they provide because for example in South Africa we also have access to buses and taxis etc but there's a lot of hesitation from citizens to use these forms of transport later night because the later the later night it becomes the more dangerous it becomes you know sometimes a lot of drivers of public transport and e-hailing applications are not you know verified so you don't know what the background is what their criminal record is etc so sometimes using public transport in many countries around the world particularly late night can be a very dangerous activity but I must say since I've arrived in China I've never ever felt unsafe walking around at night or using public transport at night and that is a huge privilege that you know Chinese citizens and just visitors to China can enjoy which is why we can have the opportunity to encourage and promote nighttime economy because it's safe to go out.

Yeah I think safety is definitely a very important condition for you to you know develop this kind of nighttime activity but also I think you need to pick the right locations to you know hold this different events for example here in China I think we have this efforts to promote the construction of a bunch of cluster zones meaning that culture in tourism cluster zones usually they are big enough and in terms of size in terms of passengers passenger traffic and especially in a city like Beijing that is so vast I think selecting the correct location is probably quite a tricky decision to make.

Yeah so that's why I think we are developing this kind of different batches of this cluster zones and for example they can include certain historic blocks on commercial business areas even ancient towns that are open during nighttime and even say artificial tourist areas which are say deliberately open during nighttime so so that people can just gather here and say have different events including say sports events and they can enjoy also more concentrated services including safety services I think which are which is more convenient for people and also for the city operators out there.

Right historical blocks I mean I think any city across China should have no problem finding a location like that and then but I think behind that is the awareness to know that nighttime economy really is important and that people really want a place to hang out in the middle of the night to maybe some beers maybe used to to walk their dogs or their kids and then so as such I think the awareness is really important and that has guided the many decisions making across the country.

In the city of Nanchang I remember I had a chance to live there for a half a year and then there in downtown they had a historical city a historical street and they managed to build it into a rather advanced place where people hang out they even incorporate net averse technology in there to try and attract young people to hang out.

It's interesting that you mentioned kids and that's also something that I've noticed in China that I think is quite unique is that a lot of these nighttime markets and nighttime activities also include children no matter what time of the night it is in South Africa there's definitely a very predetermined bedtime that most young children have.

Most of the nighttime activities normally involve parents without their children but I think what's been fascinating and great to see in China is that even at some of these very late night activities you'll see kids ranging from 3 to 12 just after the bar with their parents late at night enjoying family activities sometimes at very late hours of the evening and that's probably you know the time that is most suitable to that family so that's also been great to see that nighttime activities also include the entire family not just parts of a family.

Again it depends on the wisdom and the insight of the regional city planners to know the demands of the local residents.

Certainly people here in China and in Beijing as a parent I know how important it is to have a place so kids can hang out and so kids can go shop and maybe for ice creams and other beverages that kind of thing.

And not just kids but for you know for for areas to have activities that cater to an entire family's needs because I think that's also an issue globally is that you often find that parents end up taking their kids to facilities that only really cater to children but in China does seem like there's a lot more facilities that cater to various demographic demographics in one location.

So it's very convenient for an entire family to go to these venues where they can all participate in activities that cater to their needs you know ranging from you know the age of 3 to 90 for example.

I think it's also because we do have this like growing awareness of promoting national fitness because China is really making this national fitness plan.

I mean we have different policies and measures to promote this level of national fitness to making it a national strategy because we do have this promoting sports and exercise amount like all age people here in China that's in in line with the 14th five year plane during the 2021 to 2025 period.

And I think efforts including we are building more public surveys infrastructures for sports and exercises both in big cities and in small cities.

I think one observation here in Beijing is that we do have more pocket or small size gardens alongside the residential area so that you know both children and their parents I mean different age group people can really to have this place to to to to engage with sports and fitness events during daytime or nighttime.

It's important to have a diver's supply of services.

I mean for older people perhaps they don't necessarily have a lot of money in their pockets then probably they'll go for something affordable or free and then perhaps for parents with kids who may have accumulated some kind of funds in their pockets they will who are willing to spend more to make their kids happy maybe a location for them to hang out and have their kids do enjoy some beverages while the kids can have some alcoholic drinks as well.

And the young but also generally prefer going for things that are free.

So I have that in common with the with the older folks.

And then but there is a growing tendency for young people to want to hang out and spend money or in private coaches or that could teach them boxing.

Seeing a lot of that too.

Yeah a lot of one-on-one coaching team coaching particularly amongst the younger generations in a variety of sports.

So for example when young Wang and I we did a series of winter sports activities where we went around to different facilities and you know kind of examined what they were doing during the day and there was definitely a lot of private coaching going on for a variety of sports for different teams and different kids as well.

So I believe nine-time running that kind of thing.

In the city of Beijing even though it's so big I think it's still hard for somebody to find a place to run in the wild in the open air so I think it's important for city planners to you know still keep a pace or keep and keep posted on the growing demand of the residents and provide for them.

Yeah thankfully the sidewalks are pretty wide I mean I enjoy running and I haven't really had any issues in terms of finding urban spaces to run but I think if they were more you know like nature-y type venues to enjoy outdoor running that would definitely be something for people to enjoy.