Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page B2

December 11, 2013

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Plaza offers generous dollop of culture

By Xu Wenwen | December 11, 2013, Wednesday | Print Edition

West Lake Cultural Plaza is becoming not just a place for department stores and franchises like Starbucks, KFC and Dicos, but also a cultural landmark in Hangzhou as several museums, a cinema, a theater, a large bookstore and several galleries have been added to the mix.

The downtown plaza opened only four years ago, but residents are getting used to spending weekend days there to watch a movie or sip some coffee or to take in a fashion show, experimental play, lecture or exhibition that are held there from time to time.

The plaza, at 350,000 square meters, took more than 2 billion yuan (US$293 million) and eight years to complete. Shanghai Daily tours the plaza to show where you can while away an evening or a day.

Museums

Three museums are located at the plaza: Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, Zhejiang Science and Technology Museum, and Zhejiang Province Museum, which help make the “cultural plaza” really cultural.

Every year Zhejiang Science and Technology Museum hosts China’s answer to the American Ig Nobel Prizes, a parody of the Nobel Prizes — the annual Pineapple Science Prize recognizes clever, amusing and silly ideas that popularize science.

Instead of rotating exhibits, it has areas dedicated to areas such as chemistry, music and traditional Chinese medicine, with interesting experiments and games. The admission is 30 yuan for adults, 20 yuan for students. Children under 1.2 meters are not charged.

It also sponsors free, monthly science lectures given by scientists and experts.

Zhejiang Museum of Natural History has a collection of nearly 130,000 specimens, including fossilized skeletons of dinosaurs and ancient species living in oceans.

Housing specimens of animals and plants, as well as amphibians, the museum records how the planet has evolved. Visitors will find the interactive and high-tech features enlightening and informative in a way that explains the secrets of nature in a way everyone can understand.

Zhejiang Province Museum has its Wulin branch at the plaza, displaying national and provincial-level treasures and relics, with a high level of security.

The current exhibition, which lasts for two years, is called “Zhejiang Society under the Influence of Western Culture and Civilization.” It displays artifacts from the 1920s and 1930s, when Western culture and technology were a big influence.

Over 180 historical pictures and 106 pieces of relics, borrowed from different museums and private collectors, show how Zhejiang Province was modernized in the past century. Displays include old suits and cheongsam dresses, and old telephones, phonographs, typewriters and magazines.

It runs to October 1, 2015 (closed on Mondays), and there is no admission charge. All three museums are open from 9am to 5pm.

Current exhibition in Zhejiang Museum of Natural History is Dream of Flying — History of Ornithology in China. This exhibit, which will end on Sunday, presents objects and materials about ornithology in China.

Bookuu Bookstore and Feelbest Coffee(博库书城和菲比咖啡)

Covering 6,000 square meters, the Bookuu Bookstore opened last year, and as at all Bookuu stores, it has a Feelbest Coffee location.

The bookstore is well supplied with adequate stools and benches where people can sit and read, while Feelbest Coffee offers a separate area with comfortable sofas.

Both the store and the cafe are open from 9am to 9pm.

Address: Basement, West Lake Cultural Plaza

Trojan House(木马剧场)

This is a new, relaxing space for theatergoers in the city, with a 258-seat theater, cafeteria and craft shop.

Trojan House, headquartered in Beijing, opened a branch in Hangzhou last month, providing dramas every week, with an affordable price of about 120 yuan. It has put on three plays, all from Shanghai and Beijing.

“Currently we provide experimental plays that have won their reputation in Beijing and Shanghai, or at theater festivals,” said the general manager, Fang Lu.

The theater is positioning itself as a place for relaxation, thus the cafe and craft shop. Coffees are about 25 to 30 yuan per cup, and there are also cookies and macaroons. The craft shop sells decorative fake flowers, porcelains and small furniture items.

The next play the theater going to put on is “Undo,” which appeared at the 2013 Shanghai International Art Festival. It is basically a traditional Chinese Kunqu Opera, but staged with modern techniques — and an unusual venue.

The plot tells the story of Hu Xueyan, a legendary Chinese businessman in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The show will be performed in Hu Xueyan’s former residence in Hangzhou. Tickets will go from 380 to 880 yuan, and only 88 seats are available.

Address: 2/F, Global Center (the main tall building in the middle), West Lake Cultural Plaza

 

Hangzhou


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend