Shanghai’s nighttime economy continues to rank first among Chinese cities in terms of comprehensive strength, financial media outlet Yicai announced during the 24-Hour City of Vibrance Forum held at the Museum of Art Pudong. Yicai compiled a ranking of 337 cities based on six dimensions, including night outings, bars, live houses, movies, lighting and public transportation, and Shanghai performed exceptionally well in all categories last year. According to Zhao Jia, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Yicai, Shanghai excels in lighting intensity at night and the number of live houses, securing the top spot in the list of cities. Additionally, Shanghai has the second-highest number of bars after Chengdu, Sichuan province, and its nighttime bus services are second only to Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
Zhao further revealed that last year an average of 1.77 million people went out at night daily in Shanghai. The city has around 2,300 bars, 140 live houses, and screened approximately 135,700 movies. Continuing its remarkable performance from 2021, Shanghai maintained the top position in the comprehensive strength index of the nighttime economy, followed by Beijing and Shenzhen, according to Zhao. In addition to Yicai’s report, the conference recognized and awarded 32 best-practice cases from the 2023 Shanghai Night Festival, which began on June 3. Liu Min, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, stated that nighttime expenditure had reached CNY42.7 billion as of June 25. Particularly during the first week of the night festival, nighttime consumption constituted 30% of the day’s total expenditure, reaching its highest point in the past three years.
Data from on-demand service platform Meituan indicated a 75% increase in dine-in consumption at restaurants during the night festival compared to the same period in 2021. Nighttime bar consumption recorded a 73% rise, while sports and fitness consumption surged by 90%. The city launched over 200 activities for the fourth Shanghai Night Festival, generating over CNY1 billion views on the short-video platform Douyin, ranking first on the city’s topic list. Liu emphasized that the night festival has become a vital platform for showcasing the vibrancy of Shanghai’s nightlife, the China Daily reports.
