The argument for an evening at the Tongguan kiln begins with a single bite. Kiln-roasted preserved-plum peanuts, warm from the stall, crack open salty-sweet with a faint hint of smoke; beside them a cup of Chating blueberry wine finishes clean and round. That pairing, one snack and one pour, is the taste of the “Wangcheng Fine Goods: Water-and-Land Market”, which opened on the evening of August 29 in the square of the Mingyue Tower restaurant at the Tongguanyao Guofeng Park (铜官窑国风乐园) in Wangcheng District, Changsha, launched by the district’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau to bind local farm products to the scenic area’s tourist traffic.
Stalls run along the plaza walkways and down to the water’s edge, a layout the organizers call “water and land” in one market. Tongguan fruit is crisp and sweet, Jinggang dried mushrooms snap with umami, Qiaoyi’s sauced goose is hot and chewy, and Qiaokou fried fish fillets come out crisp outside and tender inside. Between the food tables, shadow puppetry and sugar painting keep the Tang-style setting company, and Hanfu-clad visitors stop to photograph the lantern-lit plaza.
“Last weekend we set up 20 stalls and took more than 20,000 yuan in on-the-spot sales, and many customers who tasted first added our business WeChat to order later,” said Liang Chun (梁春), head of the “Wangcheng Youli” (望城有礼) platform. “This weekend we have optimized the layout for 16 of the stalls.” The market sells farm products and local specialties, and it leans on the park’s foot traffic with a “try offline, reorder online” loop that gives farmers a direct sales channel.
When reporters returned around 6 p.m. on August 30, 21 stalls lined the walkways and the waterfront, each pushing a different slice of Wangcheng. The fresh-produce tables carried lotus-field shrimp, Kaitian “slimming” fish (开天瘦身鱼), Tongguan gold pears and Yunyou tea (云游茶叶), all straight from local fields; the processed-food stalls stacked fermented bean curd, jar-pickled vegetables, sweet potato vermicelli, sauced goose and fruit wine. Most vendors had repackaged their goods into small portions for easy carrying and gift buying, and families and Hanfu-clad young people drifted through the aisles until dark.
At the snack table, Gan Lixin (甘力新), general manager of Changsha Xindouyi Food Co., was filling bags of his kiln-roasted preserved-plum peanuts, the item drawing the most demand. The single-serve packs suit a tourist crowd, he explained. His company had sold mainly online, with annual revenue around 9 million yuan, and the park stall is a bet that walk-in traffic will raise the brand’s name beyond Changsha.
Alongside the stalls, an all-day livestream runs with hosts presenting Wangcheng specialties while farm-company executives explain how the produce is grown and processed; shoppers can order online for same-city delivery or reserve online and collect on site. The games keep the plaza lively: watermelon-eating contests, raffles and scratch-card prizes, plus costumed NPC actors who fold the market into an immersive park experience. After the shopping, the night continues with the Black Stone stunt show, fireworks-and-water displays and a heritage fire dance, a water-splashing carnival and the flight cinema.
Liang Chun described the model as a bridge between farms and customers. “Moving the market into the scenic area helps farmers widen their sales and gets Wangcheng goods out of the villages and in front of more people,” she said, noting that the platform has run a physical store and the “Wangcheng Youpin” (望城优品) online mini-program since 2022, with sales points at Tongguanyao, the Jinggang ancient town and Heimi Peak (黑麋峰). On her figures, the platform has driven more than 4 million yuan in annual farm sales.
“The park’s steady foot traffic pulls local farm products, heritage crafts and folk performances into the scenic area,” said an official of the Wangcheng District Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. “It helps farmers and small vendors widen their sales and raise income, and it turns tourism traffic into rural industry.” The district plans more themed markets and a full agri-tourism circuit linking scenic spots, orchard picking, farm stays and farming experiences. Wangcheng sits close to downtown Changsha with a broad leisure-agriculture base: 342 registered leisure farms and agritainment businesses hosted 5.52 million visitors in the first half of the year, with operating revenue of 986 million yuan.