THE NEW STORY 新篇

Shanghai is a big place. It is currently one of the most populated cities on Earth. More than 24 million people live here – and that figure is growing, fast. But, as is the case in a lot of big cities, Shanghai's huge population doesn't automatically translate into a wealth of social interaction. Urbanists have come to learn that the size, framework and design of a city can only contribute so much to its soul: it is now, and always has been, in the hands of those who dwell within a city that really make it what it is.

Looking to illuminate the social possibilities stored within some of China's largest and most influential cities is China Xintiandi, an investor, operator and manager of premium commercial districts across China, always with a focus on the importance of social interaction . So far XINTIANDI has developed leafy, vibrant communities and commercially thriving districts in some of China's key cities, including Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing and Foshan. In the beating heart of downtown Shanghailies its flagship project: Shanghai XINTIANDI, a pioneering feat of design that seeks to maintain the historic beauty and culture of the area while simultaneously providing Shanghai residents the opportunity to visit an area of the city in which relationships and meaningful social interactionare its primary raison d'être.

上海很大 。它是目前世界上人口最为稠密的城市之一。逾2400万人生活在这里，并且这个数字仍在日渐攀升。然而，与许多其他大城市一样，上海的高密度人口并未能自然地为其带来肥沃的社交土壤。城市规划者们开始逐渐意识到一座城市的规模、架构与设计只能粗略勾勒出它的轮廓：成就了它灵魂的，一直，也始终是栖居在这座城市中的人。

作为中国高端商业地产的投资者、运营者及管理者中国新天地始终关注人与人的连结互动，并试图用这一理念解锁和激发那些极具影响力的大型城市中社交发展的无限可能。迄今为止，中国新天地在上海、武汉、重庆和佛山等多个中国主要城市拥有优质资产，并发展出各具特色的活力社区及繁荣兴盛的商业区块。坐落于上海市中心的上海新天地是中国新天地的旗舰项目，它以先锋的设计笔触，独辟蹊径地保护与探索地区历史文化之美，使上海居民得以在这城市的一角相遇、成长、并建立富有意义的社交联系。这正是新天地存在的首要意义。

A New Social Destination

Shanghai XINTIANDI was developed in the early 21st century in order to challenge the city's standard consumer experience. Until then, Shanghai's consumer offer was limited. But here was a new multifunctional eating, drinking and shopping destination that became home to an exceptionally well-selected array of businesses of varying sizes. The area in which Shanghai XINTIANDI is situated is famous for being the site of the first National Congress of the Communist Party of China and now takes its place in Shanghai's history as a spectacular social destination.

Shanghai XINTIANDI has been slowly evolving for years, and recently it has under-gone a significant redesign. Now the project is embarking on a new social strategy. At the helm of the project is China Xintiandi's Vice Chairman, Stephanie Lo, who has spent a large part of her life immersed in the concept, growth and development of the project. She led the brand's recent redesign, and she's now creating a new future for China's social development.

The Importance of Life Experience

“XINTIANDI is very focused on providing people with basic amenities: what you wear, what you eat and where you eat,” says Stephanie. “There are a lot of studies that show how the future of the leisure experience is booming and there are a lot of people out there willing to spend their money not necessarily on material things, but on enjoying life via experiences. That's where XINTIANDI can fit in.” The XINTIANDI rebrand is centred on a powerful new slogan: “Social Renaissance.” This tagline will underpin all that the brand does and will help revive the disappearing art of social interaction in real life.

To prove their dedication to this concept, nestled within Shanghai XINTIANDI is Social House: a new kind of retail space in which a selection of activities such as cooking classes, yoga sessions and other communal activities take place.

Mixing Old with New

In a city like Shanghai, which experiences speedy redevelopment, what sets Shanghai XINTIANDI apart from other areas is its celebration of the city's historic buildings. It is one of the only locations in Shanghai in which you can wander down small, winding streets of preserved early 20th-century Shikumen-style architecture. As well as being renowned for their iconic stonework, Shikumen housing areas were known for creatinga very strong sense of local community. XINTIANDI chose to enlist award-winning architect Ben Wood to celebrate the buildings' style and history and retain their original façades. It has given the area a unique and unrivalled atmosphere inspired by the community of the past and the future.

Even though the area is no longer entirely residential, the people-driven concept of XINTIANDI is the driving force behind everything the brand does. Stephanie believes that if you provide a well-designed bolthole in a big city and fill it with just the right kinds of restaurants, boutiques, public spaces and picturesque greenery, it will create a meeting ground that encourages people to get out of their apartment blocks and hang out together. For a city like Shanghai, this is revolutionary.

“A lot of companies have tried to imitate what we are doing, but they tend to make the mistake of thinking it's all about the hardware, when it's actually about the people and the curation of what's on offer,” Stephanie says. “The architecture is very easy to copy, but the ambience, less so. The difference with XINTIANDI is that we are concentrating on the heart and soul of the place, rather than just the bones.”

How to be Well

So how does a company go about making a place where humans want to gather, relax and – most importantly – communicate with others? Walking through the jam-packed, traffic-filled streets of Shanghai can be overwhelming. Al fresco dining is hard to come by, and communal spaces are few and far between. However, take a stroll through the leafy, shaded streets of Shanghai XINTIANDI and you'll have the sensation of walking through sun-dappled Paris on a spring afternoon.

The calm atmosphere of the area is crucial to Stephanie's vision as she understands the importance of the ever-popular concept of Wellness, particularly to the young people she wants to encourage to come and experience the space. “Young people's social expectations are very different from ours, so we are thinking about alternative ways to communicate with them,” says Stephanie. “Part of that is about engaging them in various types of activities as opposed to just dining experiences, which is what XINTIANDI was previously more known for.”

Something else that XINTIANDI prides itself on is its passion for celebrating the Chinese creative scene and making sure that the world appreciates China's ever-changing position on the stage of global culture. By co-hosting significant events such as Shanghai Fashion Week and hosting events such as XINTIANDI Festival, Tiandi Restaurant Week, Tiandi World Music Festival and the astonishing Lumiéres Shanghai, the team at XINTIANDI are doing what they can to highlight the country's phenomenal creative output. “We'd really like XINTIANDI to be a platform for a lot more Chinese voices coming to the forefront of world culture and become a platform where other Chinese brands can be celebrated and encouraged,”Stephanie says. “We're really excited to be part of that conversation.”

The future of XINTIANDI seems bright. The organisation's reputation for transforming China's most exciting cities has led to untold amounts of change in the cultural sector. And it has successfully created environments in which culture can thrive, relation-ships can be made, and the best things in life – food, drink, people and creativity – can be respected and championed.

“On a very basic level XINTIANDI is about celebrating the connections that you make with people,” says Stephanie. “Every time you go to a new city you want to figure out what's local, fresh, unique, but it's the people that really make it come to life. We want to make sure that we focus on that, as opposed to just building the hardware. Connections between people are really what makes a district or city or place come alive. We choose to celebrate that.”

“Connections between people are really what makes a district or city or place come alive, so we want to celebrate that.

人群的连结是真正让空间和城市鲜活起来的灵魂所在，这也正是我们所坚持的信念。”

全新的社交地标

时间回溯至21世纪初，上海的物质消费选择还比较单一，上海新天地的开发旨在挑战当时城市千篇一律的消费体验。忽而，一个汇集餐饮、购物的多功能综合商业地标应运而生，创新的城市会客厅定位首次改写了石库门里弄的居住功能，一众精心挑选、业态多元的国内外优质品牌纷纷入驻。上海新天地所在的位置以中国共产党第一次全国代表大会旧址而闻名，如今，它以其独特的社交目的地定位重塑了其在上海历史上的位置。

上海新天地多年来被不断地打磨与雕琢，近期更是作为范本经历着一场意义非凡的革新—一个以全新社交策略开启的时代已然到来。这场革新的掌舵人正是中国新天地副主席Stephanie Lo罗宝瑜，她投身于构思、规划和推动新天地的再升级。在引领品牌迭代的同时，她更着眼于描绘中国社交发展的未来。

生活体验的重要性

“中国新天地一直以来非常注重人们最根本的满足感：穿什么、吃什么、去哪里吃，”Stephanie如是说道，“但很多的研究都表明体验式休闲在未来的发展潜力巨大，越来越多的人更乐意在体验、享受生活上消费，而不是拘泥于物质层面，这与新天地的未来发展方向不谋而和。”新天地的品牌迭代围绕着一个强而有力的主旨口号—回归社交本真。这一信条将为新天地的未来发展奠定主基调，并将再次唤醒和重聚那些现实生活中日渐式微的社交连结。作为这一全新发展策略的重要实践，上海新天地不日即将揭幕复合型新零售社交空间Social House by XINTIANDI：除了精心陈列品类丰富的零售商品，这里还将发起一系列如烹饪、瑜伽、讲座等特别企划的社群活动。

以旧“焕”新

在上海这样日新月异的城市，上海新天地的独特性体现在它对历史建筑的献礼。信步在20世纪初所建的石库门建筑群的曲折小径中，这种机会在上海已少有。除了它标志性的石雕风格，石库门也以创造浓郁本土社群氛围而著称。新天地选择了与屡获殊荣的建筑设计师Ben Wood合作，一同更新建筑的风貌与历史并留存它们原始的设计精髓。整片社区呈现出一种无可比拟的开放氛围，同时从过去与未来的社群生活中汲取灵光。

即便这个区域已经不再完全用于居住，但以人为本的宗旨仍驱动着整个品牌的一举一动。Stephanie坚信如果大城市中能有一处悉心设计的栖身之地，配以氛围得当的餐厅、精品店、公共空间和别致的绿化景观，它会吸引着、鼓励人们走出紧闭的寓所并和他人一同共享时光。对于上海这样的城市来说，意义非凡。

“许多公司尝试效仿我们，但他们往往会陷入误区，认为一切都与硬件条件有关，但其实所有都是围绕着人以及为他们提供何种服务的思考，”Stephanie说道，“建筑可以很容易被复制，但是整体氛围没那么简单。新天地的特别之处体现在我们注重塑造空间的‘内在灵魂’，而不仅仅是‘外形’。”

“品质”之道

如何真正做到使一个场所吸引人们前来相聚、放松—更为重要的—与他人产生交流呢？穿梭在熙熙攘攘的上海街头，人难免会感觉透不过气，难得能遇上户外用餐的好天气，公共空间少见又相隔甚远。然而，在树影斑驳的上海新天地闲庭信步一番，有种在春日午后漫步在巴黎天光云影下的错觉。

整个区域所散发出的从容之气是Stephanie在新天地愿景中的重要组成部分。她深知“品质生活”的概念正日益深入人心，对未来的年轻客群而言尤为如此。“年轻一代对社交的预期与当前的主流社会存在很大差异，所以新天地试图通过各种方式与他们沟通聚合，”Stephanie说道，“希望他们能参与到我们形式多样的活动中来，而不仅是在新天地享受美食，虽然这是新天地此前更为人熟知的一面。”

新天地另一个引以为傲之处是其不遗余力为中国创造、中国在全球文化舞台上的角色蜕变所付出的努力。通过联合举办上海时装周在内的重量级盛事、主办如表演艺术新天地、天地餐厅周、天地世界音乐节以及光影上海等面向公众的艺术文化活动，新天地向公众呈现本土不断崛起的创意文化力量。“我们希望新天地可以成为许多本地艺术文化人才走向世界前沿舞台的平台，中国品牌亦可以在这个平台上收获肯定与发展，” Stephanie补充道，“很高兴我们能为文化交流的发展助力。”

新天地的未来已经启幕，这些年来它对这些中国重要城市的悄然改变，不仅收获了社会各界的赞誉更影响着在地的文化创意产业。新天地成功地塑造了这样一个社区：文化发展充满活力、社群彼此连结、人们相聚分享美食，所有的美好都受到尊重与鼓励。

“总的来说，我们希望人们能在新天地实现彼此之间的真诚连结。”Stephanie说，“每到新的城市，我们都想去发掘一些本土的、新鲜独特的事物，体会人群关系带来的别样风景，未来新天地将在兼顾“形”的同时一如既往地关注社群发展。人群的连结是真正让空间和城市鲜活起来的灵魂所在，这也正是我们所坚持的信念。”