A bird's-eye view of Dongchao Art Park. [Photo/WeChat account: gh_e9c85e97cccd]

In the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou — capital of East China's Zhejiang province — the historic railway station area along the Zhedong Canal has been transformed into a thriving cultural hub, blending heritage and modern life.

Once a forgotten corner of urban sprawl, the district has re-emerged through careful urban renewal, earning national recognition as Zhejiang province's only representative on the country's list of 2025 Top 10 Innovative Urban Tourism Clusters.

At the heart of the revival is Dongchao Art Park, where over 30 red-brick warehouses have been repurposed into vibrant cultural venues.

Regular events like night markets and art exhibitions have attracted millions of visitors, turning the area into a nighttime CBD and boosting local cultural tourism.

Driven by the principle of culture plus community, Xiaoshan has seen a surge in private investment in heritage projects, sparking the development of over 10 cultural parks along the canal. Future plans include a nearly 40-kilometer riverside walkway, heritage site restorations and expanded cultural spaces.

Xiaoshan's efforts are said to offer a new model of urban renewal, emphasizing small-scale, culture-driven transformation over large-scale demolition, restoring the canal as a space of beauty, history and everyday life.

Dongchao Art Park hosts the 2025 CPOPwave exhibition, an important sideline event of this year's China International Cartoon and Animation Festival. [Photo/CMG]