“New” is no doubt the keyword for this year’s shopping spree in Jing’an, with more than 100 activities on offer to promote new products, lifestyles, retail trends, consumption scenarios and shopping experiences.

Jing’an raised the curtain on its two-month shopping bonanza today — part of the citywide Double Five Shopping Festival — with the launch of “trendy livestreaming rooms” set up in shopping malls. Internet merchants teamed up with digitally created virtual hosts to promote sales campaigns on livestreaming platforms.

The second Shanghai International Cosmetics Festival will kick off at the HKRI Taikoo Hui Mall on May 5 to strengthen the district’s position as a leading area for the debut of new stores and products.

The festival will include the release of new beauty products, industrial forums and predicting industrial trends. Of particular note, L’Oreal China, which is headquartered in Jing’an, will announce the opening of a new regional headquarters in Jing'an.

The shopping spree will usher in the return of the popular Green Escape pop-up fair outside the Jing’an Kerry Center in late May, as well as the widely anticipated reopening of Wujiang Road — which was closed for a major overhaul at the end of 2018 — set to take place in mid-May.

What's more, a YSL pop-up store will open at Plaza 66 mall on May 20, known as 520 Day, literally "I Love You Day" in Chinese.

Also Shanghai will be the first stop in Asia for Lego's world tour exhibition in late May.

Tried-and-true Jing’an brands will display their products at the China Time-Honored Brands Expo. Additionally, traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy chain Lei Yun Shang West will host a fragrant sachet festival to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in June. Sachets filled with fragrant herbs and medicinal powders are traditionally worn during the festival. The aroma they give off helps ward off insects and, it is said, evil spirits.

According to the Jing’an Commerce Commission, the expo will promote the use of digital renminbi (RMB) in stores to embrace the overall digital transformation.