Preservation finds a way into modern hearts

Zhou Jing was holding a bowl of noodles at a booth on the historical Pingjiang Road in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, where crowds flowed along the ancient stone-paved street on a muggy June afternoon. At first glance, it did not look like a typical local dish. The bowl was made entirely of plush fabric and weighed almost nothing. Even the braised pork topping was soft and fuzzy.

And yet, around her, staff members engaged visitors in mock noodle-shop interactions.

"Hard noodles or soft? Extra broth or light?"

For many visitors, the questions were unfamiliar. That was by design.

Small cards and props at the booth explained the specialized vocabulary of Suzhou noodle culture: kuan tang (extra broth), jin tang (less broth), zhong mian (extra noodles), and shao mian (fewer noodles). In 2020, Suzhou-style noodle-making was added to the city's intangible cultural heritage (ICH) list, adding another layer to this seemingly simple interaction. For local regulars, these terms signal identity as much as taste. For outsiders, they offer a quick introduction to one of the city's best-loved traditions.

The experience was designed to be memorable — a playful encounter that transforms a local culinary custom into an interactive cultural lesson.

Zhou's booth was among the busiest attractions at the 2026 Intangible Cultural Heritage Summer Shopping Month, which opened on June 11 in Suzhou. Held along Pingjiang Road, a canal-side neighborhood lined with white-walled houses and black-tiled roofs, the event forms part of a nationwide campaign featuring more than 1,200 activities held through late July, aimed at bringing traditional culture closer to contemporary life.

For Zhou, a former travel entrepreneur who once specialized in European tours, the plush noodle bowl represents more than a novelty product. It is part of a growing movement across China that is reimagining how intangible cultural heritage is preserved, presented, and passed on to younger generations.

Across the country, cultural entrepreneurs and heritage inheritors are increasingly turning traditional crafts, foods and folklore into collectible toys, lifestyle products and social-media-friendly cultural IPs (intellectual property).

The transformation of Pingjiang Road into a sprawling heritage marketplace offers a glimpse of that shift.

Creative inspiration

More than 100 heritage workshops and inheritors from across China gathered for the shopping month's main event, showcasing everything from embroidery and ceramics to weaving, sculpture and traditional foods.

Among them was Zhou's collection of plush noodle bowls, refrigerator magnets and blind boxes inspired by the local food culture.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhou operated a travel business serving Chinese tourists visiting Europe and international visitors coming to China. When global tourism ground to a halt in 2020, she began exploring opportunities closer to home.

"There weren't many cultural products that truly reflected Suzhou's local character and everyday life," she says. "I wanted to create something people could connect with."

Her workshop is located in the Dinghuisi alley in Suzhou's old town. Nearby, heritage masters regularly give public demonstrations and classes. Watching these activities, Zhou realized that many traditional cultural elements remained unfamiliar even to local residents.

"I discovered things I didn't know myself. If local people don't know about them, young people are even less likely to know," she says.

Although not an inheritor of a traditional craft, Zhou chose to serve as a translator between heritage and the marketplace. Food became her starting point.

"Visitors come to Suzhou for two things: the gardens and the food," she says, explaining why she chose food as her focus.

Inspired by the popularity of interactive cultural merchandise, she created products that transform familiar local dishes into collectibles. Customers not only receive a toy but also a cultural story.

Her first generation of plush noodle bowls attracted attention but struggled to sustain sales due to their relatively high price. Several rounds of redesign followed.

A second version added practical functions, such as card holders. The breakthrough came when Zhou combined several fast-growing categories in China's creative cultural market — blind boxes, plush toys and refrigerator magnets — into a single product that was smaller, more affordable and easier to collect.

Since the launch of the latest version in early 2025, sales have exceeded expectations.

She has since expanded collaborations with local brands, including Renchangshun, a traditional Suzhou pastry maker with a history stretching back more than two centuries. Together, they transformed products such as dingsheng gao and zhuangyuan gao, pastries associated with good fortune and academic success, into plush collectibles.

"My role is to help people take notice. Once they're interested, they can learn more," she says.