DALIAN, China -- A shopping and residential complex originally modeled after the streets of Kyoto that angered locals is set to reopen in Dalian on Jan. 23 -- albeit with a markedly less Japanese theme this time around.
The facility first opened in August under the name of Tang Little Kyoto. Property developer Dalian Shuyuan Group had spent around 6 billion yuan ($941 million) and worked with a Japanese partner to replicate the footpath to Kiyomizu-dera, one of Kyoto's most popular tourist attractions, over an area of about 600,000 sq. meters.
The company had hoped to attract businesses serving Japanese food and selling Japanese products, from dish ware to cosmetics. But critics online compared the complex to Japan's wartime occupation of Dalian, calling it a "cultural invasion" of the city. Authorities ordered the facility to suspend operations that September.
It is now preparing to reopen under a different name and with new tenants highlighting Chinese, North Korean, Russian and Mongolian culture, according to store operators involved in the complex. Signs bearing Japanese names, like Hokkaido, have been altered.
Shuyuan Group aims to increase commercial tenants from the current 30 to 40 to more than 100, including a restaurant serving North Korean noodles.
Sales of the roughly 1,300 residential units planned for the complex are going smoothly, the company said.
Public opinion in China toward Japan has worsened significantly after Tokyo in 2020 expressed concerns over a sweeping national security law enacted in Hong Kong. A survey conducted last year by Tokyo-based nonprofit Genron NPO found that 66% of Chinese respondents had a negative view of Japan, the highest percentage in four years.
"Japanese-affiliated companies will need to consider how the Chinese public feels about Japan when doing business," one executive said.
