After spending an evening walking aimlessly through Nanning Zhiye, let me say that this place is basicly what happens when you put a cultural theme park, an amusement park, and a night market into one space and then blanket it with neon. There are massive elephants looming over the entrance; oversized bronzed drums parked beside carnival rides; and fruit tea stalls selling drinks beneath same glowing rainbow light as bumper car pavilion. It’s bright, it’s loud, and there’s a lot going on here at once.
Zhiye in Nanning is not your average street food market. It goes all-in on the spectacular: every corner has a light installation or sculpture fighting for space. I hung out watching families hop on rides, got some snacks, and largely just gawked as I took in just how much was packed into one location.
Here’s what an evening there really looks like. You know you’ve stepped into something special from the get-go when you walk in through a huge red gate on either side of which are enormous illuminated elephant statues raising their trunks as if welcoming you to some sort of ceremony. Just beyond them is giant bronze drums, carved intricately and sitting right at your feet.
They are so large I had to crane my neck upward to glimpse the top of them. It was all too grand for most night markets, as if it wanted you to understand that this wasn’t simply somewhere where you could pick up skewers.
A Busy Mix of Lights and Food
Nanning Night Market
The decorations didn’t end at the main gate. Every couple of meters there were more drum, accompanied this time by carved elephant tusks. More pagoda-like arches hung with lanterns to mark off new sections.
The elephant sculptures clearly tie into Guangxi’s connection to Southeast Asian culture and region’s history with elephants. I got up close to it and found the detail surprising.
Each tusk and wrinkle was carefully sculpted. It was lit from underneath, giving face an almost-alive appearance thanks to the shadows. It’s certainly trying to tie into the region’s history and connection with elephants but executed much more like a theme park than a museum.
As I continued my walk through, however, installations began to feel increasingly random. Giant glowing pipas stood tall like monuments. Drums surrounded a mythical creature in one corner.
A glass box display of traditional weaving sat next to a carnival ride called “Disco Party.” There were flashing rainbow lights. It wasn’t exactly clear to me what the theme was, entertainment, cultural pride, both, something else? But I guess it didn’t realy matter because people were milling about anyway.
The main boulevard was lit by archways after archway of light. Dragons twisted their way up glowing columns, and neon signs led into restaurants with names such as “Music Art Restaurant.” It all looked designed to make you wander around aimlessly without really knowing where you were headed. There were stalls on either side serving drinks, snacks, and toys.
Everyone seemed happy to just walk along with no particular destination in mind. From one vendor, I picked up a fruit tea and just allowed myself to drift along with everybody else.
There was a lit-up full moon ring in the middle of a round plazuela. We walked past it before seeing a purple-lit bunny sculpture that looked somewhat out-of-place nearby. Then there was the whole-wall bronze drum display, a series of rows of drums that looked like someone had set up an art installation using percussion instruments.
It was all so large that you couldn’t really take anything in for very long, your eyes would jump from object to object, all glowing.
After a while, it all began to blend: the row of golden elephants, the futuristic space ride pods, the snarling werewolf sculpture… then the blue pagodas. There were also elephants, in various poses and sizes, both cartoonish and realistic ones. I never quite understood why they was the de facto mascot of the city (or if it simply just looked good).
The food choices were varied, from typical to insane. There was one noodle shop underneath fancy gates as if it were attempting to raise instant ramen, and another selling giant sculptures of noodle bowls, complete with chopsticks, outside its stalls. The main street went on and on: more lanterns, more dragons, more arches lit in varying colors according to your position.
In between all the food stalls there was also carnival rides. As we passed, a spinning scooter ride whirled past us; just a bit farther on there was a mural of glowing mountains meant to provide a photo op; and in the middle of one plaza stood a large sculpture of a goddess wearing a peacock headdress… Serene and still despite all the blinking and rotating that went on around her.
Yet, it was all really pretty standard rides. There was a carousel that glowed in layers of warm light and bumper cars beneath neon arches. A singing plaza sat around bonfires encircled by bronze drums.
Costume rental shops stood alongside toy stalls, and lotus-shaped lanterns hung above it all, adding another pattern to the visual noise. Most of the crowd consisted of families with children, and the whole section felt a bit worn-in from heavy use.
A neon-lit fruit tea stall served up refreshments in plastic cups decorated with fruit that was stacked high. Beside it was a shop specializing in ceramics from Guangxi.
Just outside of that, right near where I believe was the end, a roaring tiger statue guarded the exit. I grabbed another fruit tea because I wanted something new and cool, as it had been a while since I’d had one, and then I went home. It wasn’t bad.
It wasn’t great. But it was an excuse to stop for a moment and soak it all in one final time. Then, I was blasted by the noise and lights as I left again into the quiet streets behind the gates.
I mean it when I say: Nanning Zhiye is a lot. Like, a lot. It is sensory overload and all that.
So, if you’re looking for something fun and a bit out-of-the-ordinary (and maybe aren’t picky about a little sensory overload), then yes, it’s fun! Kids especially seem to love it. However, it doesn’t quite have the polish of a proper theme park…nor does it have the gritty charm of a traditional night market…it sorta lands somewhere in between…
But maybe that’s exactly why some people come here. Have you ever seen any night markets that are so much a blend of carnival and culture different than this one? I would be curious to know if this sort of set-up is common anywhere else or if Nanning’s really just doing there own thing.
