7.75M Visits, 420M Yuan: How a Cup of Coffee Linked Hongqiao's Whole District

At a Glance (China Coffee Network): On the afternoon of June 18, as the Hongqiao Imaging Art Gallery was unveiled on the first floor of “Youxiang + Xinhonghui” in Xinhong Subdistrict, Minhang District, the 2026 Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival, which had run for nearly two months, came to a close. During this year’s festival, the core area of the Hongqiao International Central Business District recorded 7.75 million visitor trips, up 16.1% year on year, and sales of 420 million yuan, up 15.7%.

On the afternoon of June 18, as the Hongqiao Imaging Art Gallery was unveiled on the first floor of “Youxiang + Xinhonghui” in Xinhong Subdistrict, Minhang District, the 2026 Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival, which had run for nearly two months, came to a close. During this year’s festival, the core area of the Hongqiao International Central Business District recorded 7.75 million visitor trips, up 16.1% year on year, and sales of 420 million yuan, up 15.7%.

2026 Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival — Source: Xinmin Evening News.

A scene from the Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival — Source: Xinmin Evening News.

From ‘single point’ to ‘global’

Unlike previous editions, which were concentrated in a single commercial complex, the 2026 event map expanded comprehensively: more than 30 events covered the entire Hongqiao International Central Business District, creating a coordinated effect that blossomed at multiple points.

Relying on events such as the specialty coffee exhibition and the green bean competition, Hongqiao Pinhui recorded over 30,000 visitor trips, up 30% year on year, with sales of nearly 2.5 million yuan, up 54%; the “Niu Niu International Food Festival” at Hongqiao Xintiandi drew 590,000 visitor trips over five days and drove sales of 36.3 million yuan, up 12% and 13% respectively; the themed market at Noah Wealth Center posted sales of over 200,000 yuan and 15,000 visitor trips in three days; and the “Good Products from Baoshan” Yunnan plateau specialty agricultural market at Hongqiao Libao Plaza recorded sales of 210,000 yuan over three days and, more notably, secured 1.28 million yuan in intended orders.

The most eye-catching was the “mushanghai International Tech Burning Man Festival” held at the Hongqiao Ali Center, which drew 926 young makers from six continents worldwide and generated more than 12,000 instances of ecosystem interaction. These seemingly independent scenes, through the “super link” of a cup of coffee, were woven into a network where industry, consumption and culture resonate together.

Coffee-themed events across the Hongqiao business district — Source: Xinmin Evening News.

City IP Awakening

If past editions focused on boosting consumption, this year’s Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival showed a strong cultural self-awareness. A brand-new IP character, “Feihong”, made its debut, becoming another regional cultural-creative symbol after Minhang District’s “Chunshen Jun” IP. Through government licensing and co-branded development, “Feihong” ran through the entire coffee culture festival and, during the Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival, achieved a cross-IP link-up with “Chunshen Jun”.

The Feihong IP character at the coffee festival — Source: Xinmin Evening News.

“Without an IP, a festival is a once-a-year event for citizens; with an IP, the brand becomes a tangible ‘friend’ that can stay with them for the long term,” an official with the organizing committee explained. In the same period, the long-cultivated “First Cup of Coffee on Arriving in Shanghai” IP also extended its activity cycle for the first time, giving away coffee for five consecutive days at Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station, and entering office buildings and industrial parks on a large scale for the first time; over 13 days it gave out nearly 6,000 cups of coffee, more than the total of the previous three years.

Coffee culture activities during the Hongqiao festival — Source: Xinmin Evening News.

On the closing day of the festival, the Hongqiao Imaging Art Gallery was officially unveiled, and its inaugural exhibition, the “Love Coffee, Love Life” photography art show, opened at the same time. During the call for submissions, a total of 586 sets and 1,281 photographic and video works were received from across the country; the lens no longer pointed only at scenery, but focused on concrete faces — baristas, entrepreneurs, travelers and others. Award-winning works such as “Mangkuan Shuanghongqiao’s ‘Internet-Famous’ Coffee Uncle Li Jinhe” and “Fire-Roasted Coffee — the ‘Shuanghongqiao Coffee Uncle’ Comes to Hongqiao” brought the human warmth behind coffee to the forefront.

With the completion of the imaging art gallery, “Youxiang + Xinhonghui” will also continue to hold quality art exhibitions by seizing opportunities such as the CIIE, becoming a new diverse and open cultural landmark under Minhang’s “North First” strategy.

“From a first attempt in 2023 to being written into the district-level development plan in 2026, the Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival has completed a three-step leap from ‘event’ to ‘platform’ and then to ‘brand’,” said an official with Xinhong Subdistrict. “When a cup of coffee connects industry, talent and culture, it is no longer a simple consumer product, but something that carries the city’s ever-renewing creativity and inclusiveness.”

Source: Xinmin Evening News Author: Zhao Juling

Reprint Notice & Disclaimer: This article is reprinted from Xinmin Evening News. Original reporting by Zhao Juling. All rights belong to the original publisher.