Across China, shopping centers grappling with the post-pandemic consumption slump and the rapid shift to e-commerce are overhauling their tenant mix and adding activities to cater to Generation Alpha, defined as people born from 2010 to 2024. Grandview Mall in Guangzhou has introduced magic shows, snow tubing, an aquarium and an indoor zoo featuring sloths, toucans and other small animals. Changchun’s New World Living Mall became the northern city’s top family destination after opening kid-friendly facilities and renovating its fake Venetian canal in 2022. And Chengdu’s Tianfu Garden City is starting to look like a theme park, with Disney-style parades and seasonal attractions such as an area designed to look like Santa’s North Pole. “We have seen operators putting together elements favored by young kids and their parents to make malls a central gathering point,” says Zak Dychtwald, chief executive officer of BridgeWorks Global, a research firm in Shanghai.