To help arrest this decline, 2-meter-high vending machines that dispense Shanghai's classic time-honored products such as White Rabbit creamy candies and Tiger and Dragon Essential Balms are being rolled out across the city's tourist hotspots. In contrast to traditional vending machines that can only display products that measure roughly the same dimensions, these machines allow for a variety of shapes and sizes because they use a robot arm to retrieve the merchandise.

More than 100 of such machines will be available across Shanghai by 2016 and there could be as many of 1,000 within the next three years, according to Feng Jionghui, deputy general manager of Signature Lifestyle Co Ltd, the operator of this new project. Feng added that between 20 and 30 of these machines will soon appear in locations such as Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street and Yu Garden, both are major tourism spots in downtown Shanghai.

Modern designs that reflect traditional Shanghai culture will adorn gift packages containing time-honored merchandise.[Photo/China Daily]