CBN Friday Special丨Sizzling Zibo: How an old industrial city becomes China’s “hottest” spot?

A freshly baked crispy wrap, rich dipping sauce, and a signature small stove for you to finish cooking the sizzling meat.

These are the “holy trinity” enough to get an old industrial city in eastern China’s Shandong province to rise to unexpected national fame, becoming the new “capital of barbecue”.

The city of Zibo, mostly known for its manufacturing industries, has emerged as one of the country’s most popular tourist spots.

Favored by swarms of internet influencers, Zibo has gone viral on Chinese social media platforms. The topic "Zibo barbecue" on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, was played 4.96 billion times by Monday since the city stormed the Internet for over a month.

Its barbecue is now so popular that thousands of people are making a culinary trip to Zibo — the city’s train station received a record 83,635 inbound and outbound passengers on Friday. In March, the small city with a population of 4.7 million saw 4.8 million tourists flown in.

The hype continued. Zibo topped the train ticket search chart on the 14 and 15 this month, Meituan data showed, with Beijing to Zibo train tickets for May 1 sold out in a minute.

What makes Zibo barbecue so special is that it does offer a distinctive dining experience. The skewers are 70-80 percent cooked before they are brought to the table, where diners can finish cooking them on their own stoves, offering an immersive dining experience. Diners are served flatbreads, scallions and other dressings at the table so they are able to assemble their own barbecue parcels, in much the same way Peking duck is eaten.

The barbecue suddenly went viral after a group of college students shot videos of themselves enjoying a meal and posted them on social media in late February. Since then, many people, mostly young, have flocked to the city from all over the country to try the dish.

Zibo is certainly not the only city in China that offers barbecue, or even the most famous one, and such an overnight sensation often wears out quickly. But the local government made sure that its newly found popularity isn’t going to be short-lived. So what did Zibo do to keep the heat on?

Zibo's seemingly sudden fame was actually steps in the making.

Tracking down the timeline, the rush originated from the crowd-gathering effect of cultural and tourism activities including a music festival, then celebrities tasted the barbecue and put their experiences online attracting young people and eventually leading to a wave of students from surrounding cities visiting Zibo.

On top of the star effect, Zibo plays to its advantage of low living costs. Many college students in Shandong have made concrete plans to enjoy Zibo barbecue at the least cost, and traveling back and forth by train for only 200 yuan ($29.1). So what better way to lure adventurous, hungry college students with a tight budget other than "tasty barbecue that makes you full for only 50 yuan!"

In an effort to make Zibo's barbecue the city's new calling card, the local government introduced a host of measures in supporting the barbecue sector. This includes distributing 250,000 yuan in barbecue coupons and designing barbecue-themed one-day and two-day tour routes for tourists.

Free barbecue maps and 21 shuttle buses are also being offered, so that tourists can literally "get on the bus to rest, get off to eat”. And a barbecue festival was scheduled during the upcoming Labor Day holiday.

This move follows another on March 31 under which the Jinan bureau of China Railway added a weekend special round-trip "barbecue tour" bullet train between Jinan, the capital city of Shandong, and Zibo. And tourism officials are even giving away souvenirs on the train to visitors.

Apart from going for the gourmet, tourists also went to scenic spots and historical sites in the city during their stay, Meituan data showed. The latest promotion gives visitors free admission to 10 scenic spots in the city with their train ticket as long as their final destination is Zibo, according to the city's culture and tourism bureau.

Local barbecue joints were quick to cash in on the Internet fame. Several restaurants said they were selling more than 10,000 skewers of meat, chicken wings or vegetables a day during the past week, especially on the weekend. “Even the air smells of cumin.”

On several streets, lines can be seen outside barbecue restaurants, which stretch for more than 100 meters on the weekend. Some tourists were told to wait for 160 tables in a queue at a Zibo barbecue restaurant and some said they had to try five different restaurants to find a place less busy.

In order to secure a dinner reservation at a reasonable hour, customers had to start queuing up at 4pm. By 8pm everyday, many establishments were out of meat and vegetables.

But Zibo did not fall into the trap of easy fame that dies fast where merchants cheat customers on price and quality for a maximum profit in the shortest time. A blogger with close to 18 million fans on Douyin took an electronic scale to 10 barbecue stalls in Zibo to test if he will be offered less than labeled. To his surprise, not a single one was caught short of weight and some stall owners even offered him specialties free of charge. Local people's sincerity and hospitality touched even more people online and again lifted the city's popularity.

Another key factor underpinning the success, is that local authorities reacted swiftly to market regulations.

A netizen complained on April 15 that she had been subjected to coerced consumption at a barbecue restaurant. In response, the local market regulatory agency promptly launched an investigation and, on April 16, issued a warning letter to standardize the pricing behavior of operators, reminding all merchants to clearly mark their prices and comply with the law.

It appears that all these efforts have paid off.

According to Meituan’s data, the local accommodation bookings in Zibo increased by 800 percent compared with 2019 for the upcoming May Day holidays, and keyword searches for "Zibo barbecue" on one platform increased by 770 percent year-on-year.

Train ticket orders for the city on April 14 doubled the peak levels of this year's Spring Festival travel rush.

More than 120,000 tourists are expected to visit the city of just 4.7 million during the May Day holiday, according to the train booking website.

The more popularity Zibo enjoys today, the more concerned people grow when the fad dies down: what can Zibo offer besides barbecue? Can Zibo keep young people, especially college students who came to visit, to actually consider to stay and work?

Despite the century-old history of modern industry, Zibo is facing the problem of industrial and urban transformation and upgrading. And the recent tourist heat may offer a rare opportunity for the old industrial city to do a make-over.

As the ancestral home of the Shandong merchants and having origins in the Silk Road, Zibo will work to develop its profound historical and cultural resources into unique cultural brands. As the birthplace of Qi culture, the former capital of Qi and the eastern porcelain capital, Zibo is a city with an 18,000 plus-year history and has 13 national key cultural relics protection units.

At the same time, technological upgrading, especially in electronic information, could also be the answer. Data show that in 2022, the number of high-tech enterprises in Zibo reached 1,374, and the city added 40 new "little giant" enterprises last year, many are in the electronic information industry.

And local authority has begun to make longer-term plans to help young talent settle in the city. A news release by the local government soliciting students from Tsinghua and Peking universities to visit Zibo for free dumbfounded many. Students from the two leading universities only need to pay their transportation fees, and the local government will pay for everything else.

Barbecue and tourism have limited influence on stimulating the economy. But this is an opportunity to get more people know Zibo’s enthusiasm and business environment, which will attract more investment and create more jobs. This is what really matters.

烟花三月，山东小城淄博，硬是凭借烧烤杀出旅游重围，成为互联网的“顶流”。

从3月初大学生“特种兵”们攻占淄博烧烤，到如今火爆全网。一个多月以来，有关淄博的热搜，一波接一波霸屏，完全没有停歇的意思。各地游客慕名而来，没有人能逃过社交媒体对“淄博”的推送。

这座原本不甚知名的小城市，在巨量关注汹涌而至的时候，是如何迅速应对，将短时流量转化为实体收入的？又是如何打破了互联网传播的“7天遗忘”定律，甚至让网友在多维度的“扒皮”之后，最终直呼“感动”、“不愧是‘好客山东’”的？

“火炉小饼加蘸料、烧烤灵魂三件套”，烧烤只是掀开了这座城市的一角，另类爆款背后，是当地政府的迅速响应和淄博人的全民努力。

连夜洗地、连夜换牌子、连夜修路，开通高铁烧烤专列、公交专线、推出大学生住宿优惠、高铁票免费换景区门票、加强市场监管、文旅局局长们“突袭”发礼物……淄博以“教科书式回应”稳稳接住了这波流量，网友纷纷喊话自己家乡来“抄作业”。

接待八方来宾的淄博人，骨子里的热情、善良、质朴和厚道，也让这波热度，更添了一丝不同的人文味道。

淄博市文旅局更是直言，“淄博，真的是唯恐自己有一点招待不周的地方”。

淄博到底有多火？

国铁济南局客运部负责人近期对媒体介绍，淄博烧烤红遍网络后，周末时间乘坐高铁到淄博吃烧烤的铁路客流旺盛。为此，在3月31日至4月2日、4月7日至9日、4月14日至16日以及4月21日至23日，国铁济南局共安排加开济南西至淄博间周末往返“烧烤游”专线列车24列。进入3月份以来，淄博火车站日均到达客流1.8万人次，发送旅客1.7万人次。4月9日发送旅客超过3.1万人次，到达客流约2.6万人次，创近3年新高。

携程数据显示，最近一个月，目的地为淄博市的火车票订单量，环比前一个月增长37%，同比2022年同期增长近15倍。淄博火车票订单量的增长，也说明前往淄博的中长途游客有显著增长，目的地吸引力的地域辐射范围扩大。

美团数据显示，4月14日、15日两天，“淄博”火车票搜索增幅位居全国第一，环比增长988%。4月15日中午12时30分，“北京南-淄博”火车票开售不到1分钟就被秒空。北京、上海、郑州、石家庄等地游客“种草”淄博的积极性最高，4月28日前往淄博的火车票已全部售罄。

与此同时，烧烤也带动了淄博甚至山东景点门票等生活服务业的发展。美团、大众点评数据显示，“五一”期间淄博旅游订单（含酒店、景点门票）同比增长超2000%。北京网友赵小姐提前准备好拔草攻略，第一天下高铁，直奔烧烤店；第二天游览周村古商城；第三天开启山东省内巡游。

据淄博市文旅局介绍，仅在今年3月份，淄博便接待了480多万人次，同比增长了134%，旅游收入增长了60%。

餐饮是此次淄博烧烤的主角，诸多烧烤店迅速火爆。一家街边小店的店主表示，中午时分，该店的肉品和蔬菜都已售罄。“我们无法接单了，现在没有菜品了。如果要吃的话，晚上来吃晚饭，我们下午补货，客人下午4点半左右来排队晚餐。”店主透露，目前该店每天起码卖出1万串烧烤。

而规模更大一些的烧烤店，同样面临“客源远超接待能力”的问题。

下午4点半，一家比较知名的烧烤店，店里近200多张餐桌都坐满了人。烧烤店门口原本有一片相对宽敞的户外场地，如今已经弯弯绕绕排起了几百人的长队，还有人架起了无人机，拍下这人山人海的热闹景象。商家说，这还只是个工作日，周末人数更是会翻好几番，肉不够卖、菜也不够卖，从早到晚所有员工都忙不停。

这一切，缘起于疫情之后，活力四射的大学生们趁周末打卡周边城市，淄博烧烤就是其中一站。

菜单显示，羊肉2.5元一串、雪花牛肉2元一串、五花肉1.5元一串、鱼豆腐1元一串、香菇、甘蓝、蘑菇等蔬菜统统1元。凭借亲民的价格、丰盛的口味，淄博烧烤逐渐成为大学生打卡必备，“一车一车的大学生周末奔赴淄博，空气里都是孜然味”。

那么问题来了：全国遍地都有的烧烤，为什么来到淄博就“火出圈”了呢？

首先，淄博烧烤确有其出位之处。

淄博是为数不多的、保留了独立小火炉烧烤的城市。上串之前，每桌先架起一个小火炉，里面放着烧得通红的木炭，七八分熟的串端上来，食客自己动手烤，口感自己掌握。

等烤到满意，拿两串滋滋冒油的肉串，先裹上蘸料，然后摊在小饼上，把签子抽掉，再放一段山东特产嫩葱，即刻有了“煎饼卷一切、卷尽世间烦恼事”的氛围感。

“大口感受着小饼的麦香，蘸料里花生芝麻和刚烤好的肉混合在一起，小饼让略微咸的肉变得适口，蘸料又提供了足够的香味提成，而大葱又很好地抵消了肉串的油腻，君臣互佐，相辅相成。”“淄博文旅”在推文里这样形容淄博小炉烧烤的美妙之处。

时下最洋气的围炉夜话，在淄博烧烤的火炉前，竟只是寻常。坐在餐桌旁边各自刷手机？这种尴尬不存在的。网友们说，淄博烧烤是更动人的是烟火气，是吹着小风、吃着烧烤、和家人朋友畅谈畅饮的欢乐时光。

更重要的原因，是当地给出了一份迎接流量的“满分答卷”。

淄博烧烤火起来以后，“美食之旅”的另一个目的地——八大局便民市场也成了新晋网红小吃街。而八大局以前只是一个菜市场，主流客源是追求实惠的老年人。发现年轻人也来到八大局市场排队买特产零食之后，当地政府连夜洗地、连夜换上了新牌子。

为了方便各地游客撸串，淄博对途经烧烤店的常规线路进行了重新摸排，让主城区常规公交线路覆盖多数烧烤店，还专门制定“烧烤地图”，额外增开了8条“淄博烧烤”接驳专线，旅客从火车站可搭乘公交专线直达烧烤门店。

3月10日，淄博市政府宣布举办首届淄博烧烤名店“金炉奖”推荐活动，针对参与活动的烧烤店，淄博市商务局定向发放烧烤消费券25万元；还计划成立烧烤协会，进一步规范烧烤店及产业链健康发展。

淄博市政府决定在“五一”前后举办烧烤节，并且把3月至11月定为“淄博烧烤季”，打通“吃住行游购娱”各要素环节，推出一批“淄博烧烤+”特色文旅主题产品。

3月31日，还开通了高铁烧烤专列，每周五至周日加开济南西至淄博间G9321次、淄博至济南西间G9322次动车组列车。外地网友直呼“惊呆了”。4月8日的“烧烤专列”上，淄博市文化和旅游局局长宋爱香更是带领淄博10个区县、功能区的文旅局长，以及红叶柿岩、马踏湖、周村古商城等淄博33家热门景区“代言人”，变身“淄博文旅推荐官”，为乘客送上各类文创产品和小礼物，“人还没到淄博，已经被文旅局长的淄博特产喂饱了。”

同时，淄博还以烧烤为契机，通过实施景区门票减免优惠政策留住更多旅客。

4月10日，淄博又放新招式，宣布9个景区开放“高铁票免费换门票”活动。红叶柿岩、马踏湖景区、博山陶瓷琉璃艺术中心、齐鲁欢乐世界等景区都支持电子或纸质版高铁票兑换门票。

淄博市高新区行政审批服务局特设立烧烤行业“一件事”一次办专区，推行专窗办理“绿色通道”，提供烧烤类准入VIP式服务。据报道，截至4月16日，淄博4月已新增烧烤相关企业170余家；数据显示，目前淄博市拥有烧烤相关企业超3千家，2022年新增注册企业470余家，增速达20.6%。

除了快速反应，淄博烧烤的热度更在于这座城市的久久为功。

2022年，淄博市GDP为4402.6亿元、位列山东省内第七。在2018、2019年和2022年，当地常住人口还出现了负增长。在人口构成方面，2021年发布的《山东省第七次全国人口普查公报》显示，当地60岁以上人口达到23.24%。为谋发展，淄博摸索出了吸引年轻群体的“流量打法”。

在2020年，淄博举行的音乐节等活动中，当地把青岛啤酒和淄博烧烤相互融合；2021年，在美食博主关于淄博烧烤的探店视频播放量破500万之后，淄博官方通过纪录片等给了烧烤更多的曝光度。

值得一提的是，在露天烧烤因污染和扰民被多地出台相关规定禁止时，淄博并没有“一刀切”。早在几年前，淄博当地便引导各区规划建设、让露天烧烤集中化经营，并引导商户使用无烟烧烤炉具。

“淄博烧烤”火爆之后，商家仍经受住了知名打假博主的考验，当地政府还发布了规范经营者价格行为的提醒告诫书，坚决禁止坑游客行为。监管部门加强了市场监管力度，在全市开展烧烤经营行业、酒店住宿行业等相关领域价格监督检查，从社会治安、食品安全、消防安全等方面开展守护淄博烧烤的护航行动。

另外，每周五至周日，在各火车站安排志愿者，为旅客提供交通、住宿、烧烤、旅游线路等咨询推介服务。

很多游客来淄博不仅吃烧烤，还会逛景区，比如陶瓷琉璃馆，已经成了新晋的潮流打卡地，参观人数最近创了历史新高。

事实上，淄博历史悠久，文化灿烂。在这片土地上，孕育了齐桓公、管仲、晏婴等贤主名相，产生了《管子》《孙子兵法》《齐民要术》等鸿篇巨著。著名的“稷下学宫”演绎了“百家争鸣”的千古美谈。齐文化“变革、开放、创新、务实、包容”的精神内核和独特品质，已厚植于淄博人民的血脉和灵魂。

淄博文化遗存浩繁，独具地域特色。这里有陈庄—唐口遗址、田齐王陵等国家级历史文化遗存，有始建于春秋时期、完成于战国时期的齐长城，有世界足球起源的蹴鞠，架起了沟通世界的桥梁。

旅游产业之外，淄博官方其实有一个大主意——希望留住青年人才。

淄博站和淄博北站，都摆上了人才招引计划，发放就业补贴、扶持自主创业、设立“来淄体验券”等等举措，让年轻人们一下高铁就能在显眼的地方看到。

此外，淄博全市38处青年驿站为符合条件的来淄求职、就业的青年学生，提供每年3次、每次2晚的免费入住，来淄实习、游玩、访友的青年学生可享受每年4次、每次5天的半价入住。

据了解，淄博青年驿站今年以来的申请人数，同比增长了2300%。

淄博市人社局更是在官微孜孜不倦地推介个人创业担保贷款、大学生就业体验日等就业政策。淄博官方表态，希望更多年轻人了解淄博、留在淄博。

这座古老的工业城市，正虔诚期待着吸引更多年轻人才，为了城市日后长远的活力，添砖加瓦。与不少老工业城市人口外流相比，目前淄博处于人口净流入状态。数据显示，2022年末全市常住人口470.59万人，户籍总人口430.78万人，也就是说，淄博人口净流入规模达到了40万左右。

淄博作为一个以重化工业为主导的老工业城市，近年来经济发展放缓，也面临着转型升级的阵痛，2008年，淄博GDP位列全国第32位，去年已下降至全国60多名。但与不少老工业城市相比，淄博的转型升级还是比较亮眼。

数据显示，2022年淄博全市高新技术企业数量达到1374家，比上年新增347家，科技型中小企业达1822家。新增国家专精特新“小巨人”企业40家，省级以上制造业单项冠军企业（产品）21家，尤其是在电子信息产业方面，近年来淄博涌现出了新恒汇、信通电子、智洋创新、淄博美林、兆物网络、卓创信息、亚华电子等深耕电子信息产业的企业。

千载难逢的机遇很难复刻，但淄博带来的启发却值得深入研究。

春天来了，旅游正变得如火如荼，其他城市能否也像淄博一样，在机会来临时，顺势跃起、牢牢握住？

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC

编委: 于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞

播音：李莹亮

撰稿：李莹亮

音频制作：李莹亮

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

21世纪经济报道海外部 制作

南方财经全媒体集团 出品

更多内容请下载21财经APP