Hello, the pandemic is over. One of the cities in China that is going absolutely viral for its local party and bbq culture right now is Zibo, a former industrial town that just saw a 800% increase in bookings. whatsonweibo.com/the-hottest-pl…
How did this relatively non-famous town suddenly become an online hit?! Different reasons, but one is that it quarantined students from Shandong during zero Covid, treated them well, and they came back to celebrate Zibo and a new spring. It snowballed from there.
A night out in Zibo is a night of fun. This idea is now so prevalent that tickets from Beijing to Zibo for May 1st apparently sold out within a minute, making the town the no1 destination in Shandong.
There is an entire food trend regarding Zibo bbq now. Also, don't forget that Shandong people are really serious about their bbq and leeks (or should I say spring onions, I always get confused)
This was one of the videos in March of the initial groups visiting Zibo sparking the trend. If it's your birthday, be prepared for the entire crowd to celebrate with you!
Might share more videos in this thread later, but for now, you just gotta understand the major trend Zibo is right now so I explained it here: whatsonweibo.com/the-hottest-pl…
Proper Zibo bbq etiquette: this is how to do it 🔥 twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Lastly, this is the highspeed train that has been turned into a dedicated Zibo BBQ Express. You do have to give credit to Zibo tourism office, they really pushed city marketing to the next level! I'm seriously considering going there in June for summer BBQ and beer now. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
To end this thread and to make the Zibo marketing strategy complete: could've expected it, but there is even a song now, titled "Barbecue King" 😅
whatsonweibo.com/the-hottest-pl…
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