It’s like a Shandong ‘Disneyland,’ but with more people and longer lines. The city of Zibo has become a major tourist attraction, filled with lively atmosphere, cheap BBQ, and friendly people. But local business owners also face the downsides of operating in a city that has become so extremely popular.

The city of Zibo just keeps trending. After the Shandong city – known for its BBQ – suddenly became an online sensation and a super popular destination among young Chinese travelers, there has been a lot of discussion surrounding it.

The trend basically started with viral videos showing festive party scenes from Zibo in early April. After spending time in Zibo during ‘zero Covid’ quarantine, groups of Shandong students had returned to the city, allegedly as a way to thank Zibo for their hospitality and to boost local economy.

As Zibo BBQ scenes went trending, the snowball effect had begun and more people flocked to the city, wanting to get in on the hype and experience a night of Zibo BBQ themselves.

Zibo’s city marketing played a crucial role in promoting the trend, as they arranged special ‘Zibo BBQ’ high-speed trains (烧烤专列) and ‘BBQ buses’ – including souvenir gift bags – to enable convenient and fast travel for those coming to visit the city. They organized groups of volunteer service teams on the streets to assist and made sure police and medical teams are on standby at all hours of the day.

Chinese state media further boosted the Zibo trend by highlighting its success as a sign of post-Covid economic recovery of local tourism.

A Xinhua post about Zibo on Twitter, May 6, 2023.

Initially, online discussions focused on the lively scenes from Zibo and on how the city had managed to become such a viral hit.

But over the past week, there have been trending discussions that focus more on the downside of Zibo’s popularity. We previously translated a critical essay by Song Zhibiao which was (re)posted by Chinese professor Liu Yadong. The article condemned the Zibo hype for being superficial a sign of a greater societal problem.

Now, there is more focus on how the BBQ hype is affecting local business owners and residents. The “victims” (“受害者“) of Zibo’s sudden popularity are overworked BBQ sellers and those who lost their peaceful lifestyle in the industrial city due to tourists overcrowding the streets.

One of the reasons why Zibo’s popularity has raised so many questions is because the city was actually never known as a tourist destination. Its history and food culture were not particularly famous.

Actually, Zibo’s BBQ hype is not about a long-standing or renowned barbecue culture at all – it is about the lively atmosphere and social spectacle that comes with the BBQ scene, which mostly became a hit among domestic tourists due to the reputation of Zibo business owners being friendly and hospitable, and the prices being low.

But it is exactly those things, namely the city’s hype and its reputation for being cheap and friendly, that are are also its Achilles heel.

Low Prices, High Expectations

On May 4th, one Weibo post by a blogger who visited Zibo attracted a lot of online attention (#24人吃淄博烧烤花760元#). The person, a Shanghai-based creator with 1,5 million followers, described how they had spent 760 yuan ($110) on a Zibo BBQ dinner with a group of 24 people, so spending just a little over 30 yuan (or $4.5) per person.

Despite the low price, the blogger suggested that the prices in Zibo were “expensive” and that “the business owner must have made a lot of money.”

The post triggered a lot of discussion on the unrealistic expectations people have of Zibo. One top commenter wondered if the blogger had expected to receive money for having BBQ dinner with 24 people.

The blogger later apologized, saying that the sarcastic tone of the post had been misunderstood and the prices in Zibo actually are low and affordable.

The entire topic led to online discussions about people having unrealistic expectations about prices in Zibo, which then led to more people saying they would like to go to Zibo – only futher accelerating the trend.

Tempest in a Teapot

With all eyes on Zibo, it seems that any small issue can cause a social media storm these days.

One woman recently posted about finding a blade in her Zibo food, attracting a lot of attention. Although many netizens believed the post was fake and only done for clout, it did lead to local authorities investigating the case.

A post about finding a blade in Zibo bbq food went viral.

Another shop owner also became a victim of a blogger trying to smear her Lao Sun BBQ Restaurant business. On a night in April, a female tourist dined at the restaurant and took a drink and cookies from the restaurant without asking. When the boss charged her for it as part of the bill, she became upset and accused the shop of overcharging her for dipping sauce.

The issue became so big that the BBQ restaurant, that has been in business for three decades, started receiving thousands of harassing phone calls and abusive comments. Their shop was even temporarily blacklisted by local authorities before the owner could set the record straight (link).

Then there was a viral story about a local shop owner turning customers away due to limited capacity, and being accused of purposely discriminating against non-local visitors.

The owner broke down and apologized on his knees, allegedly because he felt he needed to uphold Zibo’s reputation (video). According to Chinese media, he has only been sleeping four hours every night in light of the Zibo craze.

When Hype Goes Wrong

For some, the Zibo craze has gone so far that they can no longer safely operate their business.

One small BBQ shop in Zibo recently went viral after its owner was filmed enjoying some quiet time in a folding lounge chair while his restaurant was empty. As soon as the video spread on social media, the shop’s name and location were shared, and people flocked to the location.

The owner of a small Zibo restaurant (金岭日日鲜牛肉店铺) was filmed chilling in his lounge chair.

In a matter of days, the store found itself unable to cope with the influx of people, leading the owner to declare that the shop was swamped and incapable of servicing such a large number of customers. The neighboring streets were unable to accommodate the traffic.

If you now search for the store on Douyin, you’ll find dozens of videos showing vloggers in front of the small restaurant and customers already lining up in front of it at 6.30 in the morning.

Visitor posing in the lounge chair in which the business owner was relaxing in a video that went viral.

Another case that went particularly trending is that of a business owner named Yi Yang selling duck in Zibo. In late April, one female visitor made a video while visiting his shop in which she asked Yi Yang if she could touch his muscles. After Yi Yang nodded, the woman reached out and touched his muscles.

Screenshots of the video through which Yi Yang unwillingly became an online celebrity.

This video then went viral and turned Yi Yang into an overnight celebrity. Although his hit status initially boosted sales, the crowds of people coming to his shop soon became so overwhelming that he could no longer run his business as usual (see video). As thousands of people came by his shop at all hours of the day, some even started harassing and physically assaulting the small business owner to get a chance to take photos with him.

As thousands of people gathered around his shop, Yi Yang was unable to continue working and closed his business.

As Yi Yang’s business temporarily closed, he is seeing significant losses and recently did a livestream in which he got choked up over his predicament (#淄博鸭头小哥直播中气到落泪#).

Party newspaper People’s Daily even published an article about the issue, condemning the exploitation of those who suddenly go viral overnight.

Time for Zibo to Cool Down?

From blocked streets to overworked shop owners, there are many signs that it is time for Zibo’s hype to cool down a bit. With the May day holiday behind us and the Zibo trend reaching its peak, this might inevitably happen anyway.

Some business owners have their own approach to making sure their shop is not hyped too much. One BBQ seller recently attracted attention for leaving 17 negative online reviews on his own business. It actually did not work: the system marked them as spam, deleted them, and it went viral anyway (#烧烤店老板为劝退游客自刷17个差评#).

Despite recent worries surrounding Zibo’s popularity, there are also many people who hope that other cities in China can also replicate its success, calling the ‘Zibo phenomenon’ the “hope of China” and a sign of a promising future for other smaller cities.

Financial writer Wu Xiaobo (吴晓波) recently wrote an article (“The Metaphor of Zibo BBQ”/”淄博烧烤的隐喻“) in which he stated that the popularity of Zibo represents a new model of democratic, free market governance that emphasizes public participation and shared responsibility, facilitated by the local government.

However, Weibo knowledge blogger ‘PYGZ’ (@平原公子赵胜) disagrees. In his recent Weibo post, he argues that people should not be naieve about Zibo’s success. According to PYGZ, the city’s popularity is not so much about the people and a free market, but about the government and strict oversight.

PYGZ points out that Zibo’s success can be attributed to its government’s implementation of special tourist transport, a ban on hotel price increases, police patrol teams, food quality control, countermeasures to an inflation in prices, ensuring fair treatment of tourists, and many other top-down measures. According to PYGZ, Zibo has flourished not because the government has let go of control, but because it has strongly overseen the latest developments.

Viewing Zibo’s success in this light, the government is likely to guide and counter the overhype of the city. Eventually, the cooling down of the Zibo trend will result from a combination of factors, including the waning of social media frenzy, the government’s efforts to control the hype and promote a more sustainable trend, and business owners taking necessary measures to get some much-needed rest.

By Manya Koetse, with contributions by Zilan Qian

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