He spent nearly a million yuan (122,000 euros) to buy a large apartment in Zibo, an industrial city in eastern China's Shandong province. This man who calls himself Guam on social networks decided, in early May, to leave his hometown to cross and join, 1,200 km, a town that had never been talked about until recently.
He says he is not the only one who wants to move to Zibo, and his video explaining his choice has made the rounds of China, reports the South China Morning Post. Guan has thus become living and viral proof of the incredible burst of popularity that Zibo has experienced over the past two months.
The viral BBQ
Like so many others, Guan explained that he was attracted to this city by his love... barbecue. "Since March, there have been several Chinese influencers who have praised the qualities of this street food in Zibo so well that the city has become one of the main tourist destinations in China during this very busy holiday period," said Marc Lanteigne, a sinologist and specialist in Chinese political economy at the Arctic University of Norway.
The city is indeed known for this method of cooking and has more than 1,200 street barbecue vendors, according to the Zibo Barbecue Sellers Association contacted by the British channel BBC.
As a result of this rush to the new "capital of barbecue": the city saw its population double during the months of March and April. On April 29 alone, there were a record 87,000 train tickets purchased for Zibo.
A massive influx of visitors that pushed the municipality to take emergency measures. In late April, it built a "barbecue area," capable of accommodating 10,000 eaters who can distract themselves from concerts and shows held at any time of the day or night, Chinese business magazine Caixin reported.
The city has also decided to limit the possibility of booking in hotels during long weekends - especially the one around Labour Day which lasts from Saturday, April 29 to Wednesday, May 3 - to avoid not being able to cope with the human tide responding to the call of the barbecue. A fine has finally been provided to punish hoteliers who have inflated their prices by more than 50% since the beginning of the "BBQ boom".
This culinary tourism has been very good for Zibo's business. The city experienced growth that approached 5% in the first quarter, after experiencing a drop in GDP of more than 2% in the last quarter of 2022, recalls the American channel CNN.
Return of street vendors in China?
"At first it was a spontaneous phenomenon of people wanting to take advantage of the end of health measures, but it was quickly picked up by state media, which portrayed it as a good way to make ends meet or find a job in a difficult economic context," says Carlotta Rinaudo, China specialist for the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS) Verona. Several banks have developed specific loan offers for those who want to embark on the adventure of the BBQ stand, recalls the South China Morning Post.
For Carlotta Rinaudo, if Zibo could keep the monopoly of the street BBQ, it is "likely that it is the beginning of a wider return to grace in the country of street food". Several major cities, such as Shenzhen, Shanghai or even Beijing have announced the end of some restrictions on street stalls in the wake of the "miracle of Zibo".
This is an astonishing turnaround. Chinese President Xi Jinping is supposed to abhor this informal economy. "It does not correspond to the image of a China focused on e-commerce and the technologies of the future that it wants to project on the international stage," said Xin Sun, a specialist in Chinese economic policy at King's College London.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Li Keqiang, then premier, had called for street vendors to be given a chance as it was an easy outlet for the poorest Chinese, who were likely to be the most affected by the economic consequences of the zero covid policy. But Xi Jinping's entourage did not want to hear anything, partly because "the proposal came from the one who was then perceived as Xi Jinping's main political opponent in the government," Xin Sun said.
The fact that Li Keqiang was removed from the government in March 2023 removed a political obstacle to the return to grace of this informal economy. "Xi Jinping could support this phenomenon without giving the impression of conceding a point to a potential political rival," Xin Sun said.
Creating jobs as quickly as possible
Above all, the promotion of this activity comes at a time when "local authorities are under intense pressure to find ways to quickly create jobs," says Carlotta Rinaudo.
The poor are not the only ones to have suffered from the pandemic. The unemployment rate for youth aged 16 to 25 exceeded 20% in April. Never seen before in China. "The authorities see these jobs in the informal sector as an easy solution to try to solve the growing problem of youth unemployment," notes Carlotta Rinaudo.
For Beijing, it is also "a way of boasting on the international scene the ability of the Chinese economy to reinvent itself in the face of challenges," says Marc Lanteigne. The long-awaited rebound of the Chinese economy is indeed slow to materialize and "the government can thus argue that there are local initiatives showing that the country can bet more on services and tourism," continues the sinologist.
But like most phenomena born on the Internet, "BBQ-mania" should not last, according to experts interviewed by France 24. "It's like a medicine that you swallow to quickly pass a cold even if it tastes bad," says Carlotta Rinaudo. The fact remains that "the government considers this activity as an anachronism that will have to disappear as soon as possible," adds Marc Lanteigne. And all the young people who are currently being pushed to open barbecue stalls probably have other career aspirations. Even if the meat skewer sandwich with Zibo-style cibelle is, at the moment, the happiness of millions of Chinese.
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