China’s barbecue boomtown: how Zibo fanned its fortunes with a food festival
- The eastern industrial city has struggled to shake off a downturn in its mainstay chemical industry
- A government campaign to tempt holidaymakers with grilled meat has buoyed revenue and raised hopes of an economic transformation
Before it became China’s “outdoor barbecue capital” for budget-conscious young Chinese travellers, Zibo was a little-known, rusting industrial centre struggling to keep up with the country’s rapidly changing economy.
The deeply indebted city in the eastern province of Shandong had been hammered by a drop in demand in its chemical industry, the mainstay of its economy. It has also struggled to retain its younger generations, who head out of the city for better opportunities elsewhere.
Then this year, city authorities launched a concerted tourism campaign to attract visitors with tight purse strings, dangling freebies for a “barbecue festival”.
The campaign worked. Millions of young holidaymakers from across the country headed to Zibo in search of flamed-grilled salty lamb in the weeks that followed.
Zibo has hundreds of barbecue restaurants and open-air stalls where diners can roast skewers of cumin-spiced meat over charcoal and eat them with chives in a pancake.
