Huang Yang is a native（本地人）of Zibo city in Shandong Province who works outside his hometown. He recently returned home for a visit and wanted to have some barbecue（烧烤）. But he failed to find seats in four different restaurants.
"A barbecue restaurant owner told me to come back on Monday, so as to leave the weekends to out—of—town visitors. Another restaurant owner told me that they had run out of meat. I've been eating barbecue for over 20 years and this is the first time I've heard something like that,"Huang said.
Thanks to social media recommendations, Zibo barbecue has become popular overnight. The small city was crowded with visitors on weekends for a taste of the mouth—watering dishes. Most visitors are young people, who share online their experience of traveling to Zibo to experience the city's barbecue culture, drawing even more visitors.
Behind Zibo's sudden fame（名声）are the efforts and services of the local government. To promote Zibo—style barbecue, Zibo has provided two dozen "special barbecue trains," where local officials would serve tourists themselves. Zibo's tourism officials have been promoting the city's food and attractions and sending gifts to tourists on the barbecue—themed trains.
At the city's train station, volunteers have been working at train stations to offer help. Buses are ready to take visitors from train stations straight to barbecue restaurants.
Another key to the success, according to Peng Han, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the Ctrip Research Institute, is that before Zibo became popular on the internet, the city had developed mature（成熟的）tourism products and service standards. For example, the barbecue—themed train services, bus services, barbecue map, the youth hostels that offer discounts for college students and the strict requirements for local tourism businesses were not achieved overnight, Peng noted.
Although Zibo is still enjoying the great fame, the local government has begun to make longer—term plans.
As the home of the Shandong businessmen and having origins（源头）in the Silk Road, Zibo will work to develop its historical and cultural resources into cultural brands, noted Wang Shenghua, a senior tourism official in Zibo.
