‘Chicken steak brother’ turns small city in China into instant hit
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Street vendor Li Junyong, nicknamed “chicken steak brother”, has shot to fame and become a signature attraction in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province.
PHOTOS: SCREENGRABS FROM DOUYIN
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Expertly flipping over a chicken steak in a hot wok, 48-year-old street vendor Li Junyong, who has been nicknamed “chicken steak brother”, has shot to fame and become a signature attraction in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province.
His humorous interactions with tourists – such as “you can refuse me, but not my chicken steak” and “you deserve everything beautiful in the world, including my chicken steak” – turned the city into a trending destination over the recent Mid-Autumn and National Day holiday.
The popularity of Mr Li and his street stand has helped to boost tourism in Jingdezhen, a city renowned for its ceramic and porcelain products.
Figures from Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, showed that bookings related to Jingdezhen had surged nearly 70 per cent on the platform in the first three days of the eight-day holiday from Oct 1 to 8.
Sales of group purchases of glass-blowing experiences and pottery-making tours in the city registered year-on-year growth of 74 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively, on the platform during the three days.
Travel portal Qunar also proved the sales power of “chicken steak brother”.
Figures on Oct 1, the first day of the holiday, showed that the occupancy rate of Jingdezhen’s hotels grew 30 per cent compared with the same period in 2024.
Australian artist David Reid said in a recent video after visiting Mr Li’s chicken steak stand: “This is five stars... When you love something, you want to make it the very best you ever do, and as artists, we do that all the time.”
It is not the first time that small cities have become an instant hit during public holidays. Zibo, in Shandong province, went viral among tourists because of its delicious barbecue, as more Chinese travellers have shown an increasing interest in exploring niche destinations in order to avoid huge crowds of people.
A report from Qunar said that small cities, especially those with distinctive cuisines, nature and culture, were popular during the National Day holiday. It said that over the eight-day vacation, its users booked hotels in more than 2,000 county-level destinations nationwide, with the most popular counties including Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan province, Yangshuo in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Pingtan in Fujian province.
“China’s domestic tourism market is in diversified development, with both metropolises like Beijing and Xi’an in Shaanxi province and small cities or counties booming during public holidays,” said Mr Wei Changren, founder of btiii.com, a tourism-related financial news website.
Noting the great momentum of Jingdezhen and “chicken steak brother” during the holiday, Mr Wei said that the instant online hit will definitely propel the growth of the local tourism market, while it is necessary for the local authorities to seize the opportunity to improve their tourism products and services to turn the short-lived traffic into sustainable tourism growth. CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
