How can industrial cities walk out of the new road when Zibo is labeled as ＂Internet Red＂？

　　

A bowl of snail powder is a big industry. The annual sales income of bagged snail powder in Liuzhou, Guangxi exceeds 18 billion yuan.

　　■ Heavy industry city and cultural tourism food, which had little connection, have repeatedly collided with the phenomenal online celebrity effect.

　　■ The Red Star Capital Bureau learned that during this year’s "May 1" holiday, Zibo Station has sent more than 240,000 passengers, an increase of 85,000 passengers over the same period in 2019; According to the 2023 May Day Blowout Data Report released by WeChat, during the May Day period, the tourism consumption in Zibo increased by 73% compared with April; Weibo’s data also shows that during the May Day period alone, Zibo made 70 hot searches on Weibo.

　　■ The recently released GDP of Zibo in the first quarter shows that the recovery of its consumer market is faster than that of the whole country and province. Shandong waist city, which once had a weak sense of existence, has become the top flow of the whole network. In addition to Zibo, Hegang and Liuzhou, both industrial cities, also performed well in the first quarter of this year.

　　■ Can online celebrity effect be a shortcut to help urban development? The interviewed experts told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the promotion of the city’s popularity will have various advantages for attracting investment and will also drive a certain inflow of talents. However, it remains to be seen whether the simple "online celebrity effect" can drive GDP.

　　it is not unique

　　Hegang, a city in online celebrity, also performed well before Zibo’s economic recovery.

　　After the barbecue, Zibo’s first-quarter report card attracted social attention — — The recovery of its consumer market is faster than that of the whole country and province.

　　According to official data of Zibo, the city’s GDP reached 105.77 billion yuan in the first quarter, up 4.7% year-on-year. In the first quarter of Zibo, the consumer market showed obvious improvement in economic development, and the recovery momentum was strong. In the first quarter, the city’s total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 31.36 billion yuan, up 8.3% year-on-year, 2.7 and 2.5 percentage points higher than that of Shandong province and the whole country respectively. Among them, the sales (turnover) of wholesale, retail, accommodation and catering above designated size increased by 9.5%, 15%, 16% and 25.2% respectively, which were 4.7, 14.9, 7.2 and 19.8 percentage points higher than those in January and February respectively.

　　Zibo’s GDP growth in the first quarter was not entirely due to the sudden popularity of barbecue in Zibo. Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of International Joint Business School of Zhejiang University, told Red Star Capital Bureau that the barbecue explosion in Zibo started in March this year, mainly in April and May, and Zibo’s GDP will be even more brilliant in the second quarter. At the same time, Zibo’s local finance and local economy have blossomed, and the improvement of local business environment can drive Zibo to have a "flywheel effect".

　　Coincidentally. Hegang, another "online celebrity city", unexpectedly hitched a ride in the Internet era because of the price of cabbage for 20,000 or 30,000 suites, and gained a lot of traffic. In the first quarter of this year, Hegang’s data was also very bright. From January to March, the GDP of hegang, Heilongjiang Province was 7.46 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 8.5%, which was higher than the provincial average (5.1%) and ranked first among 13 prefecture-level cities in Heilongjiang Province.

　　A revelation

　　Can online celebrity Effect Drive the Development of Resource-exhausted Cities?

　　Zibo and Hegang, both important old industrial cities in China, played an important role in the early development of new China, and are now also listed as "resource-exhausted cities".

　　"The last time Zibo was so hot, it was the time of Qi." Netizens commented on Zibo’s long-standing "marginalization".

　　In fact, besides being the capital of Qi, Zibo is an old industrial base with a history and an important petrochemical base in China.

　　According to Xinhua News Agency, Zibo has a modern industrial history of more than 100 years. It is the only city in China that covers three types: resource-exhausted cities, independent industrial and mining areas and old industrial bases.

　　For today’s Zibo and Hegang, industry is still the main driving force for their development.

　　In 2022, the tertiary industrial structure of Zibo was 4.3: 49.8: 45.9; In 2021, the ratio was 4.3: 49: 46.6; Comparatively speaking, the proportion of the secondary industry has increased compared with 2021, the proportion of the tertiary industry has declined, and the primary industry has not changed. The proportion of secondary industry in Zibo ranks second among 16 cities in Shandong, second only to Dongying (57.8%); According to the data of the first quarter, although the proportion of the secondary industry declined slightly (48%), it still occupies half of the country, so it can be seen that "industrial city" is still the biggest background color of Zibo.

　　Compared with Harbin, an old industrial base in Northeast China, Hegang’s industrial genes are still strong. In 2022, the proportion of three industries in Harbin was 12.2: 23.4: 64.4, and it has been transformed into a service-oriented city with a low proportion of industries. In 2022, the proportion of the three industries in Hegang was 25.5: 38: 36.5. In addition, the industrial added value of hegang will increase by 9% in 2022, which is 8.2 percentage points higher than the provincial average, ranking first in the province.

　　It remains to be seen how much the online celebrity label can bring to industrial cities. Liang Ma, a researcher at the National Development and Strategy Institute of Renmin University of China and a professor at the School of Public Administration, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that there will be short-term effects, which will improve the development of the service industry, including retail and catering, but whether these can be sustained remains to be seen.

　　Where is the road?

　　How to stimulate long-term vitality?

　　Liuzhou path is difficult to copy.

　　Zibo’s barbecue is on fire. How to stimulate the city’s longer-term economic vitality is a real proposition outside the barbecue label.

　　Zibo is not the first industrial city to put on the "Red Label of Food Network". Liuzhou, the hometown of snail powder, is the largest industrial city in Guangxi, and its data in the first quarter of 2023 also shows the strength of the tertiary industry in Liuzhou. The added value of the primary industry was 2.444 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%; The added value of the secondary industry was 29.207 billion yuan, an increase of 3.1%; The added value of tertiary industry was 41.603 billion yuan, up by 4.1%. The added value of tertiary industry accounts for 3.3: 39.9: 56.8, and the tertiary industry accounts for nearly 60%.

　　Although it is an industrial city like Zibo, Liang Ma believes that Liuzhou has stronger "vitality". "Snail powder is sold through e-commerce, and its related industries, such as planting, production, sales, marketing, etc., have now started on a scale and formed a brand, and its continuous influence will be further amplified." Snail powder is an industry that can radiate without coming to Liuzhou. "Liuzhou has found a sustainable path, and now it doesn’t need the online celebrity label, because everyone has formed a brand recognition, and a group of consumers have the consumption habit of buying snail powder." But barbecue in Zibo is not yet. Liang Ma explained that Zibo’s supporting facilities are barbecue-centered, and you need to go to the local place to punch in to create output value.

　　Ren Zeping, an economist, said that in recent years, people from all walks of life in Shandong have obviously improved their sense of crisis and enterprising spirit for development. Zibo is a typical case. Ren Zeping believes that innovation drives high-quality development and Shandong lacks new economy, new industries, new technologies and new ideas. I hope Shandong can seize the new opportunity of the new round of industrial technology revolution and realize lane change and overtaking.

　　Fortunately, despite the label of online celebrity, Zibo and Hegang, as industrial cities, are also actively seeking the road of transformation.

　　Last July, China Graphite Group (02237.HK) was listed in Hongkong, becoming the first listed company in Hegang. Zibo regards the "four strong" industries of new materials, intelligent equipment, new medicine and electronic information as the main direction of the transformation of old and new kinetic energy in industry — — It is proposed that by 2025, the added value of the "four strong" industries will account for 55% and 42% of the regional GDP respectively, and the modern service industry will account for 60% of the added value of the service industry.

　　At the same time, with the help of online celebrity label, both Zibo and Hegang have made full efforts in attracting investment this year.

　　Online celebrity effect is favorable for attracting investment, which is the most important aspect that Liang Ma thinks. "The popularity has increased, so that those who may not have paid attention to the industrial structure of this city in the past are willing to invest in attracting investment. It may also promote the development of its own traditional industry or manufacturing industry, and it will also bring about this increase in output value. "

　　In addition, the advantage lies in talent attraction. "The popularity of the city has increased, and everyone may also be concerned about investment or employment opportunities. These two aspects are more critical." Liang Ma pointed out that barbecue brings more soft power to Zibo, making barbecue an opportunity to ride the wind, continuously strengthening city publicity and brand promotion, and keeping its popularity at a high level, which is very likely for Zibo to become a new second-tier city.