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Harbin has been one of the early marketing success stories of China in 2024.
The capital of Heilongjiang province has welcomed huge numbers of tourists in recent weeks.
They are heading to the northern city to see its famed International Ice and Snow Festival (哈尔滨国际冰雪节).
According to official data, Harbin welcomed over 3 million tourists during the three-day New Year holiday in January.
That generated nearly 6 billion yuan in tourism revenues for the city, five times that of its southern competitor, Sānyà 三亚, the popular destination in Hainan.
The tropical tourist hot spot welcomed only 563,000 tourists, generating revenues of just over 1 billion yuan.
Harbin’s success follows the social media excitement around another northern city which we discussed last summer.
The city of Zībó 淄博 in Shandong province became an overnight sensation as the hottest destination for barbecue (淄博烧烤), with thousands of tourists flocking to the city in May last year.
Seeing the huge popularity of Harbin and Zibo, other cities and provinces in China are trying to replicate the success.
Seeing Harbin being hit by the "flood of wealth," many cities across the country have followed suit, hoping to get a slice of the pie.
But some controversies and even doubts have also been voiced, with some even sending a plea: "Local culture and tourism bureaus, please stop coming up with outrageous ideas."
眼看着哈尔滨被“泼天的富贵”砸中，全国多地城市也跟风抄起了作业，希冀分一杯羹。但火了之后，一些争议乃至质疑声也开始出现，甚至有声音指出——“求各地文旅局不要瞎折腾了”。
So it’s not just about making noise online and sharing video content.
Planning and effective social media engagement are key.
In Harbin’s case, the campaign began in September last year with the hugely popular short video, “My surname is Ha” (我姓哈).
The first character of Harbin's name became its surname.
Now the city is affectionately known by its “name,” Erbin 尔滨, humanising it.
Other destinations are taking a similar approach with video shorts using the formula, "My surname is..." (我姓…).
As "Erbin" became the first internet celebrity in 2024, netizens from all over the country couldn't sit still.
They called upon their hometown's cultural and tourism bureau to "come and do the same". [2]
随着“尔滨”成为2024开年首个“顶流”，各地网友坐不住了，纷纷喊话家乡文旅局“快来抄作业”。[2]
Local officials are also prominent in some campaigns:
In this round of local tourism marketing competition after Harbin's success, most of them are directly "organised" by the administrative branch represented by the director of culture and tourism, sparing no effort to show "what I have" to the outside world.
Yet it sorely lacks the word-of-mouth recommendation from tourists that have visited those places, which is more convincing in marketing. To a certain extent, they get it completely wrong about how to create “internet-celebrity cities”. [1]
步哈尔滨之后的这轮地方文旅营销大比拼，多数是以文旅局长为代表的行政之手在直接“整活”，不遗余力地向外界展示“我有什么”，而更具营销效力的游客实地体验后的种草与口碑支撑却严重不足。一定程度上说，这恰恰是把“网红城市”的制造逻辑给搞反了。[1]
Some marketing campaigns have been criticised and even removed from social media channels.
Such as Yúntái 云台, a city in Henan, whose pitch to tourists was a group of topless musclemen posing in front of a waterfall. It was criticised as a "beautiful man trap" (美男计 měinánjì).
The background: During the Warring States period, Duke Xian of Jin (晋献公) despatched a handsome man to the State of Yu (虞国) to speak ill of a minister of that state, eventually causing him to leave and opening up the State of Yu for attack.
There are also questions about how effective these marketing campaigns actually are at driving economic growth.
One report suggests Zibo achieved a year-on-year GDP growth of 5.2% in 2023, which is 0.8% lower than the average for Shandong Province last year.
So, that's what we're discussing this week!
Favourite Five
1. 魔性 mó xìng
tacky but with irresistible charm
只用几十秒、一分钟，不耽误大家时间，还很魔性，顺应了短视频的传播特点 - It takes only less than a minute to watch and it has an irresistible charm, ticking all the boxes for a short video to go viral. [2]
Note: An internet slang term.
Related:
喊麦 hǎn mài - ‘shouting mic’’ which is the style of video short used by Harbin and others.
洗脑 xǐ nǎo - “brainwashing” - an extremely catchy tune
2. 显眼包 xiǎn yǎn bāo
eye catching
各地文旅争当显眼包，在互联网平台上各显神通 - Various culture and tourism bureaus vie to stand out, showcasing the uniqueness of their cities on online platforms. [2]
3. 整活儿 zhěng huó’r
do something unusual that can appeal to the audience
应该肯定的一点是，受哈尔滨的“刺激”后，各地文旅部门开始各种“整活” - One thing for sure is that culture and tourism bureaus across the country have resorted to all kinds of tactics after being shocked by Harbin's success. [1]
Note: An internet slang term originally from online gaming.
4. 流量至上 liú liàng zhì shàng
online traffic is king
由此所展现出的一种只要能火就可以“豁出去”的“流量至上”的思维 - This reveals the belief that "online traffic is king": as long as it can go viral, we're willing to go all out.[1]
Related:
火 huǒ - trending, popular
出圈 chū quān - going beyond the traditional scope
蹭热点 cèng rè diǎn - capitalise on hot topics
5. 泼天的富贵 pō tiān de fù guì
a flood of unexpected wealth
眼看着哈尔滨被“泼天的富贵”砸中，全国多地城市也跟风抄起了作业 - Seeing Harbin being hit by the "flood of wealth," many cities across the country have followed suit to do the same. [1]
Related:
一杯羹 yì bēi gēng - share the spoils, get a slice of the pie
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 秀 xiù
showcase, display
很多地方的文旅局长们纷纷出镜秀个人才艺 - Many culture and tourism bureau chiefs are appearing in front of the camera to showcase their personal talents. [1]
Related:
个人秀 gè rén xiù - individual talent show
7. 造梗 zào gěng
create internet memes
拍土味视频造梗等营销方式层出不穷 - They resorted to various marketing methods, including shooting tacky videos to create memes. [1]
Related:
玩梗 wán gěng - playing with internet memes
8. 跟风 gēn fēng
follow the trend
把握合理边界，而不是一味跟风“卷”到底 - It is important to know what they can do and what they should not do, instead of blindly following the trend and engaging in endless competition. [1]
Note: This has negative connotations.
9. 噱头 xué tóu
gimmick, publicity stunt
通过某个噱头让文旅局长或者说一个地方在网上赚一些流量和人气，并不等于网友就会变身游客前往 - Gaining some online traffic and popularity for a culture and tourism bureau chief or a place through a gimmick does not necessarily mean that netizens will be turned into actual tourists. [1]
10. 端着 duān zhe
arrogant, out of touch
在一些业内人士看来，以往文旅营销是“端着的”，现在它开始放低身段，变得接地气 - In the eyes of some industry insiders, tourism marketing used to be quite out of touch, but now it's starting to lower its posture and become more grounded. [1]
11. 宰客 zǎi kè
overcharge customers
如今不少地方爆出“宰客”等现象后，往往是文旅局长们出面放“狠话” - Nowadays, when incidents like "overcharging customers" surface in many places, culture and tourism bureau chiefs often come forward with strong statements. [1]
Three-character phrases
12. 瞎折腾 xiā zhē teng
senseless messing around
