{"id":13890,"date":"2024-04-04T06:30:50","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T06:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=13890"},"modified":"2024-04-03T12:06:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T12:06:01","slug":"what-chinas-celebrity-cities-tell-us-about-domestic-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/what-chinas-celebrity-cities-tell-us-about-domestic-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"What China\u2019s \u2018celebrity cities\u2019 tell us about domestic consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of China\u2019s Qingming Festival holiday in April, Tianshui, a relatively small city in Gansu Province, saw travel bookings jump more than 20% on platforms such as Ctrip. Since March, tourists have been flocking to the city \u2013 previously mainly known for a series of Buddhist rock carvings and grottos \u2013 to sample a local dish: Tianshui malatang.<\/p>\n

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Malatang (literally \u2018numbing, spicy, hot\u2019) is a popular street food dish in which vegetables, meat, tofu and other ingredients are cooked in a spicy broth. Compared to hot pot, where diners cook ingredients themselves in a communal pot, malatang vendors cook the ingredients (usually after diners have selected them from tables or fridges, buffet style) and then serve them in individual bowls.<\/p>\n

Thought to have originated from Sichuan\u2019s spicy culinary tradition, the Tianshui version is equally spicy, with videos on social media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu showcasing bowls of ingredients tossed in shiny red chilli sauce.<\/p>\n

Tianshui follows on the heels of Zibo, which went viral<\/a> last year for its outdoor barbecue restaurants, as a city that has become an unlikely tourism hotspot.<\/p>\n