Erbin becomes popular, the Internet creates a new 5A scenic spot

Recently, Harbin's tourism industry has been booming. Let's take a look at the specific situation~

Harbin people are refreshing their understanding of their hometown in recent reports.

During the winter vacation in college, he often took his classmates from other places to visit Central Street and Ice and Snow World: "At that time, the main attraction was 'self-service', with a feeling of 'you've already bought the tickets, right? The things are here, go shopping by yourself'."

This year, the traffic came suddenly, but Harbin seemed to have prepared for it.

Flight attendants danced to welcome guests at the airport, symphony orchestras played welcome songs at the mall, Pegasus and iron flowers appeared on the streets, Oroqen and Ewenki people and reindeer came to the downtown area, drones pulled up a 5-meter moon on top of the Sophia Cathedral, hot air balloons rose over the Songhua River, and the plain Northeast frozen fruits in the restaurant were subdued by exquisite plating...

Daqi sighed: "I have never seen such a grand occasion. Harbin Tourism has given so much."

Aqiu from Jiangsu is one of the welcomed southern guests this time.

At the age of 27, he experienced his first visit to the Northeast and spent the New Year's Eve here: "I ate a lot of delicious food and felt a lot of enthusiasm. The snow scenery was beautiful. I took more than 1,000 photos with my camera. It was a great experience!"

Many tourists like Aqiu are flocking to Harbin, making this city take over from Zibo, Guizhou and Tianjin at the beginning of the new year and become another star tourist city that has become popular under the Internet ecosystem.

1. Celebrity Harbin

At the end of autumn every year, winter travel guides will be the first to be posted on major sharing platforms. Among them, China's northernmost cities, represented by Harbin, are often highly voted options. In the past few winters, it has occasionally appeared in reports and hot searches, causing a small wave. Aqiu decided to go to Heilongjiang, China's northernmost province, two months ago: "As a southerner, I have always wanted to see snow." At that time, the ice and snow craze was gradually emerging. Aqiu was worried about the increase in air ticket prices, so he bought a New Year's Day ticket two months in advance, departing from Shanghai to Shenyang, and then taking the high-speed rail to Harbin.

In the past few weeks, Harbin has experienced a public opinion storm, which now seems to be the starting point of "Harbin fever".

On December 18, 2023, Harbin Ice and Snow World opened to 40,000 visitors. Some tourists called for a refund because they had to wait in line for too long on the outdoor ice slides and Ferris wheel. That afternoon, Harbin Ice and Snow World announced that it would stop selling tickets for the day and set up rectification measures such as extended service, queue information reminders, and flow control. Harbin, which responded promptly to the pressure of reception and public opinion in the scenic area, quickly attracted more tourists.

Later, as a video of an ice slide with the theme of "I am not a child" became popular on TikTok, more videos of local citizens handing out hot packs on the streets, giving free rides to passengers, taxi drivers acting as tour guides, and tourists experiencing ice skating appeared one after another. As the New Year's Day holiday approaches, the impression of Northeastern people as "warm, hospitable, and humorous" is constantly magnified through short videos, and their exotic scenery, attractions, and food have added fuel to Harbin's cultural tourism.

Hagia Sophia｜Photo from interviewee Xiaoyang Haifeng

On December 29, tourist Aqiu started his journey at Harbin's Daoli Market, walked through the Central Street, which is a collection of various Western architectural styles, and saw the Saint Sophia Cathedral. During this period, he was impressed by the Northeastern cuisine, which was "large in quantity and affordable": "Fried tenderloin, fried cakes, sticky bean buns, candied haws, kvass, Madiel popsicles, spicy hot pot, iron pot stew, barbecue, Northeastern cuisine... I will come to eat more food next time!"

After watching the sunset over the Songhua River that day, Aqiu went to the bathhouse to experience scrubbing his body: "As a southerner, this is the first time I've had a bath and the first time I've felt my body so slippery." According to the short video, many tourists crowded into the bathhouse and lined up, and many netizens jokingly called it "transporting mud from the south to the north."

The next day, Aqiu visited the Baroque-style music gallery and strolled along Central Avenue. Snowflakes were floating in the sky at the right time: "Walking along the crowded Central Avenue and eating Madiel popsicles, I felt inexplicably romantic..."

Millions of people shared the romance in Aqiu's eyes. According to the big data of Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism, as of January 1, Harbin has received a total of 3.0479 million tourists and achieved a total tourism revenue of 5.914 billion yuan, reaching a historical peak in the number of tourists received and the total tourism revenue. According to Heilongjiang Daily, the sales volume of Madiel popsicles reached 100,000 in the three days of New Year's Day.

Ice and Snow World｜Photo courtesy of interviewee Xiaoyang Haifeng

The popularity of cultural tourism has also spread to surrounding cities.

The 11 children wearing orange coats from the Guangxi Nanning study tour were nicknamed "little tangerines". They visited from Harbin to Mohe, attracting the attention of many netizens along the way, and also brought the scenery of Mohe to the public; on January 4, the director of the Shenyang Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau solicited customers from the public; on January 5, Guangxi Nanning presented Harbin with 200 tons of tangerines; on the same day, the topic of "lending Phoenix to Harbin" in Shenyang once again increased the popularity of Shenyang tourism...

As the capital of Heilongjiang Province, Harbin has always been an important transportation hub for the three northeastern provinces, and many important attractions have to transit through Harbin. After two days in Harbin, Aqiu took the high-speed rail to Hengdaohezi to continue his tour. Many tourists would make the same choice as Aqiu: first reduce transportation costs by transferring, first arrive in Harbin to experience the historical and cultural landscape, gradually adapt to the high-latitude temperature, and then disperse to surrounding areas to enjoy the natural scenery.

"I like taking photos very much. I saw Hengdaohezi was very beautiful on the Internet, so I wanted to go and see it," said Aqiu. In the 19th century, Hengdaohezi was built due to the construction of the Middle East Railway. Many Russian engineers and technicians came here and built a large number of Russian-style buildings. They have been preserved to this day and are called Little Russia brought by trains.

Not only Hengdaohezi, but many of the surrounding rich natural scenery and exotic attractions are adding to Harbin's benefits, strongly attracting tourists from all over the world to come and experience it.

2. In 2023, Northeastern culture will go nationwide

Ashan from Hunan has been planning a trip to Northeast China since college.

In literary works, the vastness of the primeval forest, the mysterious legends about the five immortals of the Northeast, the blind bears in the long night and the extremely low temperatures have a strong appeal to a southern kid like him.

In the winter of 2019, he bought a big cotton coat and winter boots at Decathlon, looking forward to a "heart-breaking" trip. But the pandemic hit, and the travel agency he signed up with cancelled the trip, followed by three years of silence. During this period, the situation of the Ice and Snow World, which does seasonal business, can be described as bleak. It tried to attract tourists by lowering prices, and it also closed early due to the pandemic. Ashan's winter boots were also lost during the move, and the cotton coat was pressed into the bottom of the box.

"This kind of throbbing will surge up again and again in the middle of the night, especially when I see cooking videos of Northeast chefs." In 2022, short video bloggers made the boxed lunches in Harbin street shops popular, and the impression of Northeast cuisine's "simple taste and generous portion" was once again engraved in Ashan's heart. Ashan's favorite Northeast food blogger is "Big Mouth Chef Naoerge". He has gained many fans on the video platform with his unique video recording and speaking style. He has a "ruthless iron hand" to pick up the oil pan and a catchphrase "the little taste comes up in a moment".

The picture comes from Northeastern food blogger Naoerge‍‍‍‍

The romance of ice and snow in cold weather, the frank and relaxed interpersonal atmosphere, the high-calorie sugar and oil mixture bomb... Content platforms such as Douyin, Bilibili, and Kuaishou are enriching the imagination of many young people like Ashan about the Northeast, and are also accelerating the charm of Northeast experience tours.

In the spring of 2023, the suspense drama "The Long Season" was broadcast. It tells the stories of frustrated people in a small city in Northeast China during the wave of factory layoffs in the 1990s, and is known as the "Northeast Renaissance". A few months later, the Harbin-born band Second Hand Rose became popular again through "Summer of the Band". The band is famous for its curly hair, smoky makeup, red and green flowered jackets, suona, Northeast dialect, Errenzhuan and other musical elements. It combines Northeast folk customs with rock music, accelerating the yearning of young people like Ashan for Northeast culture.

Influenced by the rich Northeastern culture, the recent popularity of Harbin has made Ashan determined to take an in-depth tour of the Northeast during the Spring Festival.

Everything shows that this tourism boom is not accidental.

Rich natural landscapes and historical and cultural attractions are the foundation of a tourist city, and the construction of cultural tourism that matches them is not a one-day job. Over the years, literary and artistic works related to the Northeast have planted seeds of curiosity in tourists' cognition, and video content platforms have magnified the fun of traveling in the Northeast and spread the emotion of expectation.

As the first winter after the three-year epidemic, everyone was able to look up from the pain and depression. As a city with convenient transportation and more attractive cultural tourism in the three northeastern provinces, the ice and snow tourism boom finally broke out in Harbin in record low temperatures.

This is an explosion of culture, imagination, mood and seasons.

Music Gallery｜Photo from interviewee Xiaoyang Haifeng

3. Reshuffle of the cultural and tourism industry

In the previous year, "Harbin fever" had already occurred in many cities.

Internet technology and platforms have made many people aware of the treasures in the distance, and have also made many locals sigh: "I got to know my hometown again through short videos.

In March 2023, Zibo, Shandong, became popular among tourists from all over the country for its delicious barbecue. During this period, the Railway Bureau even added a barbecue train for Zibo. A series of operations attracted a large number of tourists and also boosted passenger flow in surrounding cities.

In May 2023, the Village Super League competition in Rongjiang, Guizhou, attracted tourists from all over the country due to its grand scale and warm atmosphere. The total number of tourists exceeded one million, driving local tourism revenue to more than 1.2 billion yuan.

Since then, Shijiazhuang rock tour, Luoyang ancient capital Hanfu culture tour, Tianjin diving uncle weekend leisure tour, Liuzhou snail noodle special forces tour, etc. have successively become popular due to good experience, high cost performance, and government cultural and tourism support.

In these tourism trends, consumers are inspired by major content platforms and have more and more reasons to travel: they can choose to visit a pharmaceutical factory in Shijiazhuang for the songs of the band Wan Qing, plan a "performance +" trip for a music festival, start visiting the vegetable market to feel the atmosphere of life... Whether it is food or music, consumers have begun to abandon the stereotyped consumption check-ins and are willing to pay for a life experience.

However, none of the cities favored by consumers gained popularity by chance, but rather they are the result of years of accumulation from various parties.

He Jing, director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said in an interview earlier: "This year's popularity is not accidental. We use Internet thinking to promote Heilongjiang in multiple dimensions on various new media platforms, and also invite some top bloggers in the cultural and tourism field to attract traffic for Heilongjiang ice and snow tourism."

According to her, the cultural and tourism departments have been paying attention to tourists' opinions, making quick feedback adjustments, and using empathy to make tourists feel comfortable and respected. Therefore, many tourists are willing to post their experiences online, bringing rounds of popularity to ice and snow tourism.

As cities become popular one by one, their cultural and tourism resources, supporting infrastructure, and urban heritage will also be examined by tourists one by one. If one is not careful, the wealth and prosperity that has been brought to their doorstep will be wasted.

In October this year, Nanyang, Henan hosted the Midi Music Festival. In the early stage, a large amount of manpower and material resources were mobilized. The municipal party secretary went to the train station to welcome fans and pulled out a welcome banner. Many businesses also spontaneously arrived at the scene to distribute food and water for free. As the video of fans shaking their heads in the mud spread widely, the enthusiasm and simplicity of Henan folks also became a hot topic on Douyin. But near the end, a theft incident once again pushed Nanyang to the forefront of negative public opinion, and all previous efforts were wasted.

After Zibo seized the opportunity to become popular with barbecue, it is now experiencing a cooling of tourism and a large number of barbecue restaurants closing down. "How to do a good job of market supervision" and "extend the vitality of tourism" are still difficult problems for many cities.

Although surprised by the popularity of tourism, Harbin resident Daqi is not worried about his hometown's future performance: "I'm not too worried that it will not cope well. After all, the ice and snow tourism business has only been around for a few years." With the accumulation of past tourism industries and innovative new media marketing, Harbin has finally secured huge wealth.

Author: Xu Jia WeChat public account: Hedgehog Commune