Three years on, China's barbecue city sizzles with fresh flavor

Zibo's 2023 visitors came largely for a single weekend. Today, two-and three-night stays are common. People are exploring districts they would not have reached on a barbecue-and-back itinerary: Zhoucun's merchant history, Boshan's glass workshops, the Qi cultural sites that predate the city's modern identity by two millennia.

Digital programming at the Qi culture documentation center and the China Ceramics and Glass Museum is designed to deepen that engagement further, offering interactive experiences that connect the city's contemporary appeal to the history and craft traditions underneath it.

Zibo's growth stems from its recent reputation for honest, unpretentious hospitality. Its transformation suggests the barbecue was never really the point. It was the door.