Helping Build the "World City of Gastronomy", Jiaojiang Masters the Game with Three Moves

"Come here, come here! So delicious and fun! Pao Xia, Plum Blossom Cakes, Ginger Soup Noodles ... authentic local delicacies, all in one place!" During this Spring Festival holiday, the newly opened main street of Jiaojiang's Jiazhi Old Street was bustling with crowds, as tourists from within and outside the province flocked to savor the food and enjoy the scenery.

With CCTV's New Year Eve Gala being held in Taizhou for three consecutive years, Taizhou's culinary delights and beautiful scenery have rapidly gained popularity through the broadcast, attracting friends from all over the country to visit the coastal and mountainous Taizhou and indulge in its food. Seizing this opportunity, the Jiaojiang District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports has leveraged activities to generate buzz, projects to attract crowds, and services to boost consumption—these three moves aim to build the city IP of "Stay in Taizhou, Dine in Jiaojiang", making the city's 'bustling atmosphere' thrive and driving the improvement and expansion of consumption.

Move One: Competitions and Events Heat Up "Taizhou Cuisine"

"Taizhou's land is vast, and its seas are deep.The clouds and waters ever greet its green isles." Taizhou cuisine boasts both mountain delicacies and seafood treasures. As the main urban area, Jiaojiang has gradually gathered the 'mountain and sea' flavors of Taizhou with the influx of talent from all over the city.

Walking the streets of Jiaojiang, one finds shops specializing in local delicacies from all over Taizhou: Pao Xia(fried stuffed dough), Qiangao(stuffed rice cake), wheat pancakes, Mai Xia(dough soup), Shibingtong(stuffed pancake roll), walnut steamed egg, and wufan maci(glutinous rice ball)... Representative Taizhou cuisine restaurants like Xin Rong Ji and Pujiang Hui have taken root and developed here. Whether you crave the 'fresh and savory', the 'soft and chewy', or the 'sweet and delightful', in Jiaojiang, where both mountain and sea offerings are present, you can always find your favorite.

"Even the finest wine needs promotion. Last November, with the support of the Jiaojiang District Party Committee and Government, we launched the 'Travel in Taizhou, Dine in Jiaojiang' series of activities to generate topics about 'Taizhou Cuisine', deeply explore the characteristic Taizhou food resources in Jiaojiang, and build a 'Taste of Jiaojiang' industry chain, allowing more people to come to Jiaojiang and experience Taizhou's cuisine in one stop," said Zhang Guangmin, Party Secretary and Director of the Jiaojiang District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports.

On November 13 last year, the highly anticipated "Gather in Jiaojiang: Taizhou Cuisine Show"essay contest kicked off. The competition received an enthusiastic welcome from food and literature enthusiasts nationwide, garnering 600 submissions in just over half a month—68% essays, 10% stories, and 22% poems.

The winning entries were published on various major platforms, allowing people across the country to gain a deeper understanding of Taizhou cuisine and the stories and history behind it. Simultaneously, platforms like Wangchao Client, the Zhejiang Culture and Tourism WeChat public account, and Qunar joined forces to launch the "My Proudest Jiaojiang Food List," inviting people nationwide to vote for their representative Taizhou dishes in the three categories: 'fresh and savory', 'soft and chewy', and 'sweet and delightful'.

Zhang Guangmin stated that around building the 'Travel in Taizhou, Dine in Jiaojiang' city IP, a series of online and offline activities have been launched, keeping the topic of 'Taizhou Cuisine' hot. They hope to continue strengthening and expanding Jiaojiang's role as a 'Taizhou Cuisine Gathering Place', using food to connect beautiful scenery, enhance accommodation experiences, and unlock happiness, allowing the 'food on the tip of the tongue' to fully exert its multiplier effect and leverage, boosting common prosperity for the people.

Move Two: Physical Projects Attract Crowds for Quality and Efficiency Consumption

"The Jiazhi Old Street is incredibly popular! From the first to the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, there were long queues of out-of-town tourists at my stall wanting to eat Pao Xia; we could sell over 1,000 Pao Xia daily," said Ms. Lin, owner of the famous Jiaojiang snack "Lv's Pao Xia", on February 20th, while attending to customers and speaking with a reporter.

Not far away, Ms. Li, the owner of a candied hawthorn shop, although constantly busy, was beaming with joy: "This is my first attempt at opening a shop in Taizhou. I didn't expect to sell an average of 2000 sticks of candied hawthorn daily during the Spring Festival holiday. This fills me with confidence for starting my business in Taizhou. In May, I plan to rent a long-term storefront in the old street."

At the "Tai You Wei" shop at the northernmost end of the main street, representative Taizhou dishes like Ginger Noodle Soup, flat dumplings, steamed rice balls, and sweet potato celebration cakes are all available. Both Jiaojiang locals and tourists alike praise the Taizhou food here.

The operator of Jiazhi Old Street told the reporter that capitalizing on the boost from this year's CCTV New Year's Gala, they not only gathered local Taizhou flavors in the old street but also opened the "Tai You Wei" snack shop based on the gala's "Food Tasting" segment, perfectly recreating the delicacies featured on CCTV.

Also featured in the CCTV New Year's Gala was the newly upgraded Jiaojiang Yaoda Road Pedestrian Street. Whether on weekdays or holidays, it's always crowded with visitors. Both locals and tourists can find their own delicious food and fun in this trendy yet bustling district brimming with 'vitality'.

In recent years, to vigorously expand domestic demand, promote openness, and smooth internal and external circulation, Jiaojiang has put significant effort into expanding and improving market consumption, using physical projects as a lever and achieving considerable results: 3 Michelin or Black Pearl restaurants were introduced, 21 brand flagship stores and trendy shops opened; Jiazhi Old Street was selected as a provincial-level high-quality pedestrian street; Yaoda Road ignited the urban night economy; the seafood night stalls revived the old flavors of Haimen; the Qingjiao Market led new trendy consumption; and 4 districts allowed commercial outdoor displays, which have set a taste, boosted popularity, and become a scenic feature in themselves.

Move Three: Service Experience Helps the 'Bustling Atmosphere' Thrive

On February 22nd, the "Dine in Jiaojiang" hand-drawn food map was officially released, clearly marking dozens of Jiaojiang characteristic snack shops and seafood stalls. From now on, every tourist checking into major hotels in Jiaojiang can use this map to check out the authentic delicacies hidden in every corner of the city.

Since the recording of "Sail 2024–CCTV New Year's Eve Gala" began, Jiaojiang's culture and tourism department planned ahead. Focusing on Taizhou's goal of applying for "World Gourmet Capital", following the publicity heat of the CCTV New Year's Gala, and exploring the "Gourmet + Tourism" development path, they emphasized key public places like high-speed rail stations, comprehensive commercial complexes, and hotels. They worked on improving Jiaojiang's overall service level and carried out service experience improvements like food experience officer check-ins, food stamp collecting, and hand-drawn food maps. These efforts aim to harness the rapidly rising 'bustling atmosphere' to boost consumption.

Food businesses large and small in Jiaojiang are also showcasing their strengths. To attract customers, merchants are going all out, constantly innovating their dishes to provide more experiences for diners' taste buds. Wang Xingyou, President of the Taizhou Catering Industry Association and founder of Shunji Catering, said, "Taizhou diners are particularly knowledgeable and discerning about food; they especially pursue the freshness and original flavor of ingredients. On this basis, Taizhou cuisine continuously integrates and innovates, much like Jiaojiang's urban character of 'openness, magnanimity, and inclusiveness,' providing diners with a higher-level experience."

The next step for Jiaojiang is to set strategic goals for high-quality construction of a youth-development-oriented city, deeply explore the potential of urban industries, and build a "culturally qualitative city in the new era". Adhering to a striving attitude of "three comparisons and four efforts", with the integrated development of culture and tourism as the main line, and using "Travel in Taizhou, Dine in Jiaojiang" as the lever, they will mobilize all resources, gather all wisdom, and make extraordinary efforts to excel in six areas, continuously promoting the high-quality, integrated development of culture and tourism to stand out, shine, and achieve tangible results.

Translator：Jiayang Lin