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In recent years, from Chongqing, known as the "8D magical" city, to Changsha, where there are many popular online cuisines, and to Zibo, where barbecue fans are popular, more and more cities in China have quickly become popular with their own characteristics, and even "gained popularity overseas", becoming a new channel for foreigners to understand China.

Where does the vitality and infectiousness of Chinese cities come from? What are the opportunities and challenges for the construction of youth culture in Chinese cities? How can urban culture be "exported"? Recently, a Dutch young sinologist and editorial consultant for Beijing Weekly, Pan Jisha, and Liu Jianghong, Vice Dean and Doctoral Director of the School of Cultural Industry Management at Communication University of China, visited China News Agency's "East West Question: Sino Foreign Dialogue" to engage in a dialogue on related topics.

Pan Jisha stated that the development and changes of urban youth culture in China are actually the growth story of the entire country: with the rapid development of the economy, the number of middle-income groups has increased, and the vitality of urban youth has burst out. Liu Jianghong mentioned that the new generation of Chinese youth has the characteristics of curiosity, openness, and collaboration. They pursue personalized consumption, which is one of the sources of urban innovation. In the future, we should continue to make cities trendy and cool, attract more young people to live and work in peace, and also allow foreign youth to experience the charm of Chinese culture.

The excerpt of the dialogue is as follows:

Pan Jisha from China News Agency: For Western countries, politics has already overshadowed many things, and they prioritize politicized narratives over everything else. When it comes to China, they seem to have forgotten about the 1.4 billion people in this country. But my millennial friends really enjoy watching what their Chinese peers are doing.

Fortunately, Zibo has become popular now, and the "millennial generation" of young people have flocked to Zibo to taste local barbecue, making Zibo the international news headline. The popularity of Zibo indicates that traditional Chinese culture is still full of vitality in the contemporary cultural field, whether it is in fashion trends, kung fu, or food culture fields like Zibo barbecue.

As for the phenomenon of people gathering overnight, I have hardly seen it in Europe. I believe that this is precisely the positive impact of the booming development and growing power of social media in China.

Liu Jianghong from China News Agency: I may use a sentence called "A thousand year old ancient capital that heals you with fireworks" to summarize the three characteristics of Zibo's "going out of the circle".

Zibo is a millennium old ancient capital. In addition to barbecue, Zibo also has a profound historical and cultural heritage, and is the hometown of famous figures such as Pu Songling.

The word "fireworks" points out the characteristics of Zibo's popularity due to barbecue.

As the ancient Chinese saying goes, "Food from all directions is nothing but a bowl of fireworks." Our so-called "fireworks" are not just food, but people can relax, speak freely, and taste life during communication. As Wang Zengqi once said, "I thought customs were the lyrical poems of a nation's collective life." Zibo barbecue is a lyrical poem created by Chinese people with enthusiasm and hospitality, which can heal people's hearts.

Video: [East West Question · Sino foreign Dialogue] Expert: The popularity of "Village BA" reflects the urgent need for rural youth cultural construction. Liu Jianghong from China News Agency: Currently, with the help of new media forms such as short videos, the Chinese popular culture exported to the world can be roughly divided into five categories.

One is daily cultural entertainment. Nowadays, many foreign friends still learn about China through classic images such as the Great Wall and pandas, as well as mahjong and martial arts in Chinese daily life. The second is film, television, and literary works. For example, the works of science fiction writers represented by Liu Cixin are loved by many foreign literary enthusiasts. The third is "Chinese style" cultural and creative activities. For example, the hotly discussed "horse face skirt" and many cultural and creative products that have already been integrated into clothing, food, housing, and transportation. The fourth is cultural products native to the internet. The game Genshin Impact, which is rooted in Chinese traditional culture, has been launched in more than 150 countries and is very popular overseas. The fifth is network culture. For example, the intangible cultural heritage "Paper Flipped Flowers" became popular on overseas social media through rap dubbing by foreign bloggers.

Pan Jisha from China News Agency: Regarding the development and changes of urban youth culture in China, I believe it is actually a story of the growth of the entire country. Economic development has driven an increase in the middle-income group, and once clothing, food, housing, and transportation are met, people begin to pay more attention to their personalized needs.

The development of youth culture actually reflects how a country continues to grow. The iconic event in this process should be the official appearance of "Chinese style". "Chinese style" means that China has shifted its focus from external global brands to internal ones.

Liu Jianghong: Indeed, Chinese young people are more pursuing personalized culture and have a greater sense of innovation.

The younger generation of urban youth in China has three characteristics: curiosity, openness, and collaboration. Among them, "curiosity" means that young people will learn anytime and anywhere through various means, full of curiosity and exploratory spirit towards the whole world; "Openness" refers to the gradual formation of their own thinking system by young urban people in the process of integrating Chinese and foreign cultures as China continues to deepen its opening-up to the outside world; Collaboration refers to the willingness of young people to advance a project through teamwork.

Based on these characteristics, the trend of urban youth consumption based on "interest" is becoming increasingly evident. That is to say, young people consume and participate in social activities more out of their interests and hobbies, rather than anything else.

Video: [East West Question · Sino foreign Dialogue] Expert: Youth consumption based on the "interest margin" structure is on the rise. China News Agency Pan Jisha: In 2022, young people in China, especially Generation Z, have become popular with the "outdoor style", pursuing a fashionable style of enjoying nature and breathing fresh air outdoors. In 2023, the urban style that combines "outdoor style" and sports atmosphere became popular. This is closely related to people's need to get close to nature and outdoor activities, as well as the new interests of young people mentioned by Teacher Liu.

In addition, in the past few months, an interesting phenomenon has emerged on social media - "matchmaking" socializing. It refers to searching online for "partners" to travel together, eat together, gossip together, and play mahjong together. I think this is another attempt to establish connections with people, and also a way for Chinese young people to follow trends and build their own culture.

In terms of urban cultural construction, the situation in Europe and China is somewhat similar. Young people are building new cultural trends through social media, but China's urban culture is more innovative and youthful.

Pan Jisha from China News Agency: As foreign nationals in China, the first thing we need to adapt to is the speed of China. China's speed is too fast. This is like something that takes three months to complete in Europe, and can be completed in three days in China. For example, every day when I ride my bike to work, I see some noticeable changes. Many friends have the same feeling as me. Taking Beijing as an example, we can travel through history every day by cycling, walking, or other means.

Sometimes, I can't help but stop and think, this place is really amazing. This is mainly because everything is developing and changing. The fashion, cuisine, language, "Zibo phenomenon" here, as well as various popular events online, all make life very exciting. Who wouldn't want such a life? I like living here, and my friends are just like me.

Liu Jianghong from China News Agency: Traditional Chinese culture needs to be creatively transformed and innovatively developed, which are two core points.

Creative transformation is about making cities trendy and appealing to young people. For example, many cities now have city concerts and renovated industrial parks, providing young people with social and leisure platforms.

Innovative development means making cities cool. I think this can be achieved through digital technology. A new trend among young people nowadays is the "check-in fever" in museums, and many museums have also launched the function of "online museums", which is also conducive to helping foreign youth get closer to traditional Chinese culture.

Pan Jisha: Urban construction must make people feel real and natural, not deliberately created. Maintaining authenticity and convenience for visitors is of utmost importance. Urban construction should not be rushed to success, but should be well planned.