My friend Professor Yu Zucheng said to me: I never expected that Zibo would emerge from the economic dilemma after the epidemic. As a Shandong native, I am very happy to hear this. For some time, the reputation of Shandong people has not been very good.

But surprisingly, Zibo in 2023 actually destroyed some of my stereotypes. Zibo, suddenly let me feel both strange and familiar. The barbecue in Zibo actually burned the whole of China to the boil, and the whole network was baked hot. Zibo has become a big mystery in my heart of Shandong people. Because in my impression, there are not many cities in Shandong that dare to do things like Zibo to hide wealth from the people and dare to say no to a one-off deal.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can say there are many reasons for Zibo's emergence in 2023. But there are several reasons that I, a Shandong native, find unforgettable.

Zibo's barbecue has a long history, while other cities rely on civilized means to "squeeze" the barbecue out of the urban space in the logic of fine management, Zibo's barbecue has miraculously survived. My sister, who works in Zibo, told me that the local government has never banned barbecue on the grounds of environmental protection and refined management. I think this is both the grace of Zibo, but also the temperature of Zibo.

Surviving the barbecue is just a premise, not enough to make Zibo out of the ring. Therefore, some people said that after the end of the epidemic, the local government felt that the college students who were isolated in Zibo had suffered a lot during the anti-epidemic period, so they invited them to have a barbecue. Later, these lovely college students spread the news widely through the Internet, which directly contributed to the birth of Zibo, the barbecue capital. This story can be corroborated in the soulful promotion video of the director of the Zibo Tourism Bureau. I prefer to believe that this is a true story. The reason for Zibo's emergence in 2023 is actually the word "benevolence and righteousness", and behind Zibo barbecue is "benevolence and righteousness economy". This story is the starting point of creating a "benevolent and righteous economy". In fact, a truly mature market economy is by no means extremely selfish and greedy. As a Shandong native, I have been thinking, that is, once the Shandong people transform "benevolence and justice" into "benevolence and justice economy", they may be invincible in the world. The indifference of big cities is the synonym of the consciousness of rules. It can also be said that the indifference of big cities is the manifestation of the lack of modern professional ethics. I have seen firsthand how a young mother with a two-year-old child pushing a stroller would cram the child into the car and how she would struggle to get the stroller into the trunk of a taxi. It was when the young mother was scrambling to take care of the safety of the child while placing the stroller, the taxi driver sat in the driving seat with an extremely cold expression and eyes looking straight ahead, and what had just happened had nothing to do with him. When I wanted to help, the young mother had been placed in place, and I watched the cold scene with a pang of sadness in my heart. How did our city get to this point? How come our work ethic is as blank as a blank sheet of paper? But in Zibo, I saw a different picture. Behind the grand barbecue scene, is the release of Shandong's "benevolence and justice economy" huge energy, is to show Shandong people's "benevolence and justice wind" of the modern scene.

Another phenomenon that reminds me of Zibo's emergence is the collapse of the "center-edge" system in the Internet era. In the Internet era, there is no fixed, rigid center and edge division, a third-line, fourth-line city can also become the "capital of the world" with unique issues, Zibo is not the world famous barbecue capital? This is the magic of the Internet age, which is also unimaginable in the pre-Internet era. Of course, in the Internet era, the "world center" shaped by a certain issue may be a flash in the pan, and it is likely to be quickly replaced, dissolved, and melted in the huge bubble of the Internet. But as the Zibo people say, even if it is a flash in the pan, it must be the most beautiful one.

If the barbecue in Zibo begins with "benevolence and righteousness", then the local government and people in Zibo will spare no effort to support and end with "benevolence and righteousness". From the beginning of Zibo to the present, the "benevolence and justice economy" behind Zibo barbecue has blossomed everywhere and shone brightly. Such a benevolent and righteous economy can only take root and sprout in Shandong and soar to the sky. I dare say that it would never have taken root anywhere else. Because a benevolent and righteous economy like Zibo needs many conditions, such as scientific government, rational decision-making and accurate positioning, the cultivation of honest and simple social sentiment and the support of altruism. It is precisely these conditions that are not available in many places. Of course, this is just my intuition as a Shandong person.

Today, we can say that the barbecue economy of Zibo has evolved into the benevolence economy of reforming the government and the people, and the barbecue in Zibo has also evolved from simple consumption to the re-cultivation of social relations, the re-formation of social connections, the re-release of social care, and the re-emergence of social mutual assistance. Zibo has quietly changed from the "capital of barbecue" to a "capital of benevolence and justice". As a Shandong native from the ancient land of Shandong, I seem to have a hunch that the spring of Shandong will truly come only when the people of Shandong transform benevolence and justice into the cornerstone, rules and systems that support the modern market economy.