Recently, the high-quality micro short drama (Dinner and Encounter: Yuan Shanhua Fate) has officially launched on iQIYI. As the first food-themed cultural tourism micro short drama released after Quanzhou was awarded the title of “World Capital of Gastronomy,” the series secured multiple key promotional placements on iQIYI on its very first day of release. Major authoritative media and platforms including China News Service, China.com.cn, Study and Strengthen the Nation, Southeast Net, Quanzhou Evening News, and Southeast Morning Post have all published news about the show. The series has also received official praise from the Fujian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the People’s Government of Quanzhou, demonstrating the platform’s strong recognition of the drama’s cultural value and content quality by provincial and municipal authorities alike.
On the day of release, iQIYI provided all-around traffic support for the drama. Multiple key resource placements simultaneously went live—such as the featured focus image on the TV Drama channel homepage and the app’s “short nine-grid” header images—forming a multi-entry, high-density exposure matrix. In the drama’s very first day after launch, it achieved high-intensity, wide-coverage reach. As a micro short drama focusing on intangible cultural heritage hairpin flowers and oceanic cuisine, it not only reflects iQIYI’s high regard for high-quality culture-and-tourism content, but also validates the drama’s differentiated competitive strength in the “intangible cultural heritage + food + culture and tourism” track.
Multiple mainstream media outlets such as Southeast Morning News, China News Service (Fujian), and Beiqing Net also published special reports on the day of release and the following day, focusing on the cultural value and communication significance of the drama as Quanzhou’s first food-and-culture-tourism micro short drama for “World Food Capital.” Among them, Southeast Morning News ran a full-page feature titled “Filmed Entirely in Quanzhou.” Local official media such as those from Fengze focused on the tourism-empowerment practice of the drama bridging an industry closed loop of “online planting via content, offline visits, and diversified income.” Meanwhile, the Fujian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism paid close attention to (A Banquet of Encountered Hairpin-Flower Fate) and offered highly positive evaluations. As one of the supervising units, the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism has been involved in content review throughout the project preparation stage. Previously, it had coordinated with the Provincial Radio and Television Administration and other departments to guide the filming of premium micro short dramas such as (A Bowl of Quanzhou Ginger-Mother Duck). The praise from official media this time not only reflects recognition of the drama’s production quality and the effectiveness of intangible cultural heritage communication, but also demonstrates the continued push by competent authorities for the integrated model of “micro short dramas + culture and tourism.”
Pre-launch booking data also confirmed market expectations: on the very first day after release, hundreds of users joined the binge-watching queue. The next day, the booking volume surged by nearly 4 times. Thereafter, it maintained steady growth with double-digit month-over-month increases. On the finale day, the number of new bookings in a single day exceeded one thousand—about three times the total on the first day. Over the entire booking period, the cumulative bookings grew by more than 20 times compared with the first day, fully showcasing strong market anticipation for this drama.
In terms of on-air performance, (A Banquet of Encountered Hairpin-Flower Fate) delivered excellent results after it premiered on iQIYI. In its first week, the drama topped iQIYI’s TV Drama Fengyun List, becoming the only work among newly released micro short dramas in culture-and-tourism topics of the same period that made it onto the mainstream long-form drama popularity rankings. As a 12-episode premium micro short drama, (A Banquet of Encountered Hairpin-Flower Fate) competed side by side with many large-scale long dramas on iQIYI, fully demonstrating the market and the platform’s high recognition of high-quality content featuring “intangible cultural heritage + food + culture and tourism.”
From an industry horizontal comparison perspective, during the first week of August, multiple micro short dramas focusing on culture and tourism and intangible cultural heritage were released nationwide in concentrated batches. These included Jiangsu Yancheng’s intangible cultural heritage food-themed work (Salt Street Fireworks Recognize the Returning Person) and Beihai’s maritime silk culture-themed work (Maritime Silk Hidden-in-Fun). Many such works rely on free micro short drama distribution platforms such as Hongguo micro short drama and Douyin. (A Banquet of Encountered Hairpin-Flower Fate), on the other hand, is exclusively launched on iQIYI’s member channel, reaching a broader audience through a paid-content model on a major video platform. This creates a differentiated competitive advantage in terms of platform capabilities and content positioning. Moreover, it is the only work among comparable works in the same period and category that received dual guidance from both the provincial culture-and-tourism departments and city-level municipal governments, and was also centrally covered by central media such as China News Service and Xuexi Qiangguo, placing it among the front ranks in terms of official endorsement strength and mainstream communication volume.
(A Banquet of Encountered Hairpin-Flower Fate) is jointly produced with guidance from the Fujian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Fujian Provincial Radio and Television Administration, the Fujian Provincial Association for Culture and Tourism Development, the Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Television and Tourism, and the People’s Government of Fengze District, Quanzhou. It is jointly produced by Quanzhou Fengze State-owned Investment Group Co., Ltd., Quanzhou Fengze Maritime Silk Culture and Tourism Development Co., Ltd., and Fujian Zizai Huyu Cultural Media Co., Ltd. Renowned performer Sun Qian makes a special appearance. Xing Zeyang and Xia Shuo lead the cast. The whole series consists of 12 episodes. Centered on the theme of exploring roots through food, the drama tells the story of Xu Xiaoyu, a preschool teacher from the business district in Fengze District, Quanzhou, and Zhou Chengze, the owner of the Yingfeng Restaurant, who meet through food. Together, they set off to conduct field research in the Puzhangpu Village, developing the youthful story behind the “Hairpin-Flower Banquet.” It not only aligns with young audiences’ aesthetics and the characteristics of short-video dissemination, but also draws on Quanzhou’s deep cultural heritage to achieve a balance between entertainment and culture. The entire production was filmed on location in places such as Puzhangpu Village in Quanzhou, Zhenwu Temple, and the Fishermen’s Wharf. The hairpin-flower skills and food preparation strictly follow the standards of intangible cultural heritage inheritors, faithfully recreating the distinctive charm of Minnan folk customs. From (A Bowl of Quanzhou Ginger-Mother Duck) to (A Banquet of Encountered Hairpin-Flower Fate), Fujian’s micro short dramas for culture and tourism continue to delve into local cultural resources. With high-quality content empowering tourism and cultural communication, they inject new cinematic momentum into the development of the city brand of “World Food Capital.”
In addition, we would like to extend special thanks for support from the following organizations: the Kindergarten in Quanzhou Fengze District, the Donghai Yuehua Hotel in Quanzhou, Shangguan Litzi Four-Ingredient Tea, Imperial Children’s Fortune, Tuzu Collection Milk Tea, the Puzhangpu Flower Rice Hundred-Year Courtyard, Gao Bobin Stone Carving Studio, Yuebanwan Coffee · Contemporary Aesthetics, and Wushang Yanslab (stone panels).