First time in Zibo? Follow this guide!

While everyone online is telling you how to squeeze onto a barbecue stall, locals quietly pulled me into the backyard of a ceramics factory: "The right way to experience Zibo is with a barbecue skewer in one hand and a thousand-year-old lump of clay in the other!" I tried this mix-and-match itinerary myself, and you can eat, play, and even take home some art 👇 🌞 Day 1: Seamlessly switch from a fiery stomach to an artistic heart 🍢 7:00 AM Rush to Badaju Morning Market for more than just fried pancake rolls! ✅ Hidden missions: 1️⃣ Next to the pumpkin strips, try the "Lao Boshan Jiaozhuang Shaobing" with spicy tofu pudding. 2️⃣ Buy freshly picked white lotus root from Mataku Lake from the aunties with canvas bags (it's crispier than a snow pear when eaten raw). 3️⃣ Pay ¥5 to have a calligraphy master write "Life's a Skewer" as a photo prop for your barbecue feast. 🏺 2:00 PM Zibo China Ceramic Museum: Doing is 10 times better than watching! 🔥 Must-try activities: ▪️ Make a glass ring in the Boshan Ceramics Factory experience area (the blown glass hairpins glow ✨). ▪️ Learn "chicken-fat yellow" ceramic glazing from a master craftsman. Bonus: Tell them you're making a cup for your sweetheart to get an extra half hour of lesson time. 🌃 7:30 PM The right way to enjoy barbecue stalls: ▪️ On Shuijing Street, choose a bustling stall with empty beer crates (they have a fast turnover). ▪️ Fold a small flatbread, dip it in garlic chili sauce and crushed peanuts, and wrap it around two sizzling, fatty pieces of pork belly with the skin on. 💡 Insider tip: Saying "I want the white part of the scallion, not the green part" will earn you silent praise from the boss. 🌿 Day 2: Dive into a healing adventure at the foot of the Great Wall of Qi ⛰️ 9:00 AM Tanxi Mountain Glass Bridge: Don't rush to take photos! ✅ Cheat route taught by mountain folk: 1️⃣ Take the elevator directly to the Star Cave Legend Coffee Shop, order a "Glassy Sea of Clouds" latte, and get a window seat. 2️⃣ Descend via the wooden cliffside walkway and encounter free-roaming lambs vying for the camera's attention. 🍲 12:00 PM Feast in a century-old house in Xihe Town: ▪️ In the blue-brick courtyard, order tofu boxes and smashed fish soup (I secretly learned how to make the hot and sour soup with rice in three bowls). ▪️ The grandma drying persimmons in the backyard will give you walnuts. Compliment her pickled Chinese toon buds, and you might get a whole jar. 🌾 3:00 PM Zhoucun Ancient Commercial Town: Play it differently: ▪️ Pretend to be a shopkeeper at the Da Ran Fang and use an abacus. Wear Hanfu to bargain for sesame seed cakes. ▪️ Find "Cheongsam Tailor Zhang" at the back door of Ruifuxiang and get a museum-collaboration waistline alteration for ¥50. 💥 Three things Zibo locals won't tell you but you need to know: 1️⃣ Hidden perk of the barbecue express bus: Show your ticket at some attractions to get a small glass gift 🎁. 2️⃣ The "niche Boshan restaurant" recommended by your taxi driver might be owned by his mother-in-law, but the eggplant and braised Mandarin fish are truly exceptional. 3️⃣ Don't try to match the locals' breakfast intake! Two yuan's worth of oil powder with a three-delicacy pancake is enough for three girls. Suddenly, I understood the meaning of "a city of porcelain, half a city of forests"—the glass wind chime I hung with my own hands at Hongye Shiyan holds more Zibo memories than any popular photo spot 📸.