“北上广曹”火遍全网？县长最新回应丨County puts positive spin on online ridicule

导读 

最近，关于“山东菏泽曹县”的梗在网上火了。在众多关于曹县的视频中，经常被使用的一句话是一位视频博主经常放在嘴边的：“山东菏泽曹县牛*666 我的宝贝”。针对近期在网上引发的关注，曹县县委副书记、县长梁惠民公开作出回应。

"The center of the universe — Cao county," and "I want a bed in Cao county more than a house in Shanghai," posts such as these have gone viral on Chinese social media platforms, reflecting the recent popularity of the heretofore unknown county in Heze, east China's Shandong province.

The county shot to fame on China's social media with topics related to it discussed more than 500 million times, after a local live streamer bragged about his hometown in an exaggerated and contemptuous tone on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

The vlogger's addition of "Cao county in Heze, Shandong, my baby" at the end of his videos and his local accent made a deep impression on many netizens. The county has become a familiar name among netizens since then.

With the rise in popularity, netizens have begun digging up interesting facts about the county. For example, around 90 percent of coffins in Japan come from the county as the wood is grown there.

▲ Photo/VCG

A town in the county that is a base for making costumes for traditional performances produces about 70 percent of costumes in China annually. 

The production of Hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, has become a new major pillar for the county. Roughly one third of Hanfu sold in China hail from the county.

Memes about the county are also widely circulated. 

"China's four biggest cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Cao county"
"New York has always been thought of as Western Cao county and it's only not that it can just be mentioned in the same breath with Cao county"

On May 17, Liang Huimin, head of the local government, expressed her views on the phenomenal exposure the county is receiving online during a forum. She believes people are either positively promoting her hometown or trying to amuse the public, but she welcomes all people to come and walk around the area to get a real picture of the place. 

"From a different angle, I can see that people do care about their hometown's development and at the same time it shows that the changes taking place in Cao county are stunning for many."

Later on May 19, Liang told reporters from Qilu Evening News that the teasing comments online can't overshadow the facts that the county can't match with big cities. "We are keenly aware of the gap," she said. 

"This also demonstrates people's expectations and encouragement," Liang said. "We appreciate the kindhearted promotion as well as the joking criticism." She acknowledged that they need to further improve their job to meet the public's demand. "We will have a clearer road map in mind under this limelight."

The county had around 1.4 million people with a 2020 GDP of 46.38 billion yuan (US$7.2 billion).

记者：焦洁

参考：环球时报  Shine

图片来源：闪电新闻  齐鲁晚报  抖音

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