At the "Kickoff, Momentum, Ascend – 2026 Beijing News Think Tank Spring Forum" co-hosted by the Beijing News and the Communication University of China on April 24, the "2026 Beijing News Potential Report on Trendsetting Cities" was officially released, unveiling the top 30 in the "2026 Beijing News Long-Red Cities Ranking." Following its initial inclusion in 2025, Handan has once again secured its position within the national top 30, rising from 30th place last year to 26th. It stands as a notable example among culturally rich cities in Northern China that have achieved steady upward progression.
Competition in China's urban cultural tourism sector has moved beyond the phase of explosive, short-lived growth and has entered a new era focused on比拼 comprehensive capabilities. In recent years, many cities fell into the trap of "viral anxiety," desperately seeking breakout moments, engaging in aggressive marketing, and creating buzz, hoping to leapfrog competitors through a single internet sensation. However, the straightforward ranking changes in this list demonstrate that traffic surges driven by isolated events are essentially short-term gains fueled by emotion. Once the hype subsides, popularity without a solid foundational support system ultimately fades away.
Handan's path to prominence runs counter to this "viral logic." It did not rely on a blockbuster event that swept the internet or extreme emotional marketing to draw visitors. Yet, amidst fierce competition involving cities that host over 100 million tourist visits annually, it has maintained its position on the list for two consecutive years and achieved a steady improvement in its ranking. This success is underpinned by its role as a regional central city and a crucial link between the southern flank of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Central Plains Economic Zone. More fundamentally, it is supported by a cultural heritage that has persisted uninterrupted for over 3,000 years, with its city name remaining unchanged throughout this period.
As the ranking trends indicate, such cities do not rely on a single viral element for success. Instead, they form the core of the mid-range in the long-red rankings through the steady development of their regional centrality and comprehensive capabilities. Handan is a prime representative of this cultural heritage model.
Handan's confidence lies in its unique and irreplicable cultural DNA. Rarely in the history of Chinese urban development has a city engraved its name so deeply into the nation's language and spiritual fabric. As the capital of the Zhao state, one of the seven powerful warring states, Handan boasts a history of over 3,100 years, with its name unchanged for more than 3,000 years. This in itself is a vivid testament to the continuous evolution of Chinese civilization. It is often said that half of the stories in the history of Chinese idioms find their roots in Handan. From the innovative spirit of adopting nomadic cavalry attire, to the magnanimity exemplified by admitting fault, the courage of self-recommendation, and the cautionary tale of losing one's own identity by imitating others, there are 2,006 officially recognized idioms and allusions associated with Handan. Each one represents a living piece of history and encapsulates the essence of Chinese culture. Furthermore, the profound legacy of Yecheng culture, the artistic treasures of the Xiangtangshan Grottoes, and the millennia-old kiln traditions of Cizhou ware are unique cultural IPs that collectively form Handan's core competitiveness—assets that cannot be taken away or easily replicated by others.
In the current landscape of homogenized cultural tourism, where many cities appear identical, the scarcest resource is not replicable网红打卡点, but a city's unique identity. Many cities invest heavily in constructing scenic spots and launching extensive marketing campaigns, yet ultimately fail to escape the fate of fading quickly after a brief period of popularity. The root cause often lies in the lack of a core IP and an irreplaceable cultural essence. Handan, however, possesses a rich cultural repository that has been accumulating for three thousand years. This is the fundamental reason it can maintain its footing amidst the fluctuating tides of online traffic—trends may fade, and网红 may lose their appeal, but the allure of culture never diminishes.
Securing a place on the list for two consecutive years is both an affirmation and a reminder. Possessing a wealth of cultural resources does not automatically equate to success in cultural tourism. While Handan's cultural底蕴 is undoubtedly deep, the core challenge facing this ancient city remains: how to transform these dormant cultural resources into sustainably communicable content assets, into文旅 experiences that resonate with younger generations, and into tangible urban competitiveness. The experience of Wenzhou, which jumped from the potential list to the long-red list, offers a particularly valuable lesson for Handan. The revitalization of the Ponan Historical and Cultural Block in Pingyang County, Wenzhou, did not involve uniform antique-style renovations, simplistic "restoration to look old" creating artificial relics, or displacing original residents and stripping away the local atmosphere. Instead, it adhered to the principle that "old remains old, and new remains new," preserving the block's authentic living essence and truly bringing the historical and cultural space to life. This approach addresses the core of contemporary文旅 development: successful tourism is not about creating a "cage for viewing scenery" for visitors, but about allowing them to immerse themselves in the city's life and feel the warmth of its culture.
For Handan, this major task of cultural transformation is not a solo effort for the tourism department alone. It is a city-wide, multi-dimensional systematic project. As the report indicates, it requires coordinated efforts from multiple departments including commerce, culture and tourism, transportation, housing and urban-rural development, urban management enforcement, and market regulation. The commerce department needs to standardize and enhance accommodation services and enrich distinctive consumption and night economy scenes. The culture and tourism department should focus on creating modern interpretations of idiom stories, short videos on Zhao culture themes, and experiential传播 activities related to Cizhou ware techniques. The transportation department must improve shuttle services to scenic areas and road network support to enhance visitor convenience. Housing, urban-rural development, and urban management enforcement departments should continuously optimize the city's appearance and the quality of public spaces. Market regulation departments need to uphold safety and service standards, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of tourists. Only by integrating cultural tourism into every detail of urban development and engraving culture into every corner of the city can Handan truly achieve the transition from "making the list" to "advancing its position," and from being "网红" to achieving "长红" (long-lasting appeal).
Currently, China's urban development has shifted from the first half focused on scale expansion to the second half centered on connotative development. Competition among cities is no longer a simple contest of GDP figures, but a comprehensive较量 involving cultural soft power, urban attractiveness, and overall competitiveness. The起伏 in the cultural tourism arena is a vivid reflection of this broader urban competition. Looking across the country, the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is advancing profoundly. Handan's breakthrough in cultural tourism is not only crucial for the city's own development but also significant for how historical and cultural cities in Northern China can find their positioning in the new era. Many cities, like Handan, possess abundant historical and cultural resources but struggle in the age of流量, facing the dilemma of "even good wine needs a吆喝" (even a good product needs promotion). Some blindly follow trends and lose their distinctiveness, while others possess golden resources but lack the know-how to utilize them effectively. Handan's practice offers a fundamental insight: there is no need to chase fleeting流量 trends or deliberately imitate the strategies of网红 cities. Finding one's unique IP, preserving one's cultural roots, and strengthening the comprehensive internal capabilities of urban development is the most sustainable path forward.
Globally, those tourism cities that have truly endured for centuries, or even millennia, have all established their standing through culture. The romance of Paris stems from an unwavering commitment to art and culture; the gravitas of Rome comes from integrating millennia of history into the city's daily life. These cities repeatedly affirm a truth: the ultimate competitiveness in tourism is never temporary热度, but eternal cultural charm. Handan, this ancient city that has retained its name for over 3,000 years, possesses precisely such boundless potential.
Through the fluctuations of the rankings over recent years, the landscape for网红 cities has clearly entered a new phase. While an increasing number of cities become engrossed in creating viral moments and pursuing short-term流量红利, Handan has chosen to focus inwardly, determined to forge its own path. After all, a culture capable of traversing over 3,000 years can certainly navigate the cycles of online traffic. A national spirit embedded in idioms and allusions can undoubtedly find new vitality in the modern era. The story of Handan, from the capital of idioms to a long-red city, is only just beginning. There is anticipation that this millennia-old city will delve deeply into its cultural narrative, using its底蕴 to sustain流量 and its strength to achieve lasting appeal, carving out a path of high-quality development befitting a historical and cultural city within the broader tide of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development.
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