Editor's note: Following the launch of the 2025 New Year's Dish Ranking by Southern Finance Omnimedia Group, on October 19, the Shanghai Center of Southern Omnimedia Group held a video conference on the cooperation between Shanghai and Guangdong New Year's dishes at Shanghai Xihongqiao Pre-prepared Dishes Development Co., Ltd. Relevant responsible persons from the Guangdong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs attended the meeting and made speeches. The recording of the speech is now organized as follows:

First, based on the development of the New Year's dishes economy

This year, New Year's dishes are eaten during the Chinese New Year. To develop New Year's dishes, we should first study the festival economy.

It is understood that there are more than 1,000 well-known festivals in the world, more than 80,000 well-known regional festivals, and more than 1 million town (community) festivals. The festival economy that has developed with festivals accounts for about 3% to 5% of GDP in many developed countries, about 10% of the cultural industry in the country, and festivals consume about 20% of the world's fast-moving consumer goods. In some important tourism economic towns, 30% of residents' income comes from the festival industry.

The Christmas economy in the United States accounts for 3.6% of the US GDP and about 20% of the per capita consumption in the United States. The Spanish city of Pamplona invests 300 million pesetas (about 20 million yuan) in the Bull Run every year, and the Bull Run brings 7.7 billion pesetas (about 477 million yuan) in revenue to the city of Pamplona, with an input-output ratio of more than 25 times.

In 2024, China's total Spring Festival consumption will exceed 7.774 trillion yuan, 5,500 yuan per capita, equivalent to the total GDP of South Korea in 2023.

The festival economy pays attention to rituals and has specific scenes. The highest level of the festival economy is to create standard products for the festival economy, such as rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival, moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival, roses for Valentine's Day, turkeys for Thanksgiving, and Christmas trees for Christmas.

Take Christmas trees as an example. The global consumption reaches 150 million trees per year, including 80 million plant Christmas trees and 70 million plastic Christmas trees. There are 15,000 Christmas tree farms in the United States, 80% of which are produced in China. The global consumption of Christmas trees is nearly 10 billion US dollars.

The market size of our Chinese Dragon Boat Festival rice dumplings is 10.3 billion; the market size of Mid-Autumn Festival moon cakes is 30 billion. During the epidemic, facing the depressed situation of flower markets, flower streets, and flower shops, Sihui, Zhaoqing, made orchids a Father's Day gift, so that giving orchids to fathers on Father's Day has become popular, and Sihui orchids have achieved off-season sales.

"Father's Love is Like Orchid" appeared at the inter-provincial event site of "Southern Products Go North and Northern Products Go South" (Hangzhou, Zhejiang)

In 2023, we launched the New Year Fish during the Spring Festival, which means more than enough every year. Eating New Year Fish and giving New Year Fish during the Spring Festival has become a landscape of Spring Festival consumption.

Zhuhai New Year Fish Festival site

During the 2024 Spring Festival, we launched New Year dishes, and New Year dishes began to enter thousands of households. With continuous efforts and long-term efforts, this year we planned the 2025 New Year Dish Festival marketing in advance and designed and launched the New Year Dish Cultural Festival.

I believe that after three to five years of hard work, once New Year dishes are rooted in people's hearts and penetrated into the people, their economic, cultural and social value will be huge.

Second, think about the New Year dish economy based on the Shanghai market

To study New Year dishes, we must pay attention to the Shanghai and Yangtze River Delta markets.

Shanghai has a permanent population of 24.87 million, and the permanent population of the Yangtze River Delta region radiated by Shanghai is 238 million, accounting for 16.9% of China's population.

According to the data of China Statistical Yearbook 2023, in 2022, the per capita consumption expenditure of Chinese residents was 24,538 yuan, of which food, tobacco and alcohol expenditure accounted for about 30.5%, about 7,484.09 yuan. The per capita food, tobacco and alcohol expenditure in Shanghai was 12,653 yuan, ranking first in China. In 2023, Shanghai's above-scale food enterprises achieved a current price output value of 115.09 billion yuan, catering revenue of 119.025 billion yuan, and exported food of 11 billion yuan.

There is a 184-year-old brand in Shanghai-Yuanli Food Factory, which was founded by Chaoshan people Ma Yizong and fellow townsman Zhuang before Shanghai opened its port in 1839.

Shanghainese are known as the people who know how to live the best, and Shanghai is a veritable food capital. So to make a big effort in New Year's dishes, we must make a big effort in Shanghai.

Today, Southern Finance and Economics held a video symposium on New Year's dishes in Shanghai. As one of the source media for the New Year's dishes economy, Southern Finance and Economics and Southern Rural Newspaper will join hands with relevant institutions, associations, enterprises and media in 2024 to explore the New Year's dishes economy and launch the "Chinese New Year's Dishes Festival" series of activities. The first batch of 26 "gold medal New Year's dishes" stood out, entered the hall for the first time, and were successfully exported to Australia and New Zealand, which kicked off the New Year's dishes to enter the international market and made Chinese New Year's dishes internationally famous.

Recently, the 2025 New Year's Dishes Ranking Tour and the Second China "Gold Medal New Year's Dishes" selection have been launched. With its superior geographical location and strong consumer market potential, Shanghai plays a vital role in this selection activity.

The Shanghai New Year's Dishes Cultural Festival will also show the world the innovative research and development strength and broad market potential of Shanghai's New Year's dishes. The cooperation between Shanghai and Guangdong New Year's dishes has found the right entry point and the right time. We look forward to close cooperation and resource sharing between upstream and downstream enterprises in the two places to jointly help the New Year's dishes economy achieve a new leap.

Third, four opinions on the introduction of New Year dishes into Shanghai

Everyone has talked about a lot of good suggestions on the introduction of New Year dishes into Shanghai. I will talk about four more opinions:

The first is market insight. Supply is based on demand, production is a means, and the market is the goal. The value of production is reflected in the market. But many times, we focus on supply and what we produce is what we sell. In fact, we must strengthen market insight, focus on demand, and what the demand is and what the market needs, and what we produce.

What kind of New Year dishes does the Shanghai market need? Based on the huge post-90s, post-00s, and large silver-haired groups, the "new force" of consumption has emerged, and the consumption habits of traditional consumer groups are also changing. If we are still accustomed to traditional consumption and rely on traditional supply, there will definitely be a gap and dislocation between supply and demand, production and the market. How do the two major groups spend the New Year, how do the two major groups eat New Year's Eve dinner, and what do they eat? What changes have occurred in the forms of visiting relatives and friends of the two major groups, and can the new New Year dishes become the most desirable gifts?

Shanghai New Year dishes must be based on the new needs of two major groups in Shanghai, real and segmented needs.

The second is the foundation of New Year dishes. Nutrition, deliciousness, quality, health and safety are the foundation of New Year dishes. The current food industry technology, preservation technology, warehousing and logistics distribution technology provide technical guarantees for the nutrition, deliciousness, health and safety of New Year dishes, and the country has issued corresponding product standards and provided institutional guarantees.

During the Spring Festival in 2024, New Year dishes will be exported to New Zealand and Australia, which is equivalent to New Year dishes being labeled as safe dishes; during the Spring Festival in 2025, New Year dishes will enter Shanghai, and they can be labeled as safe dishes again.

The third is material value and cultural and spiritual value. This year, we eat New Year dishes during the Spring Festival. The word "year" reflects the cultural and spiritual value, and the word "dish" focuses on the material value. Nutrition, deliciousness, health and safety support material value, and New Year culture reflects cultural and spiritual value.

How to make Chinese New Year dishes reflect Chinese traditional culture and Chinese food culture, there is a lot to do?

The essence of festival economy is cultural economy, and the essence of standard products of festival economy is culture + products. Behind a zongzi is Qu Yuan's "searching up and down"; behind a mooncake is the myth of Chang'e flying to the moon; the "story of the farmer and the turkey" in "The Three-Body Problem" has once again attracted attention to the Thanksgiving turkey.

In order to make orchids a Father's Day gift, the Zhaoqing Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau and the Sihui Municipal Government specially launched the "Father's Love is Like Orchid" script-killing. How much cultural value can be developed in New Year's dishes and New Year's dishes economy? I look forward to cultural people and media people to study, cross-border reference, and develop and sublimate New Year's dishes culture.

"Father's Love is Like Orchid" Cultural Week Promotion Site

Fourth, altruism. The starting point and the return point of the New Year's dishes economy is altruism. How can we develop the New Year's dishes economy, serve consumers more widely, enable deep processing of agricultural products, increase the value of agricultural products, and promote farmers' income growth, while also becoming the No. 1 brand, No. 1 enterprise, No. 1 store, and No. 1 person in Shanghai's New Year's dishes; how can we become the No. 1 street, No. 1 district, and No. 1 media in Shanghai's New Year's dishes? Can Jiangyang Market become the No. 1 New Year's dishes market? Can Baoshan District become the No. 1 New Year's dishes district? At the beginning, we should set more and more specific altruistic directions and altruistic goals, unite our hearts and minds, and work hard for a long time. We will definitely not let ourselves down, we will not let others down, we will benefit the public, the society, and the future.

(Author: Chen Guici Editor: Tao Li)

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