The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Kuaishou's '500 Hometowns' gives overlooked Chinese cities a soul word
A city-film series distills each overlooked Chinese town into one word — soft Tieling, winning Dalian — told by locals themselves.
Kuaishou (快手)
What it had to solve
Chinese city marketing had become a competition of identical footage — ancient streets, local food, famous landmarks — and the towns that were not already famous could not win it. Kuaishou's '500 Hometowns' series chose a different starting point: not the sights a city owns but the character of the people who live there, with each place distilled to a single spiritual keyword that locals themselves could recognise and repeat.
How it works
Chinese tourism promotion had fallen into a template — drone shots of landmarks, food montages, slogans about beauty — and cities without national fame could not compete on footage. Kuaishou's answer was '500 Hometowns', a long-running series that stopped asking what a city has and started asking who its people are.
For each city, Kuaishou's We studio and agency Tianyu Kong did fieldwork before writing a word: Tieling became 'soft', Dalian 'determined to win', Xuchang 'unflustered', Datong 'indifferent to fame', Yantai 'at ease', Baoshan 'unbothered'. The films were narrated by residents and figures tied to each place, and in 2025 the fifth season launched with Xinhua as a co-producer, with a sixth season in early 2026 naming Changchun 'iron-spirited', Qiandongnan 'joyful' and Kaifeng 'steadfast'.
The words outlived the films. Changchun's party secretary used 'iron-spirited' at a public gathering, Guizhou's provincial government website adopted 'come live a joyful life in Qiandongnan' as an invitation, and Kaifeng's tourism board turned 'come seven times' into themed routes. The sixth season's three films accumulated 1.6 billion exposures and 137 million plays, and the Baoshan edition became the IP's first commercial work in partnership with L'Oréal Paris.
Why it lands
- One precise word beat a catalogue of attractions: it gave each city a personality that could be quoted, debated and adopted by residents.
- Fieldwork before writing meant the keywords came from people's actual lives, so locals recognised their own city instead of a brochure version.
- Letting non-professional locals narrate made each film feel like testimony rather than advertising, which is why governments felt safe embracing the words.
- Publishing around the Chinese New Year tied the hometown theme to the moment of strongest collective emotion about home.
What it did
The films repeatedly crossed from platform content into public action: a Changchun party secretary adopted the word 'iron-spirited' in his own speech, Guizhou's government website invited people to settle in Qiandongnan, and Kaifeng turned 'come seven times in a lifetime' into official travel routes. The sixth season's three films drew a combined 137 million plays and 1.6 billion exposures, and the series also carried its first commercial collaboration when Baoshan's special edition partnered with L'Oréal Paris.
What you can take
A place is not a list of sights; it is a personality. Find the one word only that city could own, let its own people say it, and the city gets a voice it can use long after the film ends.
Since then
The '500 Hometowns' series grew from content into a lasting urban-narrative franchise. Local governments adopted its words — Changchun's leadership, Guizhou's provincial website and Kaifeng's tourism routes all used the films' phrases — and the sixth season delivered 1.6 billion exposures and 137 million combined plays. Sub-brands such as 'My Hometown Is Fun' extended the idea, and the Baoshan special with L'Oréal Paris showed the civic storytelling could carry commercial partners.
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