The first season of the grassroots football tournament in east China's Jiangsu Province has become a real consumption driver.
Over 1.3 million people tried to grab just 26,000 tickets to one match in Nantong City on July 19, which was a showdown between the top two teams in the Jiangsu Football City League, better known as "Suchao", or "Su Super League".
"No chance of getting tickets on site," said a local resident.
"Tickets were gone in literally one second," said another resident.
But people don't have to be inside the stadium to feel the heat.
In the city of Nantong whose team is the top on the table, restaurants and shopping malls have turned into fan zones, with big screens, cold beer and lots of cheer.
"My kids have been doing homework during the daytime, so I brought them out to chill and enjoy the summer vibes," said a local.
There are 188 livestream fan zones across the city, where the excitement of the games has become the catalyst of consumption.
According to the Nantong government, on the game day of July 19 alone, the city saw nearly 800,000 tourist visits with 67 million U.S. dollars in tourism spending, up around 50 percent from the same day last year when Suchao didn't exist at all.
"If I knew it'd be this packed, I would've got some help. It's all thanks to 'Suchao'," said a vendor.
Fans with match tickets also get free access to 40 top-rated tourist attractions across Nantong.
Made up of 13 city teams, the Jiangsu Football City League has become a sporting phenomenon in the country this summer.
With no big name players and coaches, an amateur soccer league has captured the nation's imagination largely through the fierce passion from local participants and fans.
According to the statistics, only 29 out of the 500 participants were professional players, while the rest are amateurs from various industries.
Grassroots football tournament energizes consumption in Jiangsu
A former television host from Taiwan, Zhai Xuan, has made a pivotal decision to leave mainstream broadcasting in order to create content that provides a better understanding of the Chinese mainland and cross-strait relations.
Zhai, a seasoned television host with over a decade of experience in Taiwan's media landscape, recently addressed an audience at an event in Beijing, where she revealed her complete transition into independent online media.
In her remarks, she articulated her aspiration to bridge what she perceives as a significant information gap between audiences on both sides of the Strait, highlighting her commitment to fostering a deeper understanding and connection through her new endeavors.
"I was really surprised by all the fake news. There were stories saying people on the mainland can't afford tea eggs or that they live in mud houses and in Taiwan, this was the main information many people received," said Zhai.
Zhai said she initially began producing online videos to challenge such perceptions while continuing her work as a television host.
In April 2025, she travelled to the mainland with her father to fulfill her late grandfather's wish to return to his hometown. The trip, which reunited family members separated since 1949, was recorded in a video series titled "Journey to Find Our Roots", drawing attention from viewers in both Taiwan and the mainland.
"Many people in Taiwan told me that after watching, they wanted to apply for a mainland travel permit immediately and go looking for their relatives. Some had long forgotten these things, but after seeing my story, they began thinking about their hometowns and family members they had never met and decided to search for their roots," Zhai shared her story at the event.
By mid-2025, Zhai said she began to feel increasing pressure amid rising political tensions and a tightening atmosphere around cross-Strait exchanges in Taiwan.
After more than 12 years in the industry, Zhai resigned from her position, believing it was the right thing to do.
"At that moment, I felt this was a major issue，not just for me, but for Chinese people on both sides of the Strait. If I backed down then, I wouldn’t be standing on the right side," said Zhai.
Since leaving television, Zhai has broadened her online programming to encompass a range of daily-life topics, including practical guidance on applying for a mainland travel permit and using commonly employed mobile applications, in addition to content that delves into historical memory and cultural connections across the Strait.
As the debate over cross-Strait relations continues in Taiwan, Zhai said she remains committed to her current path.
Former Taiwan TV host bridges cross-Strait divide via online media
