On a balmy evening in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, the aroma of slow-simmered soup wafts from a narrow alley. Inside a 39-square-meter shop barely wide enough for two rows of tables, the clang of ladles and the chatter of diners never stop.

Wang Li, the boss of Hengmao Soup, wipes her brow as she lifts yet another steaming clay pot from the charcoal stove — her 1,000th of the day. During the National Day holiday, the soup shop saw its online traffic spike 272 percent compared with normal days.

"It's been like this since we were put on the 'Must-Eat List', which is a user-driven food ranking of Dazhong Dianping under the internet company Meituan. People come from all over the country and line up for hours just to taste our soup," she said.

This humble eatery, glowing late into the night under neon lights, has become a symbol of a new wave of consumption sweeping across China — one powered not by luxury malls or online flash sales, but by small, deeply local businesses.

As China looks to consumption to drive its economic momentum, scenes like this are being celebrated as part of a larger economic story.

Chen Xinhua, president of the China Hospitality Association, said, "Local flavors and smaller businesses have become an increasingly vital force in boosting consumption."

This year's Government Work Report again emphasized consumption as the "main engine and stabilizing anchor" of economic growth.

Last year, China's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 48.8 trillion yuan ($6.81 trillion), up 3.5 percent year-on-year. Final consumption expenditure contributed 44.5 percent to overall GDP growth, said the National Bureau of Statistics — a sign that despite global headwinds, domestic demand remains the country's strongest ballast.

Behind these headline figures lies a new understanding of what drives people to spend — not just convenience or necessity, but experience, emotion and connection.

Over the National Day holiday, millions of Chinese travelers turned the country into one sprawling tasting tour.

According to Dazhong Dianping, traffic to its "Must-Eat List" surged nearly 180 percent compared with the previous month. Major cities like Shanghai; Beijing; Guangzhou, Guangdong province; Chengdu, Sichuan province; and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, led the pack, but smaller cities emerged as the real "dark horses".

Local culinary hotspots such as Nanchang; Quanzhou, Fujian province; and Zhuhai, Guangdong province, saw list traffic soar over 217 percent, driving orders up by more than 220 percent. Across the nation, over 70 percent of hustle and bustle eateries — neighborhood stores known for their local flavors — saw their traffic double.

In the backstreets of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a noodle shop found itself overwhelmed by travelers following the app's map. "We sold hundreds of pounds of eel in a week," said its owner surnamed Xu, who has run the stall for over a decade. "We added 10 more outdoor tables just to keep up. I never expected the list to be so powerful."

His eatery, which has been listed on the platform for 13 years, boasts a 4.1 rating for taste. A recent reviewer summed it up, "Waited an hour, finished in 10 minutes. Worth every second."

These "hidden gems" — often family-run, decades-old businesses — are now national stars, riding a wave of digital discovery that blends tourism with grassroots commerce.

As travelers seek more personal, place-based experiences, taste tourism became a defining keyword of 2024.

In the southern city of Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Huang Ji Soy Milk is run by a group of sisters who serve freshly fried dough sticks and handmade soy milk until 3 am.

"We've been here for nearly 10 years," said the 54-year-old owner. "People come because it tastes like (how it was in) their childhood."

The sisters refuse to use machines. Soybeans are soaked by hand for exactly 10 hours in winter, less in summer. Dough is kneaded until translucent before frying. "My son helps now," she said. "It's not just a business, it's a craft."

In Guangzhou, Liang Xin Ji, a small snack shop that has been open for 17 years, saw a boom both in-store and online.

The same appetite extended to online platforms. According to Meituan, orders for highly rated "Must-Eat" restaurants surged by 165 percent among non-local users during the holidays. In cities like Shanghai, Chengdu in Sichuan province and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, delivery-based taste tourism has become the new norm, where people order famous local meals to their hotel rooms, treating each bite like a destination.

Delivery riders felt it too. In Changsha in Hunan province, courier Wei Wangjun recalled: "More than half my deliveries went to hotels and some smaller restaurants. Some even used the one-to-one rush delivery to make sure the food arrived hot and perfect."

From the outside, these are just food stories. But behind every bubbling pot and smoky wok lies a deeper economic pulse.

China's small businesses — from family diners to street vendors — account for over 90 percent of registered enterprises and employ hundreds of millions. Their vitality is central to the nation's consumption upgrade — a shift from mass production to personalized experience, from mere spending to emotional resonance.

Digital platforms like Meituan have become unlikely engines of this transformation, using user reviews and geolocation data to turn forgotten backstreets into viral destinations. Local governments, meanwhile, are experimenting with new incentives — from digital coupons to community street-market festivals — to keep this grassroots momentum alive.

Sheng Hong, a deputy to the National People's Congress, said in an interview that reviving consumption must start from the street corner rather than city center.

"In my visits, I found that many people, including tourists who come for city walks, prefer local, down-to-earth small shops with character and warmth. Modern consumption is about engaging all five senses. Yet, there's still a gap between people's expectations and what they experience," Sheng said.

She noted that younger consumers, especially Generation Z — those born between 1995 and the early 2000s, seek more than just pop-up novelty. They want immersive, lasting, and emotionally rich spaces, where they can linger, connect and create memories.

For families, that means kid-friendly zones where parents can shop or dine while children play. For international visitors, it means easier access to reliable local recommendations — where to eat, where to explore and how to join the crowd — Sheng added.

But to keep this "human warmth "alive, in her view, the flame of a fair business environment must be alight. She called for better protection of small vendors' rights, including reducing rent pressure, refining regulations and supporting small businesses.

In the end, China's consumption revival may not come from grand shopping malls or digital megasales. It may come from the steam rising off a clay pot in Nanchang, or the laughter spilling out of a noodle stall in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

Because in a country of 1.4 billion, the true flavor of recovery and the future of economic growth may just begin with a single bite, she said.

chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn