Yueyang City, Hunan Province, in central China, is located on the shores of Dongting Lake along the Yangtze River, where grilled dishes such as barbecue are extremely popular locally, with over 3,000 barbecue specialty restaurants in the city. Hunan Yueyang BBQ College, China's first specialized barbecue college established jointly by Yueyang Open University and the Yueyang Barbecue Association, officially began recruiting students in March this year. After nearly two months of intensive lectures, the first batch of students will soon graduate.

The first batch of students at the college consists of more than 30 people, nearly 90% of whom are from outside the local area, including hotel chefs and new university graduates. In addition to learning basic barbecue cooking techniques, they also take compulsory subjects such as store management, cost calculation, consumer psychology, and marketing through the production and distribution of short videos. Almost all of the first batch of students have secured employment, and recruitment for the second batch of students has also begun. This college, which has attracted public attention with its barbecue specialty, is gradually transforming from an online sensation into a new path for vocational education.

Liu Yijiang and Peng Tao, from the first batch of students, plan to open a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after graduation. From their previous experience, the two realized that Chinese cuisine is also highly popular in Vietnam. They systematically learned barbecue cooking methods in Yueyang, improved Yueyang's traditional barbecue seasonings, added ingredients popular with Vietnamese people such as lemongrass and lime, and expressed their ambition to arrange the flavors to suit the preferences of Southeast Asian consumers. (Provided by/CGTN Japanese)