Dumpling chain listed among holiday attractions

The Qing-Feng Steamed Dumpling Shop restaurant chain was listed by some travel agencies as a top tourist spot over the Spring Festival holiday, more than one month after President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to one Beijing outlet on Dec 28.

The restaurant near the Temple of the Moon in the Xicheng district of Beijing saw a huge boost in customers over the holiday period (Jan 31 to Feb 6), reporting a business volume 4.7 times that for the same period last year.

The nine restaurants in the chain reported a total business volume of 172,000 yuan ($28,300) on Feb 5, almost 2.3 times of that for the previous year, Beijing Daily reported.

Xi displayed the common touch in December when he made a surprise visit to the restaurant branch, lined up to order his food and then sat with other customers to eat the steamed buns.

The event raised the chain's profile and attracted large numbers of new customers, many traveling long distances to taste their steamed buns and eat in the same spot as the President.