Why China's young fans keep filling concert halls

For most of the year, the small city of Zhuji in Zhejiang provinceprovince: A region of the earth or of a continent; a district or country — 地区；领域 is known mainly as the birthplacebirthplace: (by extension) The location where something was created or devised — 发源地 of Xi Shi, a famous beauty who lived about 2,500 years ago. Since 2023, however, the city has found a new reason to attract visitors. Every New Year, tens of thousands of young fans travel there for the Xi Shi Music Festival, a two-day event that has almost nothing to do with the ancient legendlegend: A traditional story sometimes regarded as historical; a very famous person. — 传说；传奇人物. This year, more than 133,000 people stayed overnightovernight: During or for the night; suddenly or very quickly. — 一夜之间；突然, a rise of 29% compared with last year.

China is in the middle of a concert boomboom: A period of rapid economic growth or increase in activity; a deep resonant sound. — 繁荣；景气；隆隆声. According to the China Association of Performing Arts, an industry group, box-office intakeintake: the amount of something taken in, especially food, drink, or air — 摄入量；吸收量box-office intake: total ticket sales revenue from performances — 票房收入 from live shows reached 62bn yuan ($9bn) last year, up from just 20bn in 2019. The number of performing artsperforming arts: art forms like music, theatre, and dance performed for an audience — 表演艺术 events jumped from 197,000 to around 640,000. The shows have also become more ambitious. One 28-year-old fan, surnamed Sun, went to three concerts by Mayday, a hugely popular Taiwanese rock band. At one show in Beijing, she watched the band appear as giant 3D images, then perform on a moving stage built onto a bus that circled the Bird's Nest stadium.

What makes this trend striking is that most Chinese shoppersshopper: A person who shops — 购物者 are otherwiseotherwise: In different circumstances; in other respects; or else. — 否则；除此之外 reluctantreluctant: Not wanting to take some action; unwilling — 不情愿的；勉强的 to open their walletswallet: A small case, often flat and often made of leather, for keeping money (especially paper money), credit cards, etc — 钱包. Like many other sectorssector: A distinct area or part of something, especially of a country's economy or society — 部门；行业；领域, entertainment was badly damaged during the pandemicpandemic: A pandemic disease; a disease that affects a wide geographical area and a large proportion of the population — 大流行病；（疾病的）大范围流行, and China's consumer-confidenceconfidence: The feeling or belief that one can rely on something or someone; self-assurance. — 信心；自信 indexindex: An alphabetical list of topics in a book; a number indicating relative levels. — 索引；指数consumer-confidence index: an economic measure of how willing people feel about spending money — 消费者信心指数, a measure of how willingwilling: Ready, eager, or prepared to do something. — 愿意的；乐意的 people feel about spending, fell sharply after the strictstrict: Demanding that rules are obeyed; precisely defined and not to be deviated from. — 严格的；严厉的 zero-covidzero-covid: describing China's strict lockdown policy that aimed to eliminate all covid cases — 清零政策 lockdownslockdown: The confinement of people in their own rooms (e.g. in a school) or cells (in a prison), or to their own homes or areas (e.g. in the case of a city- or nation-wide issue) as a security measure after or amid a disturbance or pandemic, etc — 封锁. That index has barelybarely: Only just; almost not; by a very small margin. — 几乎不；仅仅 recoveredrecover: To return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength; to regain something lost. — 恢复；康复；找回 since 2022. Concerts, though, have come back stronger than ever.

Local governments are paying closeclose: Narrow; confined — 狭窄的 attention, because visiting fans spend freelyfreely: Without restriction or interference; willingly and without hesitation. — 自由地；无拘束地 on hotels, meals and transport. Some cities now offer cash rewardsreward: Something given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement. — 奖励；报酬；回报 to attract big-name artists. On 2 February, the island province of Hainan gave the Hong Kong singer Eason Chan 1m yuan after his concert in Haikou sold 68m yuan worth of tickets. The wider benefit was even larger: fans travelling to the show spent roughlyroughly: Approximately; in a way that lacks precision or gentleness. — 大约；粗略地 3.2bn yuan in total. The performing arts association estimatesestimate: To calculate roughly, often from imperfect data — 估计 that every yuan spent on a ticket can leadlead: to cause or encourage someone to do something; to result in a particular outcome — 导致 to nearly seven more yuan of extra spending elsewhereelsewhere: In, at, or to some other place or places. — 在别处；到其他地方.

Some fans commit remarkableremarkable: Worthy of attention; extraordinary or striking. — 非凡的；卓越的；引人注目的 amounts of time and money. Ms Wang, who is 35, followed Mayday around the country with her husband last year. The couple spent about 20,000 yuan on tickets and roughly the same again on flights and accommodation. Before each show, she prepared handmadehandmade: Manufactured by hand — 手工制作的 bannersbanner: A long strip of cloth bearing a slogan or design, or a heading displayed prominently. — 旗帜；横幅；标语 and met up with other fans. She admits that going to concerts is what she looks forward to most, and she even remembers crying during her first Mayday concert after the pandemic. “It has already been almost two months without a concert,” she says. “It feels like nothing has happened, like I simply skippedskip: To disregard, miss or omit part of a continuation (some item or stage) — 略过 over those weeks.”

Chinese writers have begun to describe this pattern as emotionalemotional: Relating to or arousing the emotions; having feelings that are easily excited. — 情感的；情绪化的 consumptionconsumption: The using up of a resource; the eating, drinking, or ingesting of something. — 消费；消耗emotional consumption: spending money on experiences for psychological comfort rather than on material goods — 情绪消费: spending money on experiences that comfortcomfort: To relieve the distress or suffering of; to provide comfort to — 安慰 the mind, rather than on objects that fill a home. The trend is growing despite, or perhaps because of, the country's uncertainuncertain: Not certain; unsure — 不确定的 economic outlookoutlook: a person's way of regarding situations; the likely future course of events or prospects — 前景；展望；看法. Critics may dismissdismiss: To refuse to consider something seriously; to officially remove someone from a position. — 驳回；解雇 it as a habit of gloomygloomy: Not very illuminated; dim because of darkness, especially when appearing depressing or frightening — 昏暗的 young adults, yet the authorities appear willing to toleratetolerate: To allow (something that one dislikes or disagrees with) to exist or occur without interference — 容忍；忍受 it. As long as concerts persuade Gen-Z to keep spending, the Communist Party seems content to let the music play on.