Roadside concerts become a hit in China’s Guiyang

Different from regular concerts, roadside concerts in Guiyang, mainly performed by local bands and music enthusiasts, offered a stage for ordinary people to show themselves and attracted a lot of tourists and residents to watch performances on bustling streets and in tourist attractions.

Pakistani student Manha Abdellah, who currently studies clinical medicine at Guizhou Medical University, participated in a roadside concert and sang two songs, including a medley with other international students. Abdellah's Chinese song performance won applause and cheering from audiences.

Roadside concerts, accessible to everyone without any entry fee, provided a platform for non-professional performers to showcase their talents and for the audience to enjoy performances spontaneously, Abdellah said.

"The audience was very warm and enthusiastic, especially when I mentioned I was from Pakistan. They cheered loudly, reflecting the strong friendship between China and Pakistan," said Abdellah, adding that the audience's warm reception made the experience very enjoyable.

Abdellah was just one of the foreigners who performed on the stage of roadside concerts. Over the past year, many foreign students and music enthusiasts took part in performances at roadside concerts in Guiyang, which become an important platform for global exchanges.

Besides Yunyan District, other downtown areas have also been the birthplace of roadside concerts.

Guanshanhu District has invited professional bands to perform on the stage of roadside concerts, and sometimes invited students, teachers and representatives of relative industries according to different themes and topics.

Besides roadside concerts, it also gave full play to the advantages of many venues, attracting well-known Chinese artists such as JJ Lin and Zhou Shen to hold concerts, well-known music festivals and livehouse performances.

Data shows that Guanshanhu District has held nearly 20 concerts by virtue of its resources of business districts, parks, fields and hills.

According to the cultural, sports, radio, film and tourism bureau of Guanshanhu, music has enriched the cultural life of its citizens, improved the life quality and provided a stage for music enthusiasts to enjoy music and reunite its people together.

In Qingzhen City, roadside concerts helped revitalize its resources and become a magnet for tourists. Since Sept. 2023, more than 20 roadside concerts have been held in the scenic spot of Shiguang Guizhou, leaving a deep impression on singers, citizens and tourists.

But back to the year of 2021, this scenic spot saw few tourists as a result of poor management, and about 40 percent of the leaseholders refused to rent the shops and stores again. It was listed as an efficient cultural and tourism project in the province.

In the past three years, local authorities gave a hand to the scenic area to attract tourists. They re-analyzed target customer groups and introduced new stores, improving services in an all-round way.

Chen Long, investment and planning director of the scenic spot, said that during the first half of 2024, it received 1.42 million tourists, and the comprehensive income reached about 78.97 million yuan (about 11.20 million U.S. dollars). It has witnessed its letting rate increasing to more than 85 percent, and been successfully declared as a tourism and leisure district in the province.

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