Music city

Changjiang International Music Festival is becoming one of China's major youth events. [Photo by Zhu Donghong/China Daily]

The flood of music fans from neighboring cities such as Nanjing, Changzhou and Shanghai and Beijing posed challenges, but also brought opportunity to the city.

"All the hotels near the music festival site were booked and even the beers sold out at supermarkets," Zhang recalls.

Because the festival is held during a public holiday, it has gradually become a vacation destination for music lovers from around the country.

Zhang says it takes no more than five hours to travel by high-speed train from Beijing to Zhenjiang and just 70 minutes from Shanghai to Zhenjiang.

Zhang also adjusted the content of the music festival to be more diverse than other festivals in China. He says that unlike Midi Music Festival, which focuses on rock music, and Strawberry Music Festival, which caters to trendy young people, the festival in Zhenjiang is targeted at families, which means it has a variety of music styles.

Zhang also invited Tang Xiaolei, a veteran performance manager, who is the vice-president and producer of Beijing Legend River Entertainment, to bring big-name international stars and popular new singers to attract bigger crowds.

Tang, who brought Beyonce and the late Whitney Houston to China, invited Scorpions and American singer-songwriter Demi Lovato, who has made it big on US billboards.

They will perform 90 minute sets at the festival.