China's youth enchanted by performing arts

Fans from 332 cities across the country watched Chinese singer-songwriter Hua Chenyu's concert in Haikou, South China's Hainan province, on Nov 15. The concert was one of the stops on his Mars tour in 2019.

One of his fans was Xiaomi, who declined to give her real name. She flew from her home in Chongqing along with three friends to watch the concert.

The 25-year-old, who works in a department store in Chongqing, has been a fan of Hua since she watched his concert at the National Stadium in Beijing in 2018.

"His concerts sold out in seconds. My friends and I tried to buy tickets as fast as we could," she said.

"It's a great trip to Haikou, which I had never been to before, along with my friends and to watch my idol's concert."

Among all the ticket buyers for live shows, first-tier and second-tier cities still had a larger number of consumers, which numbered around 76 percent. In comparison, third-tier and fourth-tier cities accounted for about 24 percent of consumers, according to the report.

In third-and fourth-tier cities, the report said that people loved watching concerts more than theatrical dramas.

"It has now become a way of life for young people to spend money on performances by their idols and they form a positive attitude of life through following the young stars," Zhang Yiwu, a professor of Peking University, said in a WeChat public account.

"It indicates China has entered a higher stage of development with better economic and social foundations. It's also a driving force for Chinese cultural and creative industries."