100 acts to perform at grasslands festival

Several years ago, a group of people from InMusic Magazine visited Zhangbei, a small county in Hebei province located near the Inner Mongolian autonomous region known for its vast grasslands and nomadic scenery, and decided it would be a great place to hold a music festival.

"When I visited Zhangbei for the first time in 2009, I was impressed by the green grasslands, the beautiful sunsets and the quietness," recalls Li Hongjie, the chief planner of the Zhangbei Music Festival. "I thought it would be a refreshing trip for city dwellers tired of the urban chaos."

Launched in 2009, Zhangbei Music Festival is now one of China's fastest-growing outdoor music festivals, says Dong Yong, the general manager of Sun Green Culture Communication, one of the organizers. In the first year, around 100,000 people attended the festival. Last year, the number exceeded 350,000.