Small-town Chinese officials are making money
with music festivals
And exhausted urban youngsters are flocking to
them
本文介绍了音乐节方方面面和美国音乐文化。LOCKDOWN WASbrutal. But nature is healing. And, it turns out, nature is also part of the
healing. As frazzledurbanites emerge from their pandemic hibernaculum into a grim economy, some
want to venture to the great outdoors. Small cities and rural areas are obliging by putting on funky new music
festivals where the youth can dance and hug and relax once again.注：frazzled urbanites，Frazzle动词，表示使人精疲力尽。也可作名词，表示精疲力尽的状态。Urbanite指居住在城市中的人，尤指对城市生活方式和文化习惯有深入了解和熟悉的人。Hibernaculum指蛇、蝙蝠、青蛙等动物冬眠时的栖息地，这里只封城期间人们被困在家中。Obliging指愿意帮助或顺从他人。一个乐于助人的人可以被形容为obliging。Music festivals were a growing business
when covid struck. China’s Woodstockmoment had happened back in 2000, when the first festival emerged at Midi, a
renowned music school in a Beijing suburb. Covering a range of musical tastes
from grunge to metal to punk, they grew
in number to more than 250 in 2019. So far this year alone, 150 have been
announced.注："Woodstock moment" 指1969年美国纽约州伍德斯托克镇举办的历史性音乐盛会“伍德斯托克音乐节”，是当时反文化运动的象征。在现代语境中，"Woodstock moment" 指大规模的、有意义的集会，也可形容某种文化或艺术运动的高峰时期。grunge metal punk是三种音乐风格。Grunge起源于20世纪80年代末期和90年代初期的西雅图，通常包括朋克、硬核、重金属和另类摇滚等多种音乐元素。Metal重金属音乐，通常包括高强度的吉他演奏、强烈的鼓打、复杂的节奏和主题，以及高音量。Punk是一种反叛的音乐风格，强调自我表达、反传统和反对社会等。A perfect example took place in mid-April
at a remote wetland park in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Some 5,000 revellers gathered outside the city of
Meishan for the Chunyou Festival (chunyou means
“spring outing”). Sparkling lakes dot
the landscape between green hills and idyllic forests not far from Sichuan’s
famous panda sanctuaries. A fifth of
those attending came from outside Sichuan, many from Shanghai and Beijing. Many
discounted tickets also went to locals, some of whom just came to watch the
city folks boogie. With everyone
dressed up in boho chic, it felt
like a small-scale Coachella,
without the weed.
注：Reveller指热爱狂欢和聚会的人，与"partygoer"或者"celebrant"类似，但更强调狂欢和庆祝。Sparkling lakes dot the landscape between
green hills and idyllic forests. 波光粼粼的湖泊点缀在青山和田园森林之间Sanctuary通常指教堂、神庙、修道院等，或者难民营、庇护所、避难所。在这里指大熊猫保护区。Boogie是一种音乐风格和舞蹈风格，起源于20世纪40年代的美国。其特点是强烈的鼓点、重复的旋律和快节奏的节拍，会让人们感到兴奋和跳舞。Boho Chic结合了波西米亚（Bohemian）和时髦（Chic）的元素，强调自由、放松的风格，同时也展现了一种艺术气息。在文化上，它强调自由、放松和个性化。Coachella：科切拉音乐节（The Coachella
Valley Music and Arts Festival） 是由Goldenvoice主办的每年在加州Indio的沙漠里举办的音乐节，在加州本土举办的三大音乐节中，Coachella音乐节是最大，也是乐队阵容最强大的音乐盛会。Coachella音乐节上也会有艺术展览、食品和手工艺品市场等各种活动。Coachella音乐节吸引了来自世界各地的数十万人前来参加。"Weed"这个词在某些地方也可以用来指代大麻，尤其是在口语中。但是在正式场合或文学作品中，"weed"通常指的是杂草或野草"Weed"是指大麻，在很多地方被认为是非法毒品。Many urban hipsters have been to such festivals this spring. Others have
friends who have just returned from a forest near a town no one had ever heard
of before, where they talked about love and peace and forgot about parental pressure to find a spouse and the ”996” grind (9am till 9pm, six days
a week).注：Hipster指的是一群潮流文化的追随者，他们通常有着独特的审美观和生活方式。Hipster文化产生于20世纪40年代的美国，强调个性化和反传统。和Hipster不同，Hippie文化是在20世纪60年代兴起的，强调反战、反传统、和平、自由和爱等价值观，反对物质主义和消费文化。parental pressure to find a spouse 父母催婚996 grind 996“福报”（这两个短语可以在写作时使用）Seeing their popularity, another
struggling tribe has looked to cash in. Local officials also had a tough
lockdown, exhausting their budgets chasing down every single case of covid,
while watching their income slip away. Now, realising that anxious urban youths
will pay good money to loiter near a
yoga tent drinking craft beer or mingleat a Tibetan tea area, officials are scramblingto compete for tourists, and looking to build their small-town brand by getting
the cool kids posting online. Type #musicfestivals into Xiaohongshu, a
social-media app, and you get 2m hits. Chunyou was part of a series of
culture-and tourism-awareness programmes for Renshou county, where the wetland park is located. A local
newspaper said the number of tourists visiting the park increased 50% from the
last festival two years ago.注："Loiter"意思是闲逛、逗留或徘徊，而没有明确目的。也可表示在某个地方无所事事。"Mingle"意思是混合、交往、融合。例如：At the party, people mingled and chatted with each other.（在聚会上，人们互相交往和聊天。）scramble to表示爬、攀登或争夺。作爬行、攀登或爬时。例如：The hikers had to scramble up
the steep hill.（徒步旅行者不得不攀登陡峭的山丘。）作争夺、争抢时。例如：Several companies are scrambling to buy the new technology.（几家公司正在争相购买这项新技术。）本文中即表示地方官员争抢游客资源。Renshou
county指仁寿县，隶属于四川省眉山市，位于成都市正南方向。During the May Day holiday this year,
more than 40 music festivals were held across 19 provinces and regions, with
many of those in lower-tier cities. Zhuji, a small city two hours from
Shanghai, reported that tourists spent 450m yuan ($64m) the weekend it launched
its first-ever music festival, including an increase of 365% on hotels and
restaurants from the previous weekend. Yantai, a coastal city in Shandong
province where this year’s Midi festivalwas held, said 340,000 tourists visited and spent 200m yuan. In the midst
of a national economic slowdown, Zhuji and Yantai have both been struggling with
debts. “Music festivals have ‘brought
fire’ to us,” claimed the Zhuji government on WeChat, a social-media
platform, using the Chinese phrase for “going
viral”.注：go viral (bring fire火了)Midi festival，迷笛音乐节，2000年由北京迷笛音乐学校创办的国内首个原创音乐节，被称为中国的“伍德斯托克”,经过多年发展，现已成为现代音乐最响亮的品牌之一。Chunyou “is a much-needed trip for me
after living in Shanghai for a while,” says Wency Chen, who works in
communications. Several of her friends had flown to Sichuan too. A woman in her
30s, who calls herself Peach, drove two hours with her brother to get there.
The whole scene made her feel “happy and liberated”, she said.The music is not bad, either. China’s
live music scene has evolved a lot, and Chunyou featured a lot of
ethnic-minority tunes, played by artists such as Kawa, a reggae group
from Yunnan province, and Ts.Bayandalai, an ethnic Mongolian
musician. And, in spite of a crackdown on many
areas of urban cultural life, there is still a sense of freedom in the music
world. It may not equal the hedonismof some Western gigs, but the
festivals are among the few places where
rainbow flags can be waved. The organisers are keen to keep a small-town vibe. “We don’t want to become a giant
festival,” says one. “We just want people to have fun.”注："Reggae"是一种起源于牙买加的音乐流派，具有明显的重拍感，歌词往往涉及到社会和政治问题，例如爱、和平、反战和种族平等。Kawa是一支成立于2015年，五位成员均来自云南普洱西盟的乐队，主打少数民族音乐文化。Ts.Bayandalai（巴彦达莱），来自新疆的蒙族音乐人。hedonism享乐主义，强调追求快乐和享乐的价值。但有些人认为过度追求快乐和享乐会导致道德堕落和精神空虚。"Gigs"指小型音乐演出。此外，gigs也可指其他短期工作或临时性雇佣,Fiverr中就用gigs来表示工作任务。Vibe是vibration（震动）的缩写，指氛围、感觉，通常用来形容某个地方或某个人散发出的能量情感状态。例如，一个房间里好的vibe指积极、愉悦的氛围，让人感到舒适和放松。关注公众号，回复“易读版”领取经济学人双栏易读版PDF。
