Dance party

The inaugural ISY Music Festival in March aims to turn Sanya into the Ibiza of the East. Wang Kaihao reports.

One question often bothers many young tourists to Sanya: What is there to do at night?

Attracting over 16 million overnight visitors in 2016, Sanya in southern Hainan province is among China's most popular tourist destinations.

Most visitors seem to consider it a place to take aged parents wanting to escape the winter cold.

However, an upcoming electronic dance music, or EDM, event is looking to instill a more youthful vibe in the city.

The two-day inaugural ISY Music Festival will lift its curtain at a beach stage in Sanya's Haitang Bay during the Lantern Festival on March 2, 2018. It features a lineup of leading DJs including Martin Garrix, the Dutch DJ who won first place on the world's Top 100 DJs list in 2017, and Belgian duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, who took the second spot on the list. They will be performing at the same event for the first time.

Other top 10 DJs such as Hardwell, Tiesto, and Afrojack, all from the Netherlands, will also join the all-star lineup, which comprises nearly 100 musicians and DJs from around the world.