Dance party

Sunrise at Haitang Bay in Sanya. [Photo provided to China Daily]

ISY is short for "Love Sanya", as the word for love sounds like "I" in Chinese, according to Ma Le, CEO of Beijing-based Starry Asia Entertainment and founder of the festival. But the initial letter can also be explained as international or just "me", suggesting young people express themselves.

"It aims to gather youngsters from not only China, but from surrounding regions in Asia," Ma says. About 50,000 tickets are planned to be sold for each day's show.

The current plan is for the ISY Music Festival to be held six times over the next three years, every March and September.

"The inaugural event has to invite the biggest stars to quickly get fans fired up," Ma says. "However, as music genres keep changing, it won't bother me how the festival develops. Let's just do it and see."

Sanya, a coastal resort city in China's tropical region, is often called the "Hawaii of the East", but Ma now wants to give it a new image as China's Ibiza, the Mediterranean island famous for its night life.

"China's booming market creates more chances for electronic dance music, and Sanya has a huge advantage being branded as a resort, where people look for leisure activities," he explains.