It began on a university campus, but did not remain there. It began with music, but has gradually connected music with urban culture, tourism and youth lifestyles. From reaching seven cities across Shandong in 2023 to expanding beyond the province in 2024, the New Youth Music Festival has continued to grow while retaining its original purpose: creating a space where young people can meet and express themselves.

　　That may be one reason it has lasted for more than a decade.

　　Young people’s lives change. The music they listen to changes. The ways they express themselves change. But the desire to find like-minded people and have a space to be heard remains.

　　A song can give strangers a reason to meet. It can also give young people a reason to step away from familiar routines for a while.

　　For a city, welcoming young people also means more than preparing a stage.

　　During the 2026 New Youth Music Festival in Dezhou, local volunteers helped with transportation and on-site services, while the festival was also connected with youth employment and entrepreneurship, urban culture and tourism experiences. The event thus became an opportunity for both sides to learn about each other: young people experience a city, while the city considers what it can offer to make young people want to visit, stay and return.

　　A music festival, then, leaves behind more than a stage after the crowds have gone.

　　Some come to share their music. Some make friends in an unfamiliar city. Some visit Shandong for the first time because of a concert. Others return years later.

　　For an individual young person, these may seem like small moments in a much larger chapter of youth.

　　But when countless such moments come together, they become part of a city’s collective memory of youth.