Live houses in Chengdu gain popularity with cozy atmosphere, high performance quality

China

Live houses in Chengdu gain popularity with cozy atmosphere, high performance quality

2025-05-05 20:29 Last Updated At：21:27

In the world of live music bars, innovation and atmosphere are key to success, as demonstrated by entrepreneurs of many live houses in Chengdu City in southwest China's Sichuan Province during the May Day holiday.

Dedicated to quality sound, intimate settings, and innovative features, these venues are thriving and transforming how people engage with live music.

"I started working in music education in 2015. I was teaching for so many years and felt like it couldn't stay that way forever, so I left my job without any plan. When I opened the store, the very first thing I considered was ensuring the singers could comfortably sing, and the people listening could actually understand and enjoy those songs," said Deng Wenxuan, founder of a local music bar.

"The atmosphere here is excellent. Everyone understands what you're singing, and they can interact with you," said Liu Xuanxuan, singer of the bar.

According to Deng, gradually, the bar started attracting some excellent customers. They came and loved the place. Even though the number of people wasn't significant, they brought him a lot of emotional value.

Reservations are made via WeChat, which now has nearly 30,000 people, but we only have 20 tables.

"We missed the booking, so we have to wait for a table on-site," said a customer.

"I'm always trying to get a spot. I try every week to grab a spot," said another customer.

While the bar dives deep into a niche market, CD Concert Live focuses on offering high-quality live music to a broader audience.

"The biggest investment is in sound, lighting, and stage equipment. Our entire sound system is concert-level quality. The 'clap light' concept in here is a unique feature. If you support a singer, you can clap a button to light up your table, and our artists will interact with you. 60-percent of our artists are graduates or current students from music academies. CD has always maintained a deep collaboration with universities, addressing both the employment issues and our talent needs. In the future, we will continue to explore more innovative features," said Liu Xiao, co-founder of CD Concert Live.

The experience of the next entrepreneur also highlights the importance of innovative products.

"About half of our customers are post-00s. Price is a key factor in attracting young people. We position ourselves as a small tavern but strive to improve in areas like music, decoration, service, playfulness and the quality of our products," said Xie Mingjun, co-founder of Erma Tavern.

The 2025 Meituan Bar Guide says niche spots like live houses and social pubs are growing over 30 percent year on year. Whether it's 20 tables helping people unwind or 100 lights creating a buzzing vibe, live houses are bringing fresh energy to cities through innovative service and digital upgrades.

Japanese protest against Takaichi's erroneous remarks on China's Taiwan

Japanese people held a rally in Shibuya, Tokyo, on Saturday to oppose Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks about China's Taiwan region and attempts to revive militarism.

At a Diet meeting in early November 2025, Takaichi claimed that the Chinese central authorities' "use of force on Taiwan" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan and implied the possibility of armed intervention in the Taiwan Strait, which drew strong criticism worldwide.

At the rally, protesters chanted slogans of "Oppose remarks on advocating 'Taiwan emergency' and "Oppose remarks on possessing nuclear weapons."

"To lead Japan towards nuclear armament, [the Takaichi administration] came up with the so-called rhetoric on 'Taiwan emergency.' It is advancing the war under such context. They aim to move toward war step by step by destroying Japan's Constitution and abolishing the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. Therefore, we must strive to prevent war before it happens," said a protester.

At the year end of 2025, Takaichi approved a record 782 billion U.S. dollars budget for the next fiscal year, including the largest defense budget on record.

Earlier in December 2025, the Japanese parliament passed a 118 billion U.S. dollar supplementary budget to fund a new stimulus package, including over 10 billion U.S. dollars for security and diplomacy.

"I think every Japanese is clearly aware that Takaichi's government is a right-wing regime in nature. The Takaichi administration has walked on the path -- bringing defense-related spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product within fiscal 2025 by a supplementary budget. From the perspective of this thoroughly militarized system and approach, I feel a strong sense of crisis," said another protester.

For decades, Japan capped its annual defense budget at around 1 percent of GDP, roughly 5 trillion yen, reflecting its postwar pacifist stance under the war-renouncing Constitution. Since fiscal 2023, Japan's annual defense budget has successively exceeded 6 trillion yen, 7 trillion yen, 8 trillion yen, and 9 trillion yen.