He said that rather than the usual open air stage in a muddyfield, the Henley Festival was "a little village" with enclosures inherited from the regatta the previous week.
He has seen it grow from being "a muddyfield" and having 28 visitors in its first week back in 2001 to hosting 2, 800 visitors a day on recent Sundays.
Wang Suhua stood watching a bulldozer clear away plastic sheeting and debris from the muddyfield where the students' bodies had been taken among them, her 17-year-old granddaughter, Yang Miao, who was killed in her classroom.
It used to take place in a muddy open field next to a horse-trading market in a small village, until police moved it into the city this year to avoid tension between the two pursuits.