CHINESE ROCK, PUNK AND HIP HOP
Archetypal Chinese rock band,
Tang Dynasty
Rock music didn't really arrive in China until the 1980s when it was introduced by foreign students. A hallmark event was the Wham! concert at Beijing’s People’s Stadium in 1985. It was the first ever gig by a Western pop group in China. The show lost money but its showed the world China was opening up. After that Beatles tapes began circulating and Chinese artists began performing their own songs. In 1986, a groundbreaking concert was held at the Beijing Workers Stadium with mostly Chinese rock musicians. The late 80s is regarded as the best period of Chinese rock n' roll. Then, artists had something to say and rebellious energy. The rock scene was described as “fresh.”
One of the most popular bands in China in the 1990s was Tang Dynasty, a Led-Zeppelin-influenced heavy metal group. After the bass player in the group died in a car accident in 1995, he was buried near the tombs of four Qing Emperors, including Pu Yi (the Last Emperor) and his predecessor Emperor Guangxu.
Even though, the Shanghai Conservatory offers classes in rock n' roll singing, rock music in China thrives mostly in the clubs in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities. Up until the mid 1990s, rock concerts were often banned or heavily policed. These days, they draw less attention unless they have some sort of political connection.
The rock music scene in generally is pretty wide open and exists largely beyond the control of the government. Government authorities generally make no effort to monitor or censor it, but they do keep it off major radio and television stations. Their attitude seems to be why bother because it doesn’t really present much of a threat anyway.
The biggest event on the rock music calender these days is the Mid Music Festival, a four-day affair held at Hadian Park in Beijing. Many of China’s top rock groups perform there. Some young people travel by train 20 hours to get to Beijing and sleep in parks so they can take in the bands. The 7th edition of the festival in 2006 featured 40 bands and dozens of DJs, some of whom spit beer in the air and swore at the audience. Even though the event attracts sponsors like Gibson and Motorola, the festival generally loses about $25,000. Another big event is the Lijiang Snow Mountain Music Festival, which has been called “China’s Woodstock.” See Festivals
These days rock exists in it commercialized form, with people out to make money, and in an underground scene, driven by young people who want to express themselves. Needless to say not many artists are making money and many are close to starving. A member of band called Subs told Reuters that his group plays mostly in bars and rehearse in a nine-square meter space. On a good night, he said, the band makes about $37.50. “No one here lives the rock star life,” he said. “They might sell a few records but their lives stay basically the same...Then again, most rock bands have pretty low demands. Record labels don’t make any money either.”
Cui Jian
Cui Jian is widely regarded as the father of Chinese rock music and today remains China's most popular rock star. Known for blending Western and Chinese instruments with veiled political lyrics, he is periodically banned from appearing on television and and his concerts are often canceled at the last minute. He is popular in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as the mainland and has played concerts in Europe and the United States.
Cui (47 in 2008) is of Korean-Chinese descent and is a classically-trained trumpeter. He wrote in Time, "My musical odyssey began early. My father, a trumpeter in the People's Liberation Army, began teaching me when I was 14. My taste were strictly classical." In 1981 he joined the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and played trumpet in it for seven years. During the Cultural Revolution he performed with the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe; in the 1980s, he recorded an album of Hong-Kong-style pop songs.
"Things began to change in 1985...when the group Wham! gave a concert in Beijing, “ Cui wrote. “A year later I heard my first Beatles tape. I learned to play the electric guitar." In 1986 "I formed a band and made rock my life." In the late 1980s, he developed his distinctive style after being introduced to New wave artists like The Police and Talking Heads.
His groundbreaking album, Rock on the New Long March, attacked the party with clever between-the-line lyrics, and featured a unique sound that merged rock with traditional Chinese zheng and suona music. Some of his later music was influenced by xibie feng. Among his other albums are Power to the Powerless and Egg Under the Red Flag.
Cui and Tiananmen Square
Cui wrote, "I performed at Tiananmen in 1989, 15 days before the crackdown...The students needed me, and I needed them.” Cui's Nothing to My Name, a political song masked as a love song written in 1986, became the anthem of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. It goes:
For a long time I kept on asking
When will you come with me
But all you do is laugh at me
For I have nothing to my name
I want to give you my dreams
To give you my liberty too
But all you do is laugh at me
For I having to my name.
Insulting someone name in China is like telling them to have sex with their mother. Commenting on the song, the Chinese general Wang Zhen once said, "What do you mean you have nothing to your name? You've got the Communist Party, haven't you?"
Cui also angered authorities by performing another popular song, A Piece of Red Cloth, with a red blindfold covering his eyes and donning a PLA uniform and a red blindfold his album jackets. In A Piece of Red Cloth, he sang:
That day you used a piece of red cloth
To blindfold my eyes and cover the sky
You asked what I had seem
I said I saw happiness
The feeling really made me comfortable
Made me forget I had no place to live
You asked where I wanted to go
I said I want to follow your road.
Cui After Tiananmen Square
After Tiananmen Square, Cui was forced to keep a low profile. His concerts were banned and he played instead at "parties," unofficial shows at hotels and restaurants. In 1990, he reemerged to help the government raise money for the 1990 Asian games. Afterwards his concerts and recordings were banned again because they were perceived threats of "dangerous disorder."
Cui told Time that his songs are not political. "They are more personal. It's just truth, the modern truth. I think about our life in China...Chinese culture is like a river without an outlet. We need to unblock this river so that it can flow freely into the sea and mingle with the world.”
In response to accusations that he is too negative, he says that he is simply expressing his feelings. "Rock 'n' roll us about equality, “ Cui wrote in Time. “Some Chinese are slaves to Western culture; other look East. I say f--- all of them and be yourself. That's what I like about rock 'n' roll. You can talk straight."
Cobra, China's First All-Woman Rock Band
Cobra is five-member all-woman alternative Chinese rock band, with a saxophone player and a lead guitarist and singer named Xiang Nan, who shrieks out lyrics like: "Escape right now into the storm, and don't fear the loneliness/ Cause the old lies will soon be the truth."
Not surprisingly, Cobra gets little air play on China's state-controlled radio and television. In the provinces they play in sports stadiums; in Beijing, they are confined to playing primarily in cramped clubs and coffeehouses that can squeeze in only a few dozen people. To get their first CD Hypocrisy released they had to take out a song about the Cultural Revolution called 1966 (the year the Cultural Revolution began).
Cobra was formed in 1989 by four friends (the saxophone player was added later). By the mid 1990s they were in their thirties and single, and earned enough money from their music to quit their day jobs. The question they are most frequently asked by the Chinese press is "Do you have husbands?"
In 1996, Cobra played before a packed house at CBGB's, the grungy New York punk club where groups such as the Ramones and Talking Heads launched their careers. Nam appeared at the show sporting huge pigtails and a shirt printed with images of Mao. Cobra has also toured the United States, Germany and Hong Kong.
Cobra
In 1997, Malcolm McLaren, the promoter of the Sex Pistols, was promoting an all-woman band of Chinese-extraction called Jungk. All five members were models skilled in Kung Fu.
China’s Bob Dylan
Yang Yi is sometimes called the Bob Dylan on China. He has shunned record contact to play on the streets and devote his attention keeping traditional music alive. During the winter he plays guitar and harmonica before students, construction workers, commuters on the sidewalk outside the National Art Museum as he has since 1992. In the summer he travels around China collecting the music of ordinary people.
Yang released his first album in 1999 and a second one in 2004 and has performed in Europe and elsewhere in Asia. He sings almost exclusively in Chinese and many of his songs are about ordinary Chinese. One of his most popular songs, Bakes Sweet Potatoes, is a about street vendor who is saving money to return to his home village only to have his dreams dashed when police confiscate all his sweet potatoes. Several songs deal with the plight of migrant workers.
The collection of tapes that Yang has recorded in remote parts of China is regarded as one f the richest and most extensive collections of traditional Chinese music. Yang told the International Herald Tribune, “We do not have our own voice and we are losing our soul. Recent trends towards jazz and blues are fashions not passions. Commercial interests have wiped out Chinese music, stopping it from developing its own strengths.”
Other Chinese Rock Bands
Other Chinese rock artists include 1989 (an experimental rock group); Hei Bao (Black Panther); Wayhwa (rock singer who was a newscaster until she appeared on ABC-TV's "Nightline" during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations); and Cui Wenpig, who plays Carmen, Jingle Bells and other songs by slapping his head, nose, face and teeth with his fingers.
The rock band The Flowers was very popular in the late 1990s. Explaining why CCTV wouldn't show their video, a CCTV producer said, "This music releases very pessimistic emotions. This does not suit the main tone of our propaganda."
Among the happening Beijing-based bands in 2008 were P.K. 14, Joyside, Hedgehog and Carsick Cars. The later has opened for Sonic Youth. Among the influential people in he Beijing indie scene are Michael Oettis, a former Wall Street investment banker who opened the club D-22 in 2006, and Zhang Shouwang, who also goes by the name Jeffray Zhang, who is skilled guitarist who sometimes plays his instrument with a violin bow.
The Taiwanese heavy metal group Mayday is popular in mainland China and throughout Asia. The members of the group are named Stone, Monster, Ashin and Masa.
Punk Rock in China
Punk band Brain Failure
Punk rock has a following among disenfranchised youth in Chinese cities butthe punk scene is very small and largely underground. For a while, the Scream Club, a sort of CBGBs in Beijing, was ground zero for the punk scene. A member of one group that played there said the club is “small, dark, a little dirty, but cool...The Beijing punks are very enthusiastic and dedicated.” He said his group liked to get drunk and throw their microphones at audience.
Many Chinese punk groups used to record on Uganda-based 89 Tiananmen Records. One punk band on that lable— 69—did a speeded-up thrash-metal version of the Maoist standard To Rebel Is Justified, replacing the lyric "healthy bodies" with "empty heads."
One member of an all-girl teenage punk band told the Japan Times they spend most of their time hanging out at the flat of one of their boyfriends, listening to CDs, drawing on the walls, and smoking cigarettes. They sometimes played gigs the Scream Club until it closed down.
Many Beijing punks are accused of being posers—spiking their and hair wearing combats but have little idea of what rebellion is all about, attacking George Bush when they should be attacking Hu Jintao.
Punk and Rebellion in China
Brain Failure poster
Punk is arguably the most tolerated form of expression in China. Groups sing about “No future,” “Revolution in Your Life” and “never forget the message from Orwell” and criticize the ruling elite by attacking Zhongnanhai cigarettes which has the same name of the place where the ruling elite lives. A fan at a Shanghai club told the New York Times, “What’s produced here is all about ‘You don’t love me’ or ‘I don’t love you.’ It’s lousy, and without layers.”
One Chinese punk rock song goes:
Red flag in this sky, but it means nothing,
Red flag doesn’t need a star,
Like freedom doesn’t need a flag
So many [damn] rules, but I don’t care
Let’s burn this flag,
Now it’s the time
The lead singer of P.K, 14, a group with a sizable following, told the Washington Post: “The government told people you should live for money, a house, a car, a bigger house. So more people get rich and more get poor. It’s a bad situation. Some foreigners say China has a bright future, but I say there’s no future...I try yo sing about this, express this in our music. I am not a fighter, a protester, a politician. Music is what I do, I can only do that.”
Punk rockers say what they think and get a way with it, perhaps because the government feels they have little chance of winning many converts. Their numbers are so small and most Chinese find them distasteful anyway, so perhaps the government feels they give rebellion a bad name
Many punk rockers are not that interested in politics anyway. The singer in one group told the Washington Post, “We used to have a song about police injustice, called The Soul of Chinese Cops. But we’re not politicians, or the president. We can’t change the system.” Cui Jian told the Washington Post, “Chinese punks want to show they’re angry. That’s enough. They don’t have to make a big statement. The most important thing is don’t lose yourself.”
In mosh pit of the Beijing club D-22 fans dive from the stage and shower performers with cigarettes.
Hang on the Box
The Beijing punk group Hang on the Box is led by singer Wange Yue, who has been described a Chinese Siouxsie Sioux. The group itself was described the Japan Time described as having “the energy of X-Ray Spex with faster and better tunes.”
The Hang n the Box’s debut album was called Yellow Banana. One song on it called Kill Your Belly goes: “Kill your belly/ Kill my belly/ Kiss your belly/Kiss my belly/ Keep your belly/ Keep my belly/ F**k you, I don’t need you! O Oo Oooooo.”
Hang the Box have said they earn maybe $10 or $20 to do a gig. The all have day jobs and sometimes need to call their parents to get taxi money for a ride home after the gig.
Hip Hop in China
Chinese hip hop
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img src="http://factsanddetails.com/skins/country/images/pmark.gif" alt=""class="pmark"/> Hip hop in China has been tamed, cleaned and manipulated by government authorities, who give air play to artists that glorify China and celebrate popular tourist attractions rather than mock the police, glamorize gangsta violence and down and dirty sex. Government-authorized hip hop groups release albums that bear stickers that tell fans to share the music with their parents. They also do public service announcements on radio, exhorting people to have pride in the country, respect elders and do their bit to clean up the environment.
Dragon Tongue is one of the top hip hop labels in China. Among its artist are the Dragon Tongue Squad, Sketch Crime. MC Webber and Kung Fu. When Webber wrote a song condemning people who had grown rich by cheating people authorities asked the rapper to write about something more positive. Kung Fu is perhaps the most government-friendly group. It warns teenagers not to act on impulse.
Homegrown hip hop is still somewhat of a new phenomena in China. Early rappers had difficulty adapting their tonal language to rap’s rhythms. Some of the biggest promoters of the sound were American English teachers. In 2003 Mao’s birthday was celebrated with a CD of Mao slogans shouted out to rap music beats. Among the highlights was a spirited version of the “Two Musts”—“to preserve modesty and prudence” and “to preserve the style of plain living and hard struggle.”
The younger generation has embraced hip hop as a means freely express themselves
Techno and Raves in China
As of 2007, 2Kolegas, a bar inside a drive-in movie theater in eastern Beijing, and Sugar Jar, a Beijing music store, were ground zero for China’s avant-garde music scene. The former hosts a range of experimental and abstract electronica musicians. The latter sells recordings with titles like China; the Sonic Avant-Garde. Recordings deemed successful sell hundreds of copies. Artists make the little money they make playing at art galleries and making ambient music for real estate developers.
Techno artists active in Beijing include Wang Fan; Sulumi; Yan Jun; FM3, the inventors of the drone-producing Buddha Machine; 718 (the performer Sun Wei); the rock musician Dou Wei, who has a number of spacey recordings that use traditional Chinese instruments; Huanqing, a Sichian-based group that records traditional folk music in villages and manipulates it electronically; and Tortured Nurse, described by the New York Times as one of the “most extreme noise groups” in China.
Many of these artist have evolved on their own in isolation with relatively little influence from the West. Many find this very exciting. The critic and musician Yan Jun told the New York Times, “Chinese people don’t know the best music system. There are no rules. No teacher. I can use this, I can use that—that’s all interesting. In the West everything was created already. But here we don’t know that..”
Among those who have given their approval to the Chinese electronic scene are British musician and producer Brian Eno and New York guitarist Elliot Sharp.Kenneth Field, a professor of electronic music in Beijing, told the New York Times, “Media is very centrally controlled at the top; at the bottom it seems to be a mirror of anarchy. There’ no innovation at the top, but at the bottom there’s a lot of informal freedoms.”
Raves are have been held in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places. Many young people from Hong Kong head to Shenzhen for raves. Fruit Flavor Vitamin C is a popular techno-guitar band.
Western Pop Music in China
Wham in China
The Carpenters was one of the first groups to be officially sanctioned to play in China. Some say it was the "beginning of the opening of China." Today, muzak, Simon and Garfunkle and Richard Clayderman and very popular.
The first Western rock group to perform in China was Wham! (See Above). People who got up to dance during their April 1985 concert were taken away by the police. Yanni was granted permission to perform in the Forbidden City in Beijing but the Rolling Stones weren't. The Rolling Stones did their first gig in China in Shanghai in April 2006 but were told not to sing some of sexually-suggestive hits.
Jan and Dean are very popular in China and the Little Old Lady from Pasadena sells well as a pirated cassette. At a Jan and Dean concert in 1986 in Shanghai, the aging performers invited some students on stage to dance. The students had a good time at the show but afterwards they were taken away by police and beaten for "being disruptive."
Kurt Cobain is regarded as something of a hero these days. On the streets of Shanghai it possible to buy CDs by Nirvana as well Pink Floyd, Sting, The Strokes and Bon Jovi for a little as 50 cents a piece.
In November 2008, Guns N’ Roses released their first album in 17 years, provocatively titled Chinese Democracy. In China, censors tried to black access to some web sites related to the album although others, including Guns N’ Roses home page remained accessible. Reaction to the album by critics and by Chinese who heard it—or heard of it on Internet bulletin boards—was mixed. The group’s singer Axl Rose was the only member of the band’s original line on the album, which cost $14 million to make.
Recent Visits by Western Pop Artists in China
Britney Spears is very popular among young men and male teenagers. In June 2004, the Culture Ministry approved a Chinese tour by Spears as long as she didn’t reveal too much. A state-run news agency reported, “Relevant departments will carry strict revues of Britney Spears’ clothing.
Christina Aguilera was given a green light to perform but a performance by rapper Jay-Z was canceled because some of his lyrics were deemed “vulgar.” A video by Green Day was because banned because of provocative images of U.S. army personnel. Some felt Madonna’s Hung Up video was vulgar.
In March 2008, the Iceland pop singer Bjork shouted “Tibet! Tibet!” after performing the song Declare Independence. Censors and ordinary Chinese were appalled. Some people in the audience walked out. Most appeared to have not understood what said, Internet chatter in China on the issue was generally negative. A posting on the Culture of Ministry website said that Bjork “broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings.” Censors pledged to exert tighter controls over foreign performs in the future.
In the early 2000s, Korean pop music became very popular in China. In the mid 2000s, Taiwan’s Jay Chou was one of the biggest pop acts in China. Regarded as the king of “mado-pop,” he mixes pop, hip-hop and Chinese style R&B and had a big hit in 2007 with the single Still Fantasy. The Japanese artists Glay and Kinkie Kids have topped the charts in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. Glay played before 35,000 fans in Beijing in October 2002.
Image Sources: Fan, artist and Chinese rock websites and blogs
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
© 2008 Jeffrey Hays