The development of pop music in China over two decades tells a story of the country, the times and social changes, and now Hong Kong and Taiwan have become the major sources of music for young music fans from the mainland.
In the late 1970s, popular music artists were few. The only pop artist of that time was Teresa Teng. Today this has changed. Rock-and-roll musicians abound, and young people can choose from a huge selection of modern music styles and artists.
In the early 1980s, criticism about the "unhealthy" content of popular music made conservative-minded people sneer at people who listened to what they called "soft soap" music. Today, hundreds of bands perform in clubs and bars across the country, hoping to be discovered by a music company so that they can make an album of their own.
Someone said 90 percent of the music companies in China rely on buying the copyrights to music from Hong Kong, Taiwan or overseas to generate the bulk of their profit. That is, few of these companies produce original music. There is not a single music company in Shanghai engaged in producing local original music, according to Fei Qiang, a music editor at Radio Shanghai.
But there is wide support in China for the development of original music. Both artists and business people in the industry believe that the market can stimulate the creation and production of the music industry.
Popular music in China was born in the late 1970s with changes to the rhythm and melody of songs. Softness and lightness were added to the tune.
The songs of that age had themes of social responsibility, singing the praises of navy soldiers who guarded the country's shores, or the beauty of the motherland.
China had just endured 10 years of political struggle brought by the "cultural revolution (1966-76)". The soft, sweet singing of Teresa Teng soothed the people.
"Teng sang every song she could, from old Chinese melodies to American rock-and-roll," said one critic. "Teng put her stamp on every song she sang. And every song became soft and sweet."
It was through her, that many Chinese audiences first learned of foreign music.
Some "academic" music writers using traditional string instruments and no electronic equipment started to compose popular songs. Gu Jianfen, who became famous later for "Songs and Smiles" and "Where are you from, my friend", started to write songs in these years.
But the social environment of that time was not very tolerant. Young people who wore bell-bottomed pants, big sunglasses and carried tape recorders were viewed as "hooligans". And the music they listened to was labeled "decadent".
Nothing could stop young people's passion for the trend and fashion. Cheng Lin, Cheng Fangyuan and Zhang Xing became the most popular singers of that time.
Cheng Lin was introduced to the audience by a composer from Taiwan, who also introduced a series of Taiwan pop songs to the mainland. At that time, ballads were popular in Taiwan and the trend quickly came to the mainland. Taiwan songwriters like Lo Tayu and Li Zongsheng became familiar to the mainland audience.
Foreign music first started to infiltrate China in the late 1970s. But fans of English-language songs only came out as a group in the mid-80s.
The first foreign voice that captivated the Chinese audience was Karen Carpenter. College students recorded her songs from one tape to another, spreading her voice further and further.
A widely-used English-language teaching textbook even took one of her songs in a listening text.
Her sound sharply contrasted the styles familiar to the Chinese audience. Her singing voice was simple and genuine, and not as "namby-pamby" as Teresa Teng's.
By the late 1980s, tapes of English songs were available in the Chinese market, though a large number of them were pirated.
Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, and John Denver were introduced to China. The radio stations gave more time to Western music, and audiences were called on to supply tapes for the program.
"The radio station played whatever they could find at the moment, sometimes it was the latest album, sometimes a series of old songs," Fei recalled.
Since the mid-80s, singers and actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan have participated in the annual Spring Festival Party, which is broadcast to the whole country via TV.
Hong Kong and Taiwan have become major sources of music for young fans from the mainland.
And as communications became easier and more frequent, talented young singers from the mainland went to Hong Kong to further develop their careers. Faye Wong is the best example. She was a native of Beijing and started singing songs of Teresa Teng's. She moved to Hong Kong where her career as the most successful contemporary Chinese singer took off.
Rock-and-roll started to take off between the late 1980s and early 1990s, taking a rebellious attitude toward the highly commercial music industry. Cui Jian became the "spiritual godfather" of the "angry young men". Many bands came into being during this period. "Tang Dynasty" and "Black Leopard" are two of the most famous. "Tang Dynasty" took elements of traditional Chinese opera into their music and sang the praises of the culture and civilization of ancient China. "Black Leopard" mixed rock-and-roll with pop music and achieved great success in album sales.
Globalization is an unstoppable trend nowadays. Accompanied by campaigns against piracy, this trend is intermingling music and film from all over the world. Radio stations no longer need to look around for things to play, music companies supply them with all the latest albums.
American, Japanese, Korean music all find large numbers of fans among teenagers in China. Rap, R&B (rhythm and blues), soul, techno, whatever trend starts to gain popularity on the global stage, quickly comes out in a localized version.
( Shanghai Star January 8, 2002)
