Cars, clothes and booming construction are not the only Chinese industries attracting world attention. The Middle Kingdom's infant dance music scene is now luring the world's best DJs to the mainland, including Carl Cox, one of the biggest and best.

Cox has been spinning through Chinese mainland dance clubs this week spreading his gospel of groove and playing electronic dance music that many Chinese have never heard before.

He began his China tour in Beijing last weekend to packed audiences, performed in Shenzhen last night and is playing at Hangzhou tonight.

It is only his second mainland tour after a short visit last year, and he believes his beloved electronic dance music is a genre that will allow Chinese DJs to share their sounds with the world.

"Chinese pop music has a big problem spreading around the world because of the language issue; however, dance music doesn't have that issue," he said.

"We have beats, grooves, rhythms, baselines, crescendos, drops and different moods that cross over all language barriers.

"China is happening and is ripe for this now, for this sort of music. It can grow organically, and it won't be just a hype thing, which will boom in two years and go away."

Cox knows about the hype. When electronic dance music first emerged in Detroit (techno) and Chicago (house) in the early 1980s, many critics said this beat-driven sound was just a fad. However, the sound conquered the world, and by the late 1980s, had swept through Europe's nightclubs.

Cox was there in the beginning and is one of the spin kings with his own multi-million dollar music empire. The 44-year-old Englishman is a DJ, producer, and songwriter who has worked with mega stars, such as Madonna. His recent 49th album "Fact" sold more than 250,000 copies.

Most Western audiences pay more than 400 yuan (US$50) a ticket to see him play, however, considering clubbers were only charged 50 yuan (US$6) a ticket for his Beijing shows, his China tour is not about the money. It's about spreading the dance music message.

"China is booming with fabrics, construction, cranes and new cars and the music industry and club culture is growing with it too," he said. "There is a group of Chinese people now with high disposable incomes who want to dress up and go to night clubs that play this type of music.

"As I said, China is a happening place, and that's why I'm here."

(China Daily December 15, 2006)