Features
Monday, October 17 2011
Rock 'n' Roll with Chinese Characteristics: Nirvana Behind the Great Wall
Like pretty much everywhere else in the pop music universe, China's developing rock scene changed after Nirvana. It's just that China's rockers didn't get the memo in 1991, nor would've known what to do with it, then.
Friday, October 7 2011
Red Rock: The Long Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll
From pivotal concerts by local legends to controversial visits from international rock superstars, clashes with state censors and government-sponsored rock festivals, this work encapsulates the thrills and frustrations experienced by Chinese rockers.
Monday, February 27 2006
China Syndrome
The garage-punk band Subs are from China, and they wish that didn't interest you.
Monday, May 16 2005
The Anti-Godfather
Cui Jian brought rock and roll to a land of a billion people and has reigned for almost 20 years as the foremost proponent of Chinese rock. Just don't call him its Godfather.
Columns
Friday, April 20 2007
Getting Sick in a Foreign Language
There is something familiar to me in that idea of an abandoned past; in a place like Beijing, you too can become anybody, literally. Because of the disconnect between here and Back Home, you can create for yourself the identity you've always wanted.
Friday, March 2 2007
The Revolution Will Not Be in a Stadium
If the Chinese revolution has a soundtrack, it won't be the Rolling Stones' songs; especially given that their ticket prices are more than most Chinese can afford.
Monday, August 28 2006
Foreigners in Foreign Lands, Part II: Exotic Occidentals
The second in a series of two examinations of foreign musicians, in which the Devil returns, literally, to China, to suss out those abusing the 'foreign' tag.
Monday, July 31 2006
Foreigners in Foreign Lands, Part I: Exotic Orientals
In the first in a series of examinations of foreign musicians we meet the Subs, a Chinese band who, no matter how good (or bad) their music, are first and foremost Chinese -- whether they like it or not.
Friday, April 7 2006
Yar Matey! Sailing the Pirate-infested Seas of Beijing's CD Shops, or: Piracy: A Defence
The Beijing music-buying experience is daunting and disorienting, rife with clogged cardboard boxes, cut-outs, and pirated imports. In a highly censored market, the explicitly illegal discs may also be the most necessary.
