Sonic Arms Smugglers.

Since the first raves were held in Beijing in 1995, a sizable electronic dance music scene has grown up in the People's Republic of China. Going clubbing has become a popular activity among a significant segment of the country's growing urban middle class, and an indigenous ecology of Chinese DJs, MCs, producers and promoters has emerged. This is a phenomenon limited not only to the country's largest cities; dance clubs playing various techno-derived musics can be found in many smaller cities as well, at least in China's wealthier regions. I relocated to Hong Kong in 1995 to work in the city's popular music industry and I have witnessed the rapid growth of this new Chinese club culture firsthand on my frequent trips into mainland China. I first became interested in dance music culture in 1997 as I became aware of the rapidly growing club scene in Hong Kong at that time, and events on the other side of the Chinese border seemed to be following a similar course. Large modern clubs attracting hundreds or even thousands of clubbers every weekend appeared to be springing up everywhere I went in China, perhaps filling a void for a growing middle class with increasing amounts of disposable income but relatively few entertainment options to spend it on.

In addition to bringing new tools for producing music to electronic musicians in China and tremendously facilitating the circulation of information within their scene, the Internet is also having a massive impact in terms of the vastly increased access to music from outside China which it has brought to its users. The Chinese government strictly controls all cultural imports, including music, and most imported dance music recordings are completely unavailable through legal channels. As Internet usage has increased in China over the past few years, the Net has started to become the main source of information about music for more and more young urban Chinese. DJs and producers, many of whom have their own computers with Net access, rely increasingly on the Web to learn about the latest trends in dance music styles around the globe. Virtually all of the major DJs in Beijing, for example, use the Internet extensively to keep up with international music trends, learning about new styles at the same time as their counterparts in other countries.

Although the dance scene is not overtly political for the most part, it should be noted here that there are already signs of a developing "ideational pluralism" among its participants which may have significant political overtones. An article in Asiaweek magazine in May 2001 noted early signs of politicization within the Chinese dance scene, such as the popularity of a locally-produced dance track called "No Communist Party." Taking its melody from a song associated with the Cultural Revolution, the lyrics ridicule Communist Party icon Lei Feng, the selfless PLA soldier who has been held up as a model of good character to generations of Chinese students.
Digital Cutup Lounge