{"id":16817,"date":"2021-09-08T19:38:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T23:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=16817"},"modified":"2021-09-08T19:38:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T23:38:22","slug":"rocking-out-in-china-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/rocking-out-in-china-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocking Out in China (Part Four)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you ready to rock<\/strong>? (\u4f60\u51c6\u5907\u597d\u6447\u6eda\u4e86\u5417? n\u01d0 zh\u01d4n b\u00e8i h\u01ceo y\u00e1o g\u01d4n le ma?). I sure hope so, because today concludes our series on Rocking Out in China. In case you missed the previous posts, here are the links to get you caught up – Part One<\/a>, Part Two<\/a>, and Part Three<\/a>. From the godfather of Chinese rock Cui Jian<\/strong> (\u5d14\u5065 cu\u012b ji\u00e0n) and the sound known as Northwest Wind<\/strong> (\u897f\u5317\u98ce x\u012b b\u011bi f\u0113ng), to the legendary bands Black Panther<\/strong> (\u9ed1\u8c79 h\u0113i b\u00e0o) and Tang Dynasty<\/strong> (\u5510\u671d t\u00e1ng ch\u00e1o) in the 80s-90s, to punk pioneers He Yong<\/strong> (\u4f55\u52c7 H\u00e9 y\u01d2ng) and Brain Failure<\/strong> (\u8111\u6d4a n\u01ceo zhu\u00f3), it’s been a wild ride so far. In this final post, we’ll see what the rock scene has been like in China since the start of the millennium.<\/p>\n

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Image by Free-Photos<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Girls Get in the Game<\/h2>\n

Since the beginning, the rock scene in China had been very male-dominated. That changed just before the turn of the millennium with the founding of Hang On the Box (or HOTB for short) in 1998. Described as “bitch punk,” the quarter was the first all-female rock band since Cobra<\/strong> (\u773c\u955c\u86c7 y\u01cen j\u00ecng sh\u00e9), who formed in 1989 and only released one album.<\/p>\n

HOTB got started with gigs in a Beijing dive bar called Scream Club<\/strong> (\u568e\u53eb\u4ff1\u6a02\u90e8 h\u00e1o ji\u00e0o j\u00f9 l\u00e8 b\u00f9). The band attracted enough attention to be featured on a cover of Newsweek<\/em>, accompanied by the headline “China: The Limits on Freedom.” The mainstream attention caused them to be shunned by their peers and led them to sign with a record label in Japan called Sister Benten. They would go on to tour internationally, including a stop at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

To learn more about HOTB, check out this interesting illustrated history of the band<\/a>. You can also listen to their full album Yellow Banana here:<\/p>\n