Chinese rock

Chinese rock (中国摇滚, pinyin: Zhōngguó yáogǔn; also 中国摇滚音乐, Zhōngguó yáog&

Chinese rock (中国摇滚, pinyin: Zhōngguó yáogǔn; also 中国摇滚音乐, Zhōngguó yáogǔn yīnyuè, lit. "Chinese shaking and rolling music") is often and inaccurately described as a style of music which combines Chinese musical instruments with techniques of Western-style rock and roll. But the essential nature of rock and roll music is that of attitude and lifestyle, which sees no borders or ethnic identity; therefore, "Chinese rock music" is in simplest terms, Chinese music with modern orchestration (with or without traditional Chinese musical instruments), exemplfied by attitude and lifestyle not compliant to mainstream market and state-approved entertainment. Chinese rock music as one recognizes it from the sound that has been developed in the United States, from the earliest 20th century incarnations in traveling bluesmen (ie: Robert Johnson, Howling Wolf, etc.), to the distorted sounds of metal-rock (ie: Ozzy Osbourne, Rage Against the Machine, etc.) rose in popularity in Mainland China from the Northwest Wind music movement in the mid-1980s, made headlines during the Tiananmen protests of 1989 and undergone varying periods of ups and downs in the 1990s with insurmountable difficulties in promotion and marketing in the face of censorship and limited listener base. Chinese artists and musicians whose musical expression that exemplify such attitudes and lifestyles enjoy far less media exposure and promotion of ideas from the state-controlled media than their local and international pop-music counterparts.

Chinese Rock had its origins in the xibeifeng (西北风, Northwest Wind) style which emerged on the popular music scene in Mainland China. The new style was triggered by two new songs, "Xintianyou" and "I Have Nothing" (一无所有), both of which drew heavily on the folk song traditions of northern Shaanxi Province in the northwest. They combined this with a western-style fast tempo, strong beat and aggressive bass lines. In contrast to the mellow Cantopop style, Northwest Wind songs were sung loudly and forcefully. It represented the musical branch of the large-scale Root-Seeking (寻根, xungen) cultural movement that also manifested itself in literature and in film.