Chinese Pop Music
Bono from the British band
U2 once said, “Music can
change the world because
it can change people”.
Western popular culture
and music had the
opportunity to flourish in
the last century partly due
to the successful global
projection of western
influence. That provided
Western musicians and
artistes the opportunity to
change the world through
their music. While some
have accused western pop
music of embodying n
egative values such as
sex, drugs and alcohol, one
cannot deny that the West
has also used pop music as
a tool to advance admirable values such as world peace,
love for the environment and poverty awareness. Think
of songs such as Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World” and
Black Eyed Peas “Where is the Love?”
For too long, much of what the world knew about
Chinese culture centered on the rather onedimensional aspect of Chinese martial arts or kungfu.
The obsession with Kungfu was epitomized by the
popularity of on-screen martial artists such as Bruce Lee
and Jacky Chan. It was only in recent years that Chinese
popular music started to make inroads internationally,
through the efforts of Hong Kong and Taiwan artistes
such as Teresa Teng, Faye Wong, Coco Lee, Wang Lee
Hom, Jay Chou and Christine Fan, just to name a few. In
fact, China’s pop music era began with Teresa Teng, who
was the first true international star in Chinese music
history. Coco Lee remains to this day the first and only
person of Chinese ethnicity to perform at the Oscars,
while Wang Lee Hom successfully brought his Music Man
2 concerts to countries such as the USA, UK and Australia.
Through their music, these artistes have sought to show
the world how creative and
fascinating Chinese pop can
be. They have used Chinese
pop as a medium to showcase
the Chinese language, culture,
traditions and values with the
rest of the world. These
values such as encouraging
people to strive to achieve
their dreams and the
importance of friendship
and kinship are not just values
which define the Chinese
people, but are values which
resonate with people from all
corners of the world.
Oftentimes, I hear my friends criticize Chinese pop
as being uninteresting and some even accuse it of
copying the style of Western music. I beg to disagree.
If we made the effort to explore Chinese pop deeper,
we would find a treasure chest full of history, culture
and traditions behind our music.
“Music can change the world because it can change
people”. The world’s attention is on Asia and we now
have a chance to change the world through our music.
Chinese artistes used their music not only to promote
Chinese culture and musical traditions,
but more importantly to share our aspirations and values
with the rest of the world. How would you change the
world through Chinese pop music?
Over the next few editions, I will be going out to meet
the artistes and musicians who are writing the next
chapter of Chinese pop history. I hope that through
these conversations with them, you can find out more
about their musical styles and their latest album
releases, and also get to understand them better at a
personal level, for example how they feel towards
Chinese pop and what drives them to do what they do.
In sharing these stories with you, i hope that this column
can revolutionize the way you think and feel about
Chinese pop music and inspire you to embrace Chinese
pop music and the values it stands for. Please stay tuned
to the next edition!
By: M.C
66