 Twenty years ago, nobody would have imaged the song "Nothing to My Name" -- lyrics no one dared before in China, declared the birth of Chinese rock music.
On May 1-4, 2006, the Midi Music Festival held at Beijing Haidian Park became a paradise for young rockers from across the country as well as numerous foreigners. Since the Festival's first pageant in 2000, Chinese rock music has become increasingly diverse.
Although the past two decades is only a very short period in China's history, these years contain an overwhelming amount of passion, hesitation, joy and struggle. Rock music, a young and volatile import to China in the 1980s, subtly reflects the society's acute changes in a unique way.
Rock'n'Roll hasn't ever experienced such a phenomenon elsewhere as it has made in China.
 History
 Conception
Nothing to My Name
May 9, 1986
When Cui Jian, known as the godfather of Chinese rock music, in peasant clothing sporting uneven length trouser legs, hopped onto the stage with his worn out guitar at the Beijing Workers' Stadium, the puzzled audience had no idea this bedraggled-looking man was about to launch a music revolution.
The music began, and Cui belted out his latest composition "Nothing to My Name" in his unique style.
Off stage there was dead silence. When the song was over, the stadium burst into hoorays and applause. China's first rock star was born!
 Cui's shouts awakened the numb ears. The words "rock music" lodged deep in people's hearts overnight. Before long, young people all over China were banging out Cui tunes on beat-up guitars in campus dormitories and coffeehouses.
The pulsating 1980s witnessed Cui's smash-hit album "Rock'n'Roll on the New Long March", and other big-name bands like Tang Dynasty, Cobra, and the Panthers were established, with more rockers swarming into the camp.
 Growth
1990 Modern Music Concert
On February 17-18, 1990, a modern music concert, known as the first Chinese rock music festival, was held in Beijing's Capital Stadium. Six major rock bands -- Tang Dynasty, Breathe, Cobra, the Baby Brothers, 1989, and ADO participated. This concert is often regarded as the Chinese Woodstock.
"Five hundred meters from the stadium, many youngsters are standing on the rainy and snowy streets, waiting for returned tickets scalped for as much as 50 yuan (US$6.20 today)," was the headline in entertainment sections of some newspapers. The average monthly wage then was only about three to four hundred yuan.
The concert was a milestone, ushering in a thriving era for Chinese rock music. Beijing, as a base for new music forms, witnessed the first collective debut of Chinese rock talents.
 Highlight
China Fire
China Fire, the first influential Chinese rock music album, was released in 1992. The album was a compilation of the best contemporary artists and producers in Chinese rock circles.
Even in an age when hip-hop music prevails, people are still amazed by the album's high artistic and commercial standards.
 Altitude
Hong Kong Coliseum Concert
8pm, December 17, 1994
The three "rock wizards" -- Dou Wei, Zhang Chu and He Yong, and the Tang Dynasty staged their Momentum of Chinese Rock Music at the Hong Kong Coliseum. No other concert in Hong Kong had been as crazy.
The three and a half hour show, with its contagious passion, turned out to be a great hit, demonstrating the tenacious, hidden vigor and vitality of Chinese rock music. The groups brought Chinese rock scene to a new high in the post-Cui Jian era.
Cui Jian, Godfather of Chinese Rock Music
In the eyes of rock aficionados, the name of Cui Jian is synonymous with Chinese rock music. It is his song "Nothing to My Name" declared the birth of Chinese rock music; yet it is not the peak of the prolific artist's creations.
Born in 1961, Cui Jian became smitten by Western rock and roll in his early twenties. He has vigorous creativity and passion, continuously attempting fresh styles. From punk, jazz, African music, to rap, all can be found in his songs, adding to the special Cui-style appeal and power.
 Beyond
'Hong Kong has no rock 'n' roll. Instead it has Beyond.'
It's no exaggeration to say rock group Beyond is the flagship of Hong Kong rock music. Despite being sung in Cantonese, their songs resonate with Chinese all over the world. Formed in Hong Kong in 1983, Beyond's progressive and fervent music has made them idols, especially among university students.
Their songs range from love to culture and humanity, to society and politics. Their album "Glorious Days," dedicated to Nelson Mandela, opposes racial discrimination and calls for world peace. In 1993, the lead singer Wong Ka Kui fell off the stage in Japan (June 24), and died on June 30, starting Beyond's downturn
With over 30 albums in Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese, Beyond and their songs have inspired and influenced a  whole generation…
Panthers
-- Biggest Selling Rock Band
Formed in 1987, the Panthers were once the highest-selling rock band in China.
It was the band's album "No Place to Hide" that really popularized rock music among Chinese youngsters. After the departure of its lead singer Dou Wei in 1992, the Panthers continued to make albums, but their influence began to fade.
Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty formed in 1988 and was named after the most glorious period -- the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in ancient Chinese history. It was the first heavy metal band in China, and its first record "Tang Dynasty" sold two million copies in Asia, demonstrating the commercial potential of Chinese rock music.
Tang Dynasty is distinguished as being very Chinese, using Chinese bamboo flutes, gongs and the like in its orchestration, and composing lyrics with a unique old flavor.
'Solitary Poet' Zhang Chu
Zhang Chu was born in 1968 in Xi'an, capital of Northwestern China's Shaanxi Province. A university dropout and known as China's most solitary rocker with an intense and deep feeling towards life and society, Zhang writes and composes most of his sentimental and bleak songs. His care for social issues and reality rather than personal feelings outshines other rockers of his time.
Dou Wei 'In Black Dreams'
Born in 1969, Dou Wei was once the lead singer of the Panthers. He left the band in 1992 at its peak. Before long, Dou hit a lonely road, and his new inspiration gradually materialized.
His album "Black Dreams", with shadowy music, aimed to bring dreams to life by using special sound effects to give a hallucinatory effect.
Earliest Punk He Yong
He Yong is known as the pioneer of punk music in China. He signed with Rolling Stone's Magic Stone Company, together with rockers Dou Wei and Zhang Chu. Known as "the Magic Stone Big Three," they represented the height of China's rock and roll in the 1990s.
But his music rushed too far too fast for fans whose ears were slow to follow. His career quickly went downhill since 1996.
 Xu Wei
--That Year, You Are That Young
Xu Wei, born in Xi'an in 1969, began to play guitar while he was still a high school student. Before his rise to fame, Xu was constantly short of money, but unflinchingly pursued his rock dream. His earliest songs are truthful expressions of the oppressive conditions he lived in, while music in the second stage demonstrates the contradictions in his mind and life. His latest works are much more peaceful and tranquil.
 Rock'n'Roll Bases
Music is one of the easiest ways to know a city and its life. But which city deserves a song? It depends on whether it can trigger the tenderest sentiments.
  Art VS Commercialism
"Reality is like a stone. The spirit is like an egg. The stone is hard, but the egg is life," sung Cui Jian.
Since the end of the 1990s, mainland Chinese rock music has been severely threatened by commercially-run pop music from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In the struggle between the ideal of the independent art and the reality of the commercial world, many rockers chose to submit to the real world, or at least tried to find a balance between the two. They are seen by insiders as traitors to the spirit of independent rock.
While hardcore rock youths hastily dived underground, to pursue artistic independence. Among them are distinctively different groups of cynical punks, obscure metal fans, and dark music lovers. But this separates rock music even further from the masses and mainstream ideology.
Whether admits it or not, Chinese rock music has to step out of its tiny self and serve a wider audience in order to survive. The key is to find a balance between commercialism and art. But how can the two really co-exist harmoniously?
 Rock as the Chinese Rock!
Rock music has been destined to brand itself with Chinese characteristics since its first import to China in the early 1980s. Popular rock bands skillfully integrate Chinese music instruments like bamboo flutes, gongs, zithers, and Chinese mandolins, or folk art like Xiangsheng (comic dialogue) and Errenzhuan (a song-and-dance duet), or even Chinese operas, with electronic guitars, drums, and bass. Rock songs boasting the essence of Chinese values also abound.
When in China, rock as the Chinese rock. It's an experience you're gonna remember.
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