Again I ventured out of my self-imposed exile and willingly exposed myself to other expats. There is this bar here the kids from my Chinese class (almost all English and barely 20) like to frequent. From what I had heard about it, I dreaded this place, but I was craving some live music, preferably something loud... with guitars... So when my friend Liu Xing pointed me to a concert by a finnish band (Snipe Drive) labeled as Indie Rock, I didn't think twice. And, boy, it was fun. (Maybe also due to the fact that on a Tuesday night the place was quite empty. The classic binge drinking only starts Wednesday night - which in turn means my Chinese class is totally empty on Thursday and Friday.)
It does exist, the Chinese Indie Scene! Albeit still small and incredibly mixed, it seems to collect anything that is slightly alternative, from Emo to Hiphop (I saw my first Chinese with dread locks), well, I didn't see any punk yet. I find it kind of astonishing that the Chinese music scene is still so underdeveloped. Even the totally Underground band 单行道 Dan Xing Dao (its songs can only be found online) sounds like standard Chinese pop (we listened to one of its "national pride songs" in class, supposedly many of their other songs are too critical of the government, so they don't find a label). It can't be because it's Asia, as in Japan they have punk, metal and all sorts of music. What's up, China?
A question that might also be asked concerning google's recent move to leave mainland China. As I am neither an information freedom activist nor a computer geek (frankly, I have no clue about the technical details), I will leave the comments in more capable hands. If you don't know how censorship in China works, you should read this article first. Then we have one criticizing the New York Times for its naive praise of google's moral standards, and a more in-depth analysis here. Fine, you might argue my choice is selective :)
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