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Deliberating fandom and the new wave of Chinese pop: a case study of Chris Li

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2013

Anthony Fung
Anthony Fung*
Affiliation:
School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong E-mail: anthonyfung@cuhk.edu.hk
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Abstract

In terms of circulation and sales of albums, the most popular pop music found in mainland China today is the Mandopop imported from Taiwan. The pop music that is genuinely locally produced in China by mainland producers and artists, and which is most notable to the outside world is probably the Chinese rock music and the wave of ‘northwest wind’ pop music produced locally in China in the late 1980s. However, after 2005, there emerged a new kind of Chinese pop that is commercially successful and a product of the national Pop Idol-like singing contest. This paper describes and explicates the broad popularity of this new wave of Chinese pop. Putting aside the overly discussed topic of democracy that comes out of such politicised Supergirl contests, this paper focuses on the nature of the melody and lyrics of pop idol winner Chris Li's songs and how their unique formulation evolves into an important ‘short wave’ of Chinese pop.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 32 , Issue 1: East Asian popular music and its (dis)contents , January 2013 , pp. 79 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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