Mapping China: Music - Cities & Scenes

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Beijing are the main locations for concerts and music production. This section focuses on these cities: their histories, identity and major venues. Taken together, these major centers of production make up a possible history of Chinese popular music.

Before embarking on this history a note on geography that can help you arrange tours that travel to more cities in China.

Since the mid-2000s there are enough venues in second and third tier cities for Chinese bands to go on national tours. Also given the enormous distances, most bands travel by plane and train rather than by van, and rely on the backline of the venue. Across regions and levels of prosperity and professionality, the quality of stages, equipment and local teams tends to vary a lot.

Most tours focus on central China and the east coast. Although there are some venues in Northeastern China (Shenyang), Inner Mongolia (Hohhot), Gansu (Lanzhou), Ningxia (Yinchuan), Xinjiang (Urumqi) and Tibet (Lhasa), these relatively underdeveloped provinces are known for producing musicians that move to coastal cities to pursue their music careers, and it has been difficult to organize sustainable tours through these areas.

The following cities are part of the national tours of Chinese bands, show most activity on Douban, a youth-oriented promotional and review website, and have hosted open-air music festivals over the last couple of years. Roughly from north to south:

• North China. Next to Beijing (19 million, see below), Tianjin (11 million), Dalian (4 million) and Shenyang (6 million) have venues.
• East Coast (North). Shijiazhuang (3 million), Jinan (4 million), Qingdao (4.5 million) and Nanjing (7 million) have local scenes.
• East Coast (Mid). Next to Shanghai (22 million, see below), Suzhou (5 million) and Hangzhou (6 million) are worth a visit.
• Central China (North). Zhengzhou (4 million) and Xi’an (6.5 million) are known for their live scenes.
• Southwest China. Especially Chengdu (7 million) and its pioneering Little Bar 小酒馆 are renowned. Twan Roubroeks and Michiel Roosjen promote EDM, sometimes still in collaboration with Tag Team (now an independent local organization). New Noise, which organizes Chinese tours for Western post rock bands, is also based in Chengdu. Chongqing (7.5 million) and Kunming (3.5 million, Paper Tiger) are also on the music map.
• Central China (South). Wuhan (10 million) has developed a local scene through Vox bar, and new live houses are set to open in Changsha (3 million).
• South China (Southeast Coast). I discuss Hong Kong (7 million), Guangzhou (11 million) and Shenzhen (10 million) in the Hong Kong subsection below. But the larger Pearl River Delta contains a number of cities that are additional destinations for touring, including Fuzhou (3 million) and Nanning (3 million).
• Taiwan. Taipei (7 million) is the largest city on the island, before Kaohsiung (2.7 million). A number of smaller venues make a modest Taiwanese tour possible. More info below. 

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