On February 28, Chinese influencer @Alex绝对是个妞儿 (translated as ‘Alex is definitely a girl,’ hereafter referred to as Alex) released the first episode of a video series titled International Menstrual Report. Don’t let its evocative name fool you, though: Instead of discussing the menstrual cycle, the report covers global news related to gender equality and the representation of women.
The series was named after the monthly changes a woman’s body goes through to prepare for the prospect of pregnancy to highlight its monthly release schedule.
According to Alex, the online program, which is shared on her social media channels, aims to show Chinese people what women from other countries and racial groups are doing regarding gender issues.
“Although there are things that we can’t talk about, I still believe we can talk about lots of other topics,” Alex writes on Weibo. “We can see small changes are happening in other countries and different industries.”
In the inaugural episode, which has been viewed more than 350,000 times, Alex touches on Rihanna’s pregnancy reveal photos, encouraging viewers to embrace the bodily changes that come with pregnancy.
As an example, she mentions the short program on the first day of the Games’ marquee women’s figure skating competition. Among 30 contestants, Swedish figure skater Josefin Taljegard was the only female athlete who wore pants, even though the rules did not require participants to wear skirts.
Alex discusses the clothing of athletes at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
According to Alex, female figure skaters generally wear pants during training for practical and comfort reasons. Yet, many opt for skirts in the actual competition because the culture of the sport is still largely influenced by traditional gender roles.
She adds, “Just like male athletes, female athletes can also land a quadruple jump. The Olympic Games still need to make more progress in terms of gender equality.”
Many netizens are excited for Alex’s International Menstrual Report, with one commenting, “I am touched by this series and the stories of women all around the world.”
Another opines, “It is amazing that this series is showing women’s power. I really like it.”
Some viewers especially appreciate the series’ name, arguing it is another step towards overcoming period shame.
“We as a society are making progress — more people are open to talking about periods,” writes one user.
Alex uses her platform on Weibo, where she has more than 1 million followers, to raise awareness of issues faced by Chinese women. She also has a presence on the Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu and video hub Bilibili.
“It is the city that chose our style. If we were not in Xiamen, we might not have pursued this music genre,” says guitarist Chen Zhenchao, who was born and raised in Xiamen, a seaside city in Southeast China that is best known for its beaches and slow pace of life. He notes that an American shoegaze band once came to perform in Xiamen, and they said the city is the Los Angeles of China — a comparison we suppose has some merit.
Currently a founding member of dreampop and surf rock band Kirin Trio, Chen, 28, has been at the center of some of the city’s best music over the past decade, founding five bands in his hometown since 2010.
Though not every band of his falls precisely within a specific genre, Chen tends to be drawn towards dreamy, ethereal, and navel-gazing sounds in his songwriting. He says that this type of music best reflects his relaxed approach to life.
Dreampop as a genre came to prominence in the 1980s through the work of bands like Cocteau Twins, who took inspiration from the fuzzy, guitar-driven rock music of shoegaze acts like My Bloody Valentine.
Where shoegaze is driven by distortion and guitar reverb to create a wall-of-sound atmosphere, dreampop is softer, more ethereal, and, as the name suggests, often attempts to create a dreamy vibe. In musical parlance, however, shoegaze and dreampop music are inextricably linked and often confused with one another.
Emerging in the U.K. in the late 1980s, dreampop and shoegaze made their way to China in the ’90s — mainly to the southern part of the country.
You can hear traces of this style of music in Hong Kong singer Faye Wong’s early albums and Uyghur singer Xerinay Malik’s 1996 album.
As a city, Xiamen has become a center for underground music since China began opening up to the world in the ’80s. Lying just across the Taiwan Strait, Xiamen was one of the first cities in the Chinese mainland to be influenced by Taiwanese campus folk music. The music genre was born in Taiwan universities during the ’70s and became popular in the mainland during the ’90s as cultural exchanges increased between both sides.
Indie musicians in Xiamen started to gather around the once-rural fishing port on the south side of the island, Tsan-tshù-uann, for the quietness and cheap rent. But the area soon became too commercial and unaffordable.
In 2013, Xiamen’s first live house venue, Real Live, opened in Shapowei, about a 15-minute drive west of Tsan-tshù-uann. Young artists gradually migrated there and established it as a new arts hub.
Today, the city is a common stop on music tours and has developed a robust alternative rock scene.
Dreampop in China
Chen says he draws inspiration from successful British groups like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, and Mazzy Star. These early groups are also cultural touchpoints for other Chinese shoegaze and dreampop musicians, with some Chinese artists posting recruitment messages in fan groups on Douban, seeking musicians who like these bands.
Faye Wong, the ‘Diva of Asia’, is often mentioned in these group discussions. She was one of the first mainstream Chinese artists to embrace dreampop in her work.
On her 1994 album Random Thoughts, the title track and the song “Know Oneself And Each Other” were adapted from “Bluebeard” and “Know Who You Are at Every Age,” respectively, two songs from Cocteau Twins’s 1993 album Four-Calendar Café.
Wong’s fascination with the Scottish group continued for the next few years, as she collaborated with them on a pair of tracks on her 1996 album, Fuzao, before the band wrote “Amusement Park” on her 1997 self-titled album, specifically for the pop star.
Thanks to digital platforms such as the internet forum Douban and music app NetEase, dreampop and shoegaze music from all over the world have become more accessible to listeners in China over the past decade.
Vinyl and dakou CDs (cut CDs illegally imported from the West) have also been attributed to the genre’s rising popularity in the country. Chen tells RADII that collectors were likely to find dreampop and shoegaze records from the ’80 and ’90s at markets.
A breakout moment for the scene came in 2013, when the first East Asia Shoegaze Festival was held in Shanghai. Lu Jialing, also known as Britlulu, has been running the event annually ever since.
Two years earlier, in 2011, he founded one of the city’s first shoegaze bands, Forsaken Autumn, alongside singer-songwriter Ecke, and later created the music label Luuv Label.
“Many shoegaze fans and bands always tell me that the 2013 festival is the most memorable milestone in Chinese indie scene history,” Lu says. “Nowadays, it’s not only our label; many other labels like Letter Records and M-LAB have also organized these kinds of events.”
Also in 2013, Sinogaze Vol. 1, a digital-only compilation of Chinese shoegaze, was distributed online by music label Bootgaze. This compilation spotlighted the Chinese shoegaze scene at the time, though most musicians featured on the album have disbanded, taken a hiatus, or moved away from the genre.
“From 2013, I have seen a lot of young dreampop or shoegaze bands coming from many cities of China,” Lu tells RADII. “Some long-time players may disband or rest for several years then release some new songs or play just one show. Whatever they choose for their music life, at least the shoegaze scene in China is always existing and attracting new indie youth to join in.”
Now, you can find bands that play shoegaze and dreampop music all across China, such as SummerVapour and Sense Print Shop. Still, you can’t discuss the dreampop genre in South China without mentioning Chen and his bands.
A Guitarist and His Five Bands
Chen first discovered the genre at 18 after buying an album by Mazzy Star. He was fascinated by the music because it was different from anything he had heard before.
“It’s gentle, beautiful, and romantic,” Chen tells RADII, as he reminisces on that first encounter with Mazzy Star. He adds that dreampop always reminds him of his favorite childhood memories.
“This musical style is all about romance,” he says. “You see the word ‘honey’ quite often in the lyrics. The melody is generally sentimental, but also a bit noisy. What it tries to express is a romantic, dreamy, and glorious feeling.”
Chen founded two bands, Cheesemind and The White Tulips, with different friends in 2012. Cheesemind hugs closer to a dreampop style, while The White Tulips are a widely influential shoegaze band. He had two bands even earlier on, but disbanded them within a year.
The White Tulips and Cheesemind are now both on hold, as some members got married and others moved away.
Chen founded a new group, Kirin Trio, with two friends in the summer of 2017. The trio would hang out and drink Japanese beer brand Kirin by the beach, and joked about forming a band named after the beer brand and their love of jazz.
“You joke about doing something, but when you actually do it, it becomes serious,” Chen says.
Now the five-member band Kirin Trio is more of a surf rock and Hokkien pop band, but you can still find traces of dreampop — or rather, the sound of Xiamen — in their songs.
“Xiamen is a cozy city where you can easily find mountain and sea views within the urban scenes,” says Liu Jialu, 27, Kirin Trio’s rhythm guitarist.
Liu went to college in Shanghai but later returned to her hometown and joined the band. She remembers how Wrapped in the Waves, The White Tulips’ first EP, brought tears to her eyes when she listened in her college dorm.
“Their music made me homesick,” Liu recalls. “It just sounds like you’re wrapped in the sea. Now Kirin’s music still keeps that feeling.”
A Growing Community
Real Live moved to the city’s north side two years ago and added a bookstore to the venue. Now it’s called RealLive and Books.
Originally from Anhui province, NJ, 34, arrived in Xiamen in 2011. Two years later, he began running the venue and is still in charge today.
“Young people in Xiamen are quite open to other music genres and cultures,” he says. “Because Xiamen is geographically close to Taiwan and Japan, people here have a higher sensitivity to Western music.”
Though the dreampop and shoegaze community is still relatively small in the city, indie music from Xiamen tends to revolve around this music genre like Xiamen-formed band Hotkey Killer.
“Xiamen is comfortable and laid back, so the music made in Xiamen has a dreamy vibe as well,” says Qingjiao, a 20-year-old college student who works part-time as a bartender at Chill & Company in Xiamen.
He started to listen to Kirin Trio after meeting the band’s drummer, Huang Da, at the bar. Qingjiao says their music really fits the Xiamen vibe.
He adds, “Young people love this kind of music that is sweet sadness. I’m sure there’ll be more people who make this kind of music.”
Huang Da (left) and Qingjiao (right) are chatting at Chill & Company
The majority of Kirin Trio’s fans are actually based in larger cities, because, as Chen tells us, urbanites tend to have more stressful lives and thus appreciate the laidback vibes of their dreamy rock music.
Chen says people who like shoegaze and dreampop music — including himself — are often quiet introverts and do not fit into the mainstream. That perhaps explains why one of the Chinese translations of ‘shoegaze’ is zishang (自赏), which literally means ‘self-appreciation.’
“Shoegaze has deep meanings. It’s human and in touch with emotions,” Chen says.
Chen Zhenchao performing on stage
However, Chen points out that this is the opposite of the current music industry in China, which he describes as a market of “fast food music,” where bands with high social media followings and output tend to get more followers.
While the number of music fans in Xiamen is increasing, musicians are actually moving out to bigger cities in hopes of better financial opportunities. But NJ argues that this may not be a bad thing.
“You’re more likely to find that people who stay in Xiamen aren’t trying to make a lot of money, but just doing what they want to do and living life.”
If Bands Can Make Money
That’s the future the members of Kirin Trio see for themselves. They’ll continue to live in the coastal city, but also plan to tour northern parts of the country that they haven’t been to.
As for crafting new music, they also hope to break boundaries and do something new.
“As a musician, if you keep listening to one kind of music, you may get stuck there,” Liu says. “I think we have to be open-minded and listen to different things. Bands don’t have to fall under just one genre. Though Kirin’s songs are still under the pop genre, we’re experimenting.”
Liu Jialu is rehearsing with the other members of Kirin Trio
NJ shares a similar view. He regards shoegaze and dreampop as a music-making method rather than a music genre.
“More broadly speaking, it’s an aesthetic,” NJ tells RADII. “It’s an atmosphere and state of mind.”
He has high hopes for Chen and his band.
“Chen has found his own tone, this is what I like most about him,” NJ says. “He turned his favorite music genre into his own technique and integrated it into his bands. This is the most successful part of his creativity.”
Chen Zhenchao at his workplace
In China, finding financial stability in making music is a rarity. According to a 2020 study, 52% of Chinese musicians couldn’t make money from music, and the average income of musicians in China is only 9% of that of the world.
Chen says he got into debt early during the Covid-19 pandemic while making music full-time. Now he works at a multi-channel network (MCN) company and writes hard rock songs for an influencer on Douyin, China’s equivalent of TikTok.
In China, short-form videos are a significant part of engagement with music, according to a recent study from IFPI, with 45% of Chinese people’s music listening time spent on short video apps.
“I have to force myself to write those songs, and that makes me think I have dissociative identity disorder sometimes,” Chen jokingly says. “If bands can make money, who would want to work at an MCN?”
His favorite moment of the day is listening to music on his commute to and from work.
One day, when he earns enough money from his music, Chen says he’ll purchase a convertible and drive along the seaside into the sunset while blaring his favorite dreampop music.
Additional reporting by Bryan Grogan. All photos courtesy of Thanakrit Gu
On February 3, five posters protesting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics were circulating at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Though the artist claimed that the posters were meant to raise awareness of human rights violations in China, Chinese international students took offense.
According to the Australia-based Chinese political cartoonist Badiucao, his poster campaign was intended to criticize the Chinese Communist Party. More specifically, it targeted the controversial topics related to Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, surveillance, and Covid-19.
2/ The collection posted in @GWtweets includes 5 posters depicting CCP’s
1. Oppression of the Tibetans 2. Uyghur genocide 3. The dismantling of HK democracy 4. The regime’s omnipresent surveillance systems 5. lack of transparency surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/ITIBiryf4X
The posters soon caught the attention of George Washington Chinese Cultural Association (GWCCA), a student organization that helps Chinese students adjust to life in the U.S. and on campus, which released a statement on Sunday condemning the posters.
“The central ideas expressed are not based on indisputable opinions but, on the contrary, on highly controversial political disputes,” reads the statement.
Among others, the poster that portrayed a Chinese curler pushing away coronavirus, as the curling stone, is “the most outrageous,” GWCCA said.
“Regardless of the personal identity of this artist or if he has any racist intentions, these works have troubled the Chinese and the Greater Asian community,” the student group wrote. “There is no justification for people to discriminate against people of their own racial group.”
The association also noted that the incident happened during Black History Month, and they encouraged other underrepresented groups to fight racism and prejudice. They also called for an official investigation and a response from the university at the bottom of the statement.
On February 5, Badiucao tweeted a screenshot of an email from George Washington University President Mark Wrighton responding to the controversy to an unknown student.
“Please know that I am personally offended by the posters,” Wrighton said in the email, adding that the school was “working to have all of these offensive posters removed as soon as possible.”
The email response from George Washington University President Mark Wrighton tweeted by cartoonist Badiucao
Nonetheless, on Monday, Wrighton walked his previous remarks back and released a statement saying, “At that time, and without more context on the origin or intent of the posters, I responded hastily to the student, writing that I, too, was concerned.”
Message Regarding Posters Displayed on Campus | Office of the President | The George Washington University: Please see my message sent earlier today to the GW community. https://t.co/wNS5XwfcWV
He continued, “Upon full understanding, I do not view these posters as racist; they are political statements. There is no university investigation underway, and the university will not take any action against the students who displayed the posters.”
American subscription streaming service and production company Netflix has just launched social media accounts for its new channel celebrating the Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community — Netflix Golden. Netizens can follow and interact with Golden on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.
“Our name, Golden, was inspired by the phrase ‘Real gold will always shine’ and that all Asian stories are golden, and if given the opportunity, they will shine,” writes Zhang.
Later in the media release, she adds, “With Golden, we want to give the Asian diaspora community a way to feel more connected to each other’s cultures and their own by celebrating Asian talent, storytelling and artistry on Netflix.”
Several high-profile celebrities — John Cho (Harold & Kumar, Star Trek), Ashley Park (Emily in Paris), and Ken Jeong (The Hangover, Crazy Rich Asians), among others — appear in the promotional videos for the new channel.
Dubbed ‘The Asians Are Here’ and ‘We Are Golden’ on Instagram, the two promo shorts are uplifting and empowering, celebrating the diversity and accomplishments of the AAPI community with a touch of humor thrown in for good measure.
According to the Netflix Golden press release, followers of the channel can anticipate new episodes of Spill the Boba Tea, a series created in collaboration with Wong Fu Productions that sees Philip Wang banter with Netflix stars while crafting unique bubble tea beverages.
On January 13, the Henan Provincial Department of Education vaguely announced that students who attend curriculum-based training programs, also known as cram schools, over the winter holiday would have the activity noted in their “personal management files.”
According to the Chinese publication Jieman News, the department encourages students to sign a letter of commitment promising not to partake in any out-of-school tutoring programs.
The regulations also ban the establishment of new for-profit tutoring businesses, limit tutoring to school days, and bar foreign investment and market capitalization in the industry.
Nonetheless, the demand for tutoring is still high among many Chinese parents eager to give their children a leg up in an increasingly competitive world. So, while the services may not be as accessible as they were a year ago, people are still finding similar underground educational resources for their kids.
Henan province has seen a recent spike in Covid-19 cases, leading to a partial lockdown, halted access to public venues, and a ban on cross-provincial travel. As a result, the announcement from the Henan Education Department noted that using the services of tutoring agencies presents a public health risk under the current circumstances.
Netizens seem to be largely unimpressed with the announcement. Some Weibo users speculated that authorities want fewer people to be educated because of the enormous demand for manual labor in China.
“You have to work hard in line with the leaders’ instructions. If everyone is studying hard, who will be a factory worker?” one user commented.
“We cannot solely view education from the perspective of economics,” another opined.
Ensuring total compliance with the new restrictions will undoubtedly be challenging. It is unclear from the notice how Henan authorities intend to monitor the afterschool activities of the province’s youth, nor does it say the consequences for having tutoring activities marked on a student’s file.
On January 19, Beijing’s Chaoyang district reported a new Covid-19 case — a 44-year-old migrant construction worker surnamed Yue. Per China’s zero-Covid policy, Yue’s travel history was made public, presumably to alert people who had visited the same places as him.
But Yue’s travel history generated considerable attention online for another reason — it documented his demanding work schedule and late hours.
People are talking about contact tracing details of a Covid case in Beijing: this person works multiple jobs as trash worker and construction material delivery worker, often during late night. The invisible infrastructural work that keeps this city running is finally made visible pic.twitter.com/jd1XsIuP8k
For example, on January 13, Yue worked from 11:58 PM to 5:05 AM the following day. Similarly, on the 14th, he worked from 10:18 PM to 3:51 AM.
Moreover, the record showed that Yue had only taken a two-day break in 17 days, from January 1 to January 17, when he took the test that identified him as a Covid carrier. Downtime activities were also noticeably absent from Yue’s itinerary.
In an interview with the Chinese news magazine China Newsweek, Yue revealed that he was working hard to support his family, including his parents, wife, and his 12-year-old son.
What’s more heartbreaking is that Yue came to Beijing to look for his other son, who is missing.
“I don’t need any donations,” Yue wrote on his WeChat feed. “Finding my son is my biggest hope.” Screengrab via Weibo
Hailing from Henan, Yue used to work as a full-time fisherman in Weihai, the closest Chinese city to South Korea.
To look for his lost son while supporting his family, he had been doing temporary construction work in Beijing since the spring of 2021, earning 200 to 300 RMB per shift.
“I don’t think I live a pitiful life. I just work very hard. I don’t steal, and I don’t rob,” said Yue. “I make money with my labor to find my son, and that’s for my life and my family.”
The construction worker’s story soon went viral on Weibo, and the related hashtag has accumulated more than 120 million views.
Under the hashtag, netizens showed an outpouring of sympathy and support.
“Reading his travel history makes other workers cry,” one commented.
Some compared Yue’s travel history with others who previously contracted Covid-19 to highlight the problem of income inequality in China.
“Another person was shopping, skiing, and watching stand-up comedy while Yue was working at midnight,” a netizen wrote. “These are two different worlds, and we need to make more efforts to eliminate income inequality.”
Moreover, by having his story posted online, Yue has gained newfound attention among netizens who called on the government to help him find his son.
In early 2020, China was hit hard by Covid-19, and the country shocked the world when it built two hospitals in just over a week for patients in Wuhan.
Many have praised the Chinese government’s ability to mobilize and build infrastructure in such a timely manner, with some calling it “the Chinese speed.” Yet, Yue’s story highlights how often the contribution of construction workers in China’s rapid development is overlooked and under-compensated.
In a sad turn of events, at around 2 PM yesterday, a day after Yue’s touching story had circulated online, the Weihai Police Department announced that a body found dead in its Rongcheng county in August 2020 belonged to Yue’s missing son, based on DNA tests.
Read the complete translation of the China Newsweek story from Zichen Wang, who works for Xinhua News Agency.
Full translation of THE story by China Newsweek that gripped Chinese social media where numerous tears were shed on Thursday, Jan. 20. “China’s most hardworking man based on contact tracing records” by @ZichenWanghere Includes the thread by @yangliuxhhttps://t.co/oPDAkvByQl
