Just a brief note that my new book officially comes out today (May 23). Rocking China is an eyewitness account of the rock music scenes of Beijing, Shanghai and other places in China over the past twenty years or so. I started this project when I began to document the rock scene in Beijing in 2007. Over the years, I witnessed hundreds of rock performances in gritty “underground” clubs as well as open-air rock music festivals. I interviewed dozens of people connected to the development of rock music in China including musicians and bands, club owners, record label owners, promoters, festival organizers, and many others. This book is a distillation of these experiences and I hope it sheds further light on the creative enterprise known as rock music and how it has developed over the past generation or so in the world’s most populous country.
My friend DJ BO made a mixtape of songs to go with the book.