Mandarin Go | Music styles in China

I. La C-Pop

C-Pop (Chinese Pop) brings together different musical types such as Pop but also RnB, Rock and Hiphop. 

There are 3 subgenres: Cantopop, Mandopop and T-Pop.

1. Cantopop

The cantopop is recognized thanks to singers Andy Lau 刘德华 and Leslie Cheung 张国荣. The name of the latter may not tell you anything like that but this singer-actor is very well known in the West because of his role as Cheng Dieyi in the film "Farewell my Concubine" which was a masterpiece adored on a planetary level. He unfortunately died quite young and the artists who emerged afterwards marred the industry with various scandals.

                                                      

2. Mandopop

Mandopop finds many fans in countries other than China such as Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan etc ... 

In this category, we will find the famous and unmissable Jay Chou 周杰伦 and Wang Lee Hom 王力宏 (Taiwan), JJ Lin 林俊杰 (Singapore) for celebrities outside mainland China and Li Ronghao 李荣浩 and Joker Xue 薛之谦 representing mainland China.

You should know that there are also boyband groups in China. 

There are many Chinese artists who find their places in the boybands in South Korea. The bands then have a special Chinese music branch, including Chinese people or people who can speak Chinese, which then turns into Mandopop. 

We can give the example of EXO which becomes EXO-M with the singers Kris Wu 吴亦凡 and Lu Han 鹿晗, Super Junior who becomes Super Junior-M with the ex-singer Hangang 韩庚.

3. T-Pop.

Mandopop is nowadays the best known, as quite a few singers first sing in Mandarin, but T-Pop also has a prominent place among the countries of Southeast Asia. Despite the fact that the melodies are strongly influenced by China, the origin of this style comes mainly from Japan due to the colonization of Taiwan by Japan (colonization that lasted 50 years). Famous T-Pop singers include A-Mei 张惠妹, Jolin Tsai 蔡依林, Hebe Tien 田馥甄.

II. Opera

Chinese opera has its origins in theatre and is a style that is especially appreciated by older generations. There are various local operas but the six main operas are: the Jīngjù 京剧 of Beijing, the Qínqiāng 秦腔 of Shaanxi, the Píngjù 评剧 of the North/Northeast, the Yùjù 豫剧 of Henan, the Yuèjù 越剧 of Zhejiang/Shanghai/Jiangsu and finally the Huángméixì 黄梅戏 of Anhui. 

III. Traditional music

In addition to opera, traditional Chinese music also includes Fanbai, Yayue and Guyue :

1. The Fanbai

Fànbài 梵呗 is the Buddhist liturgical chant in the Sanskrit language that is the origin of Japanese Shomyo. 

It is chanted, sometimes accompanied by percussion or not, by priests at different times of the day.

2. The Yayue

yǎ yuè 雅乐 is an ancient music that was at the time played by aristocrats at the court but also in temples and its origin dates back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. 

Confucius said that it was music beneficial to personal culture and that it helped the country to be stable.

3. The Guyue

The gǔ yuè 古乐 was also played at the Court but this time during the Tang Dynasty with 3 types of subcategories:

* The Gezhang which was the sung style.

* The Taoqu which was an instrumental style played by a small ensemble.

* And finally the Saoqu where you could find different types of instruments.

IV. Rock

Much less represented than the first 3 categories due to its low representation but which nevertheless emerges among the younger generations: rock. 

Chinese rock is mixed with Chinese music and Western technique which makes it a very particular style. 

The history of rock in China began in 1979 with the creation of the very first rock band "Peking All-Stars" which was composed of... foreigners! Then there was Cui Jian 崔健 who is considered the father of Chinese rock. 

Nowadays, it is mainly young people in schools who create their groups where their words are imbued with their dreams and ideals for the future. One of the rock bands that has managed to show itself internationally is the Taiwanese band Mayday.