Chinese rock music started in the 1980s

Cui Jian, China's number one rock star, once said the audience of his concerts in the United States was almost entirely Chinese. Ironically, there are more foreigners in the audience when he performs at home.

Williams tried to book shows at this summer's festivals in Europe for Xie Tianxiao, another famous Chinese rock musician, but didn't succeed.

"If you are competing as a rock artist, you are one of thousands to the agencies. That makes it very hard, even if you are huge in China," he says.

Compared to Chinese films, visual arts and literature, Chinese music is less known around the world. CDs of Chinese bands are hard to find in Western record stores, and Chinese names are absent from most of the major international music festivals.

Language is certainly a barrier, but what De Blaauw and Williams point out is probably more important - the lack of originality and identity in Chinese musicians' works.

Chinese rock music started in the 1980s, and until the late 1990s when the Internet emerged, information about the international music scene was fragmentary. Then, all the styles from the history of rock music are presented altogether in front of Chinese musicians. It's like someone who has been starving suddenly finding so much to eat that he suffers from indigestion.

The good news is that rock music has created a market in China, though maybe still a niche market. In most big cities ,there are clubs that put on rock shows, and music festivals have been flourishing all over the country in recent years.