The legendary live venues and the changing music scenesmusic popular in the Western world. They represented a more modern and international music
style, which included pop rock, post punk, and electro, and was totally different from the former
Chinese rock style led by rock stars like Cui Jian and metal rock circles. They soon became a new
group of idols worshipped by hipsters and young rock fans.
Around 1997, musicians and artists from other places in China gathered in villages located
in northern Beijing, such as Shu Cun (tree village, 樹村) and Dong Bei Wong (東北旺). These
bands included Muma (木馬), Tongue (舌頭), SMZB (生命之餅), P.K. 14, Yaksa (夜叉), and
Zuoxiao Zuzhou (左小祖咒), as they all explored a unique music style of post punk and noise
while living an impoverished life. This variety of bands and musicians often played together in
venues like Busy Bee, Scream Club, and Happy Paradise (開心樂園). Among the venues, Scream
Club, founded in 1998, was the base camp of the Beijing punk scene. An Italian student, Tina,
even started a bilingual fanzine called “Bored Army” (無聊軍隊), to introduce the Beijing punk
bands in both Chinese and English. The words “bored army” was a reference to bands including
Brain Failure (腦濁), Reflector (反光鏡), 69, and Anarchic Boys (無政府男孩).^7 Also, folk bands
and musicians often gathered in the famous folk bar, the River (河酒吧), in San Li Tun (三里屯).
Artists including Wild Children (野孩子), Xiao He (小河), and Zhou Yun Peng (周云蓬), all
surged towards a folk music renaissance movement in China.
The live bars in the Wudaokou area were almost the center of China’s underground rock
music during 1996–2006. However, with the exception of a few rock magazines, they were
hardly reported on by the Chinese media. Although they played a key role in developing mod-
ern indie rock, for most audiences these rock scenes remained mysterious and underground.
D22 and afterwards
The year 2006 was crucial for Beijing’s indie rock scene. Under the driving force of the Olympic
economy, a few spacious live houses appeared in the city. Among them, Star Live (星光現場) ,
a mid-scale venue with RMB20 million investment and a capacity of 1200 people; Yugong
Yishan (愚公移山), and MAO Live House (founded in 2007, with investments from Japanese
sponsors), are also mid-scale venues with a capacity of 300–800 people. These venues were
all equipped with better hardware and situated in better locations. Therefore, watching live
performances became a favored nightlife activity, or even a consistent pursuit for music or art
fans. As live houses in Beijing had become much more fashionable, commercialized, and pro-
fessionalized, the uniqueness of D22 remained in its inattention to commercialization. The goal
of D22 had always been to maintain its singular music character by creating an unusual music
scene. As its owner Pettis puts it: “We don’t create profit, we create history” (Liu 2010).
The unique music style of D22 came from several bands of the newer generation, who
participated in a movement called “No Beijing” held in 2005. These bands included Carsick
Cars, Hedgehog (刺蝟), Queen Sea Big Shark (后海大鯊魚), and the Gar, and resembled the
underground music scene in New York in the 70s. Not only did they imitate New York’s No
Wave Movement, but they also acted differently than their “New Sound in Beijing” rock pre-
decessors. Under their fresh slogan, they successfully created a new music crusade that empha-
sized their intention. Their songs were mostly written in English, with different music styles of
noise, experimental, and post-rock. When audiences heard their music for the first time, most of
them could not tell if it was a Chinese or foreign band. Even so, the two Chinese-written songs
in Carsick Cars’ debut album, “Zhong Nan Hai” (中南海) and “Guang Chang” (廣場), were
appreciated by most young rock fans who were later labeled the “Zhong Nan Hai generation”
(中南海一代). This generation referred to a group of newly born audiences that were younger,
more modern, and more particular about their quality of life (Erdong 2014). They no longer