BBC: "Robert Worby reports from Shanghai on the range of new music being made in this rapidly-expanding metropolis. In tune with the city's futuristic skyline, he finds much of the musical creativity in electronic sounds, both in the lavishly-funded hi-tech E-Arts Festival, and in the thriving underground 'noise' scene.
Robert discovers the earliest Chinese electronic music in the archives of the Conservatory and finds composers such as Chen Qiangbin combining traditional Chinese instruments with electronic sounds. He also attends an underground gig featuring Porn Moon Twins." Listen here
BBC: "In the first of two reports from China, Robert Worby visits Beijing to investigate the thriving new music scenes, both official and unofficial. The programme includes electronic music by Zhang Xiaofu, who runs the city's electronic music festival, and a concert specially devised by the Beijing New Music Ensemble, playing music by three generations of Chinese composers. They range from Gao Weijie, of 'the lost generation' that had to go underground during Mao's time, to Zhang Shouwang, a twentysomething composer whose piece Xizhimen Traffic Lights was inspired by the incessant rhythms of downtown Beijing traffic." Listen here
npr.org: "The sky is high and the emperor is far away." The logic of the traditional Chinese saying is that the farther you are from the capital, the freer things are.
But in reality, a lot goes on in Beijing, right under the "emperor's" nose. Today's Beijing is home to rock 'n' roll rebels, subversive artists and a livelier alternative cultural scene than in any other Chinese city." Listen here