Mandopop
Encyclopedia
Mandopop is a colloquial abbreviation for "Mandarin popular music
." It is categorized as a subgenre
of commercial Chinese-language
music within C-pop
. Mandopop was the first variety of popular music in Chinese to establish itself as a viable industry. As the name implies, Mandopop features songs performed mainly in Mandarin Chinese. Consumers of the music include fans, especially Mandarin speakers, in China
, Malaysia, Singapore
, Taiwan
, Japan
and other countries
.
, a technological innovation brought to Tibet Road in Shanghai
by a Frenchman named Labansat. Baak Doi was the first record company to serve as the backbone for the young industry.
(時代曲 - meaning music of the time, thus popular music). They are considered the prototype of any Chinese pop song. Location-wise, Shanghai was the center and quintessential hub for mandopop. Li Jinhui
is generally regarded as the "Father of Chinese Popular Music", having established the genre in the 1920s. Buck Clayton
, the American
jazz musician, also worked alongside Li. Some music enthusiasts suggest that Shidaiqu is the basic form of all Mandarin pop songs up until the transition to Cantopop
. The Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe
(明月歌舞团), established by Li, is also the first modern musical division to be integrated into the Lianhua Film Company
in 1931, making it the first pop music division to enter any Chinese film industry
.
" in the Republic of China
period secured the place of the genre in Asian society. The singers' style was unlike any Chinese-language music that had come before it. The young film industry
took advantage and engaged singers for acting and soundtrack roles. Zhou Xuan
(）is generally considered the most remarkable Chinese pop star of the era due to her successful singing and film career. This generation saw female singers rise in popularity from "song girls" to "stars". The era came to an abrupt end when Japanese armies occupied Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War
and World War II
.
was established by the communist party
. One of the first actions taken by the government
was to denounce popular music as pornography
. In the mainland, the communist regime would begin suppressing pop music in order to promote revolutionary songs
.
The Chinese Nationalists' retreat to Taiwan
following the Chinese Civil War
had established the Republic of China
on Taiwan
with its capital city Taipei as the new center of Mandopop. Taiwanese youth were drawn to popular styles from abroad in part because the Japanese, who had governed Taiwan since the end of the nineteenth century through World War II, were themselves keen consumers of international entertainment. Popular songs necessarily employed Mandarin after the war though, because Taiwan's new rulers, the KMT
, mandated its use, forbidding Japanese
and restricting the use of Taiwanese, the actual mother tongue of most of the island's residents. Where Taiwanese pop
had existed in the shadow of Japanese pop during Japanese rule, it now operated in the shadow of Mandopop during KMT rule.
opened China's doors to the world. As a result, more young people in China started to enjoy pop music.
In 1979, Singapore
launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign
to promote the use of Mandarin over the range of Chinese dialects spoken by various segments of the ethnic-Chinese population. Mandarin songs therefore began to replace Hokkien and Cantonese songs on the radio stations and on television.
Teresa Teng
made Mandopop a true mainstay by crossing over to mainland China. Even in the height of censorship, the mainland lifted the ban on Teng in 1986 and proclaimed that "By day, Deng Xiaoping
rules China. But by night, Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng) rules". Her songs were considered "Bourgeois Music" by mainland officials.
The popularity of Lo Ta-yu drove demand for the music to new heights. One of the most successful songs of the era was Lo Ta-yu's "Tomorrow will be Better
" (明天會更好/明天会更好). The song was originally performed in 1985 by 60 singers. It quickly became a hit throughout Asia and established itself as a standard. Another song soon followed in 1986 in mainland China called "Let the World be filled with Love" (讓世界充滿愛). At the time, these songs were inspired by the American song "We Are the World
".
Faye Wong
(王菲) became the first Chinese singer to perform in Budokan, Japan. For this reason she is also called the Diva of Asia.
During this period, singers from Hong Kong
such as the Four Heavenly Kings - Aaron Kwok
, Leon Lai
, Andy Lau
and Jacky Cheung
- also began to dominate Mandopop. Nonetheless, Taiwan has their own popular singers such as Stella Chang, Sky Wu, Wakin Chau
(formerly Emil Chau) and Jeff Chang
. Rock Records
began to emerge in this period as the most influential of the independent labels.
The 2000s began with an explosion of pop idols, mainly from Taiwan
. Mainland China has rapidly increase a large number of Mandopop singers, bands, and idol groups as pop music becomes increasingly mainstream by mid-2000s. The growing Mainland film industry
and Chinese television drama also increased demand for Mandopop. Jay Chou
led the popularity of rhythm and blues
and rap music in the scene. Other successful singers include Stefanie Sun
, David Tao
, Jolin Tsai
and Leehom Wang. While many Cantopop
singers also turning towards Mandopop industry due to disputes among entertainment and record companies in Hong Kong and also to increase their fan base.
Since the 2000s, the emergence of indie rock
in mainland China and Taiwan had exploded into a flourishing indie music scene in mainland China and Taiwan, adding various new diversities into Mandopop. Entry of popular Taiwan-based bands such as Mayday and Sodagreen
while in mainland Chinese-based bands such as SuperVC and Milk@Coffee had brought a new phase of rock fusion into Mandopop.
In recent years, the burgeoning number of contests have brought an idol concept
(偶像, ǒuxiàng) to the Mandopop industry. Nationwide singing competitions in mainland China
, such as the Super Girl and Super Boy
, have greatly boosted Mandopop's influence many contestants emerge as successful singers such as Chris Lee (Li Yuchun)
, Jason Zhang Jie
, Jane Zhang Liangying, and Chen Chusheng
. In Taiwan, the term "quality idol" (優質偶像, yōuzhì ǒuxiàng) has entered the popular lexicon, referring to Mandopop singers who are good-looking, talented and highly educated, among them Wang Leehom and Wei Li-an.
Recent years also saw the rise in crossover appeal of Taiwanese bubblegum pop
boybands and girlbands to the mainland Chinese scene, such as commercially successful acts like S.H.E
and Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band)
. Several new boybands and girlbands also have emerged in mainland China during like Top Combine
, UP Girls, RTA, iMe, S.P.Y and HIT-5.
and pipa
are some of the first instruments used during shidaiqu's early mandopop era. Today's mandopop arrangements are quite westernized, covering many musical styles, including rhythm and blues
, ballads, Pop
. A few Chinese pop musicians, most notably Jay Chou
, Lin Jun Jie, and Leehom Wang, have experimented with fusing traditional Chinese instruments with western influences.
Influential artists like Leehom Wang and David Tao
, who use both traditional Chinese instruments and mainstream western hip hop melodies, have influenced many Asian singers worldwide.
has the largest Mandarin-speaking population, Taiwan
is the most significant hub of the genre. The trend is that most artists are branded by where they come from regardless of where they were actually marketed. Mandopop stars come mainly from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia.
s includes independent labels such as JVR Music, Linfair Records, B'In Music and subsidiaries of major labels such as Sony Music Taiwan, Universal Music Taiwan, Warner Music Taiwan. In the past few years, mainland labels such as EE-Media, Huayi Brothers, Taihe Rye Music, Show City Times, Idol Entertainment, and Tian Hao Entertainment have also emerged.
, Canada
and Australia
they are easily found in many major urban areas, such as San Francisco
, Los Angeles
, San Diego, New York
, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Vancouver
, Toronto
, Sydney
, Brisbane
, Perth
and Melbourne
.
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
." It is categorized as a subgenre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of commercial Chinese-language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
music within C-pop
C-pop
C-pop is an abbreviation for Chinese popular music , a loosely defined musical genre by artists originating from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Others come from countries where the Chinese language is used by a large number of the population, such as Singapore and Malaysia...
. Mandopop was the first variety of popular music in Chinese to establish itself as a viable industry. As the name implies, Mandopop features songs performed mainly in Mandarin Chinese. Consumers of the music include fans, especially Mandarin speakers, in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and other countries
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
.
Origin
The origin of commercial Chinese-language music began with the gramophonePhonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
, a technological innovation brought to Tibet Road in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
by a Frenchman named Labansat. Baak Doi was the first record company to serve as the backbone for the young industry.
1920s: Birth of shidaiqu
Mandarin pop songs in the 1920s were called shidaiquShidaiqu
Shidaiqu is a type of Chinese folk/European jazz fusion music that originated in Shanghai, China, in the 1920s.-Terminology:The term literally means "songs of the era" in Mandarin...
(時代曲 - meaning music of the time, thus popular music). They are considered the prototype of any Chinese pop song. Location-wise, Shanghai was the center and quintessential hub for mandopop. Li Jinhui
Li Jinhui
Li Jinhui was a composer and songwriter born in Xiangtan, Hunan, China. He is the "Father of Chinese popular music". He created a new musical form with shidaiqu after the fall of the Qing Dynasty-- moving away from established musical forms. Li was a very controversial figure in China...
is generally regarded as the "Father of Chinese Popular Music", having established the genre in the 1920s. Buck Clayton
Buck Clayton
Buck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie’s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong...
, the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz musician, also worked alongside Li. Some music enthusiasts suggest that Shidaiqu is the basic form of all Mandarin pop songs up until the transition to Cantopop
Cantopop
Cantopop is a colloquialism for "Cantonese popular music". It is sometimes referred to as HK-pop, short for "Hong Kong popular music". It is categorized as a subgenre of Chinese popular music within C-pop...
. The Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe
Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe
Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe was a group founded by Li Jinhui from late 1920s to 1930s. It is also referred to as "Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe".-Background:...
(明月歌舞团), established by Li, is also the first modern musical division to be integrated into the Lianhua Film Company
Lianhua Film Company
The Lianhua Film Company was one of two major production companies based in Shanghai, China during the 1930s, the other being the Mingxing Film Company.-Names:...
in 1931, making it the first pop music division to enter any Chinese film industry
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
.
1930s–1940s: The Seven Great Singing Stars era
The original "Seven Great Singing StarsSeven great singing stars
The Seven Great Singing Stars refers to the seven most renowned singers of China in the early 20th century.-Background:Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese in the 1930s. World War II also had an effect on the economy at the time. Several of the stars acted in films, and their music played a...
" in the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
period secured the place of the genre in Asian society. The singers' style was unlike any Chinese-language music that had come before it. The young film industry
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
took advantage and engaged singers for acting and soundtrack roles. Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven, as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953.-Biography:...
(）is generally considered the most remarkable Chinese pop star of the era due to her successful singing and film career. This generation saw female singers rise in popularity from "song girls" to "stars". The era came to an abrupt end when Japanese armies occupied Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
1950s: The split
In 1949, the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
was established by the communist party
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
. One of the first actions taken by the government
Politics of the People's Republic of China
The politics of the People's Republic of China take place in a framework of a single-party socialist republic. The leadership of the Communist Party is stated in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China...
was to denounce popular music as pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
. In the mainland, the communist regime would begin suppressing pop music in order to promote revolutionary songs
Guoyue
Guoyue is a modernized form of Chinese traditional music written or adapted for some form of grand presentation, usually through a large orchestra of Chinese instruments. It was created in mainland China beginning in the early 20th century and is frequently broadcast on radio and television in the...
.
The Chinese Nationalists' retreat to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
following the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
had established the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
on Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
with its capital city Taipei as the new center of Mandopop. Taiwanese youth were drawn to popular styles from abroad in part because the Japanese, who had governed Taiwan since the end of the nineteenth century through World War II, were themselves keen consumers of international entertainment. Popular songs necessarily employed Mandarin after the war though, because Taiwan's new rulers, the KMT
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
, mandated its use, forbidding Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and restricting the use of Taiwanese, the actual mother tongue of most of the island's residents. Where Taiwanese pop
Taiwanese pop
Taiwanese pop is a popular music genre sung in the Taiwanese language . It is referred to as Tai-pop and known in South- setback during the years of Martial Law in Taiwan...
had existed in the shadow of Japanese pop during Japanese rule, it now operated in the shadow of Mandopop during KMT rule.
1960s: Political era
The 1960s was a highly politically tense era. Some songs in Taiwan such as "Not Going Home Today" (今天不回家) by Yao Surong (姚蘇蓉) were prohibited.1970s–1980s: Rise of the industry
Mandopop became more popular within mainland China after Deng XiaopingDeng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
opened China's doors to the world. As a result, more young people in China started to enjoy pop music.
In 1979, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign
Speak Mandarin Campaign
The Speak Mandarin Campaign is an initiative by the government of Singapore to encourage the Singaporean Chinese population to speak Mandarin, one of the four official languages of Singapore...
to promote the use of Mandarin over the range of Chinese dialects spoken by various segments of the ethnic-Chinese population. Mandarin songs therefore began to replace Hokkien and Cantonese songs on the radio stations and on television.
Teresa Teng
Teresa Teng
Teresa Teng , was an immensely popular and influential Chinese pop singer from Taiwan. Teresa Teng's voice and songs are instantly recognized throughout East Asia and in areas with large Asian populations...
made Mandopop a true mainstay by crossing over to mainland China. Even in the height of censorship, the mainland lifted the ban on Teng in 1986 and proclaimed that "By day, Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
rules China. But by night, Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng) rules". Her songs were considered "Bourgeois Music" by mainland officials.
The popularity of Lo Ta-yu drove demand for the music to new heights. One of the most successful songs of the era was Lo Ta-yu's "Tomorrow will be Better
Tomorrow will be Better
Tomorrow will be Better is a song written by Taiwanese songwriter Lo Ta-yu. It was created in 1985 under the inspiration of the single We Are the World to commemorate the forty year anniversary to the end of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan....
" (明天會更好/明天会更好). The song was originally performed in 1985 by 60 singers. It quickly became a hit throughout Asia and established itself as a standard. Another song soon followed in 1986 in mainland China called "Let the World be filled with Love" (讓世界充滿愛). At the time, these songs were inspired by the American song "We Are the World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...
".
1990s
Faye Wong
Faye Wong is a highly successful and influential Chinese singer-songwriter and actress who is usually referred to as a diva . Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong . Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and rose to stardom in the early 1990s by singing...
(王菲) became the first Chinese singer to perform in Budokan, Japan. For this reason she is also called the Diva of Asia.
During this period, singers from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
such as the Four Heavenly Kings - Aaron Kwok
Aaron Kwok
Aaron Kwok Fu-shing is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. He has been active since the 1980s to the present. The media refer to him, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings . Kwok's onstage dancing and displays is influenced by Michael Jackson...
, Leon Lai
Leon Lai
Leon Lai is a Hong Kong-based actor and Cantopop singer. The media refer to Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings . He uses the stage name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming" which literally means "dawn."-Biography:...
, Andy Lau
Andy Lau
Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...
and Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. The Chinese language media refers to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings , with more than 60 million records sold as of 2000....
- also began to dominate Mandopop. Nonetheless, Taiwan has their own popular singers such as Stella Chang, Sky Wu, Wakin Chau
Wakin Chau
Wakin Chau is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Chau's popularity has spread throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and parts of Southeast Asia. He was known as Emil Chau through the 1980s and 1990s, and by 2000 he reverted to his given name Wakin...
(formerly Emil Chau) and Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang is a Taiwanese male singer, who performs sentimental Mandarin pop ballads.Chang was born in Yunlin, Taiwan. He started off his showbiz career by winning a singing competition while in college...
. Rock Records
Rock Records
Rock Records is a Taiwanese record label founded in 1980 by Sam and Johnny Duan . The record label had their first multiseller in 1989 with Sarah Chen.It is now Asia's largest independent record label....
began to emerge in this period as the most influential of the independent labels.
2000s
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. Mainland China has rapidly increase a large number of Mandopop singers, bands, and idol groups as pop music becomes increasingly mainstream by mid-2000s. The growing Mainland film industry
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
and Chinese television drama also increased demand for Mandopop. Jay Chou
Jay Chou
Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...
led the popularity of rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and rap music in the scene. Other successful singers include Stefanie Sun
Stefanie Sun
Stefanie Sun was born Sng Ee Tze on 23 July 1978, and known to fans as 13姐 , is a Singaporean singer-songwriter. She has sold over 30 million copies of her albums during the span of her career thus far. She does the majority of her recording, and conducts most of her publicity events, in Taiwan,...
, David Tao
David Tao
David Tao , born Tao Xuzhong , was born on 11 July 1969. He is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning singer-songwriter. He is well-known for creating a crossover genre of R&B and hard rock tunes which has now become his signature style and for having popularized R&B in the Mandopop...
, Jolin Tsai
Jolin Tsai
Jolin Tsai was born on 15 September 1980. She is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning Mandopop singer, dancer and actor. She is managed by Mars Entertainment Ltd .-Career:...
and Leehom Wang. While many Cantopop
Cantopop
Cantopop is a colloquialism for "Cantonese popular music". It is sometimes referred to as HK-pop, short for "Hong Kong popular music". It is categorized as a subgenre of Chinese popular music within C-pop...
singers also turning towards Mandopop industry due to disputes among entertainment and record companies in Hong Kong and also to increase their fan base.
Since the 2000s, the emergence of indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
in mainland China and Taiwan had exploded into a flourishing indie music scene in mainland China and Taiwan, adding various new diversities into Mandopop. Entry of popular Taiwan-based bands such as Mayday and Sodagreen
Sodagreen
Sodagreen is a Taiwanese independent folk-rock-pop band formed in 2001. Its lineup has been unchanged since 2003. Sodagreen emerged in the Taiwanese indie music scene after receiving the Grand Jury Award in the Hohaiyan Gongliau Rock Festival in 2004, after which it signed a contract with Willlin...
while in mainland Chinese-based bands such as SuperVC and Milk@Coffee had brought a new phase of rock fusion into Mandopop.
In recent years, the burgeoning number of contests have brought an idol concept
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
(偶像, ǒuxiàng) to the Mandopop industry. Nationwide singing competitions in mainland China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, such as the Super Girl and Super Boy
Super Boy (contest)
Super Boy or Happy Boy was a national singing contest in People's Republic of China for male contestants, organized by Hunan Satellite Television in 2007, as a spinoff of its popular "Super Girl" series.-Outline:...
, have greatly boosted Mandopop's influence many contestants emerge as successful singers such as Chris Lee (Li Yuchun)
Li Yuchun
Li Yuchun also known as Chris Lee is a Chinese pop singer and actress who achieved instant fame when she won the nationwide singing contest Super Girl in 2005. She is now working with Taihe Rye Music and released her first album The Queen and the Dream in September 2006. Her second album titled...
, Jason Zhang Jie
Zhang Jie (singer)
Zhang Jie also known as Jason Zhang is a Chinese pop singer and actor who rose to fame through televised singing competitions.-Albums:-My Show:The competition experience which Zhang Jie attended in My Show 2004-Super Boy:...
, Jane Zhang Liangying, and Chen Chusheng
Chen Chusheng
Chen Chusheng is a popular singer in China.-Early life and family:Chen was born in Sanya, Hainan. His family is originally from Puning, Guangdong. Since childhood, he has developed interests in the guitar and singing. He is also good at "boy's activities" for instance Kungfu, soccer, fishing...
. In Taiwan, the term "quality idol" (優質偶像, yōuzhì ǒuxiàng) has entered the popular lexicon, referring to Mandopop singers who are good-looking, talented and highly educated, among them Wang Leehom and Wei Li-an.
Recent years also saw the rise in crossover appeal of Taiwanese bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
boybands and girlbands to the mainland Chinese scene, such as commercially successful acts like S.H.E
S.H.E
S.H.E is a Taiwanese girl group whose members are Selina Jen, Hebe Tien, and Ella Chen. The name of the group is an alphabetism derived from the first letter of each member's name. Since releasing their first album Girls Dorm , S.H.E has recorded 12 albums with sales totalling over 15 million, and...
and Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band)
Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band)
Fahrenheit is a Taiwanese boy band who has been active in Asia since 2005. The group debut with four members: Jiro Wang, Calvin Chen, Aaron Yan and Wu Chun. They are managed by Comic International Productions . The group's music is distributed by HIM International Music in Taiwan, by WOW Music in...
. Several new boybands and girlbands also have emerged in mainland China during like Top Combine
Top Combine
Top Combine is a Mandopop boy band. The group consists of the members Bird Zhang, Caesar Li, Mars Ma, Kenny Liu, and Tanas Kim. All were professionally trained in singing, dancing, modeling, and language. With the exception of Kim, the other four members of Top Combine were all 2007 contestants...
, UP Girls, RTA, iMe, S.P.Y and HIT-5.
Instruments and setups
The guqinGuqin
The guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...
and pipa
Pipa
The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...
are some of the first instruments used during shidaiqu's early mandopop era. Today's mandopop arrangements are quite westernized, covering many musical styles, including rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, ballads, Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. A few Chinese pop musicians, most notably Jay Chou
Jay Chou
Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...
, Lin Jun Jie, and Leehom Wang, have experimented with fusing traditional Chinese instruments with western influences.
Influential artists like Leehom Wang and David Tao
David Tao
David Tao , born Tao Xuzhong , was born on 11 July 1969. He is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning singer-songwriter. He is well-known for creating a crossover genre of R&B and hard rock tunes which has now become his signature style and for having popularized R&B in the Mandopop...
, who use both traditional Chinese instruments and mainstream western hip hop melodies, have influenced many Asian singers worldwide.
Mandopop stars
While ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
has the largest Mandarin-speaking population, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
is the most significant hub of the genre. The trend is that most artists are branded by where they come from regardless of where they were actually marketed. Mandopop stars come mainly from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia.
Labels
Mandopop record labelRecord label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s includes independent labels such as JVR Music, Linfair Records, B'In Music and subsidiaries of major labels such as Sony Music Taiwan, Universal Music Taiwan, Warner Music Taiwan. In the past few years, mainland labels such as EE-Media, Huayi Brothers, Taihe Rye Music, Show City Times, Idol Entertainment, and Tian Hao Entertainment have also emerged.
- Mainland China: EE-MediaEE-MediaEE-Media is a C-pop record label, founded in China 2004 by Long Danni under the parent company Hunan Broadcasting System.-History:The company was created after the success of Super Girl and Super Boy; a national singing contests organized by Hunan Satellite Television...
, Huayi BrothersHuayi BrothersHuayi Brothers Media is a movie producer and record label, founded in China in 1994 by two brothers Huang Zhongjun and Huang Zhonglei.-History:...
, Taihe Rye MusicTaihe Rye MusicTaihe Rye Music is a C-pop record label, founded in China 2004 by Song Ke and Zhang Yadong.-History:The company was founded in 1996 originally a subsidiary of Warner Music Group in 2004 Taihe Rye Music broke away from Warner Music Group to form its own independent record label in China...
, Show City Times, Idol Entertainment, TH EntertainmentTH EntertainmentTH Entertainment is a C-pop record label, founded in China 2006 by Zhou Hao.... - Taiwan/Hong Kong: Rock RecordsRock RecordsRock Records is a Taiwanese record label founded in 1980 by Sam and Johnny Duan . The record label had their first multiseller in 1989 with Sarah Chen.It is now Asia's largest independent record label....
, HIM International MusicHIM International MusicHIM International Music is a Taiwanese independent record label and artist management company established in 1999. It was previously known as Grand Music International Inc....
, Avex TaiwanAvex TaiwanAvex Taiwan Inc is an entertainment and record label based in Taiwan. It was founded in July 1998 and is a foreign consolidated subsidiary of parent company Avex Group based in Japan...
, Gold Typhoon
Overseas
Mandopop titles are also available outside of Asia. Chinese communities established in North America have made Mandopop music accessible through local businesses. In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
they are easily found in many major urban areas, such as San Francisco
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, San Diego, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
and Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
Notable Artists
Male
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Danson Tang Danson Tang was born on 2 September 1984. He is a Taiwanese actor and Mandopop singer, who started his career as a model before pursuing an acting career and later singing... David Tao David Tao , born Tao Xuzhong , was born on 11 July 1969. He is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning singer-songwriter. He is well-known for creating a crossover genre of R&B and hard rock tunes which has now become his signature style and for having popularized R&B in the Mandopop... Evan Yo Evan Yo was born on 12 November 1986. He is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer-songwriter, who was signed by his management company at 14 and has been signed by Sony Music Taiwan since 2006. He has released three albums and was nominated for Best New Artist in 2007 at the 18th Golden Melody Awards,... Fei Yu-ching Chang Yen-ting was born on 17 July 17 1955, better known as Fei Yu-ching . He is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter and the younger brother of television personality Chang Fei.-Biography:... Gary Chaw Gary Chaw was born on 9 July 1979 in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia, also known as Gary Cao or Cao Ge. He is a Malaysian Chinese Golden Melody Awards singer-songwriter based in Taiwan, who has had achieved success in Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He is renowned for his stage presence,... Harlem Yu Harlem Yu was born 28 July 1961. He is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award singer-songwriter. He was the first artist to experiment with the style of R&B and rap in Chinese music. He has released 14 studio albums. He contribution to the Asian music industry has earned him the reputation of 'God of... Huang Xiaoming Huang Xiaoming is a mainland Chinese actor, singer, and model. He is often referred to as China's "number one heartthrob" or "number one young male"... Jacky Cheung Jacky Cheung is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. The Chinese language media refers to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings , with more than 60 million records sold as of 2000.... Jackie Chan Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts... Zhang Jie (singer) Zhang Jie also known as Jason Zhang is a Chinese pop singer and actor who rose to fame through televised singing competitions.-Albums:-My Show:The competition experience which Zhang Jie attended in My Show 2004-Super Boy:... Jam Hsiao Jam Hsiao was born on 30 March 1987 at Taipei, Taiwan). He is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer. In summer 2007, Hsiao rose to fame after only three brief appearances in the first season of China Television 's star search show, One Million Star , which is a singing competition reality show similar to... Jay Chou Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for... Jaycee Chan Jaycee Chan Jo-Ming is a Hong Kong actor and singer. In 2004, he released his first Mandarin CD album in Hong Kong. He is currently based in Taiwan to continue his music career.-Biography:... Jeff Chang Jeff Chang is a Taiwanese male singer, who performs sentimental Mandarin pop ballads.Chang was born in Yunlin, Taiwan. He started off his showbiz career by winning a singing competition while in college... JJ Lin JJ Lin is a Singaporean Mandopop Singer-songwriter, Composer and Actor based in Taiwan. JJ Lin is managed by Ocean Butterflies. Lin won Best New Artist for his work on his debut album Music Voyager at the 15th Golden Melody Awards in 2004.... |
Joe Cheng Joseph Cheng, also known as Joe Cheng, was born on 19 June 1982. He is a Taiwanese model, actor and singer. Although he started his career as a model, Cheng is well known for his role as Jiang Zhishu in Taiwanese drama serial version of Japanese manga Itazura Na Kiss, It Started with a Kiss... Khalil Fong Khalil Fong was born on 14 July 1983. He is an American born, Hong Kong-based soul Mandopop singer-songwriter signed to the Warner Music Hong Kong.-Biography:... Liu Huan Liu Huan is a Chinese Mandopop singer and songwriter.-Biography:Liu graduated from Yaohua High School in Tianjin in 1981. Four years later, he graduated from the University of International Relations in Beijing, majoring in French... Nicholas Teo Nicholas Teo, born November 29, 1981, also known as Nicholas Zhang, is a Malaysian singer signed under Play Music. Before returning to Malaysia, Nicholas was studying in Taiwan, where he won the Best Singer in a competition among all the Taiwan universities... Nicky Wu Nicky Wu is a Taiwanese singer and actor. Wu found fame in 1988, by joining the Taiwanese boy band, Little Tigers Team, performing alongside Alec Su and Julian Chen. Since then, his career has also expanded into film and television in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China.-Childhood:Nicky Wu is the... Peter Ho Peter Ho Jun-tung is an American-Taiwanese singer and actor. Ho was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Taiwan and Canada... Phil Chang Phil Chang is a male Taiwanese singer-songwriter.By the time he graduated from Feng Chia University in Financial Services, he was already known as an accomplished folk singer, pianist and guitar-player. He issued his first album, Walking the Wind, in 1992, and achieved success with his second,... Richie Ren Richie Jen is a Taiwanese singer and actor. He has become extremely popular throughout Asia, particularly in the Chinese-speaking countries. He graduated from the Chinese Culture University's physical education department.-Films:... Yang Pei-An Yang Pei-An , also known as Roger Yang, is a Taiwanese rock singer known for breaking out as an "undiscovered" talent at the age of 35 in the Taiwanese music industry with the hit song, "I Believe" that established his powerhouse, octave-jumping vocal skills, leading him to be dubbed as the "Iron... Show Luo Show Luo also known as Xiao Zhu was born on 30 July 1979. He is a Taiwanese entertainer: Mandopop singer, dancer, host and actor. He has been dubbed "Dancing King of Asia" for his dancing skills.-Biography:... Stanley Huang Stanley Huang is a Taiwanese American singer. Huang grew up in California and first started out in the boyband L.A. Boyz with older brother, Jeff Huang and cousin Steven Lin.-Musical Career :... Sun Nan Sun Nan born February 18, 1969) is a famous pop singer from mainland China. He is a native of Dalian.He is one of the most popular artists from mainland China.-Career:In the 1990s he was considered a frontline singer in the Beijing music scene... Tank (Taiwanese singer) Tank is the stage name of Taiwanese singer-songwriter Lǚ Jiàn Zhōng. Tank is currently signed to HIM International Music. Tank's debut album, Fighting 生存之道 was released on February 23, 2006. His latest album, "The 3rd Round", was released on May 31, 2009.-Biography:Tank was born in Taitung, Taiwan... Wei Chen (singer) Wei Chen is a Chinese pop singer and actor, who rose to fame through Super Boy a televised singing competitions. He is best known through his album "Disparate" and his role as Ye Shuo on Meteor Shower.-Biography:... |
Wilber Pan Wilber Pan also known as Will Pan was born on 6 August 1980. He is an American-born Taiwanese Mandopop singer, rapper and actor, who started his career as a host of Channel V programs.-Biography:... Wong JingLun Wong Jinglun , also known as Jing Wong, was born on 23 July 1983. He is a Taiwan-based Singaporean singer and actor. He is managed by Univerises Entertainment Marketing Limited , along with Show Luo, Elva Hsiao and Nick... Wu Bai Wu Bai on 14 January 1968) is a Taiwanese rock singer and songwriter. He formed the band Wu Bai & China Blue with Dean "Dino" Zavolta on drums, Yu Ta-hao on keyboards, Chu Chien-hui on bass guitar and Wu Bai himself on lead guitar and lead vocals... Yen-J Yen-j , also known as Yan Jue, is a Taiwanese jazz-pop singer-Songwriter. He has achieved rising success as a newcomer on the Mandopop scene, due to testimonials from popular artists such as Wang Leehom, Mayday’s Ashin, Dee Hsu, Blackie Chen and DJ Xiao Shu. His fresh combinations of jazz and pop... Yoga Lin Yoga Lin was born on 1 July 1987. He is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer and the winner of One Million Star, Season 1 , a reality TV singing competition in Taiwan. During the competition, he once contemplated quitting due to the elimination of his good friend, Eddie Tsai... Yu Haoming Yu Haoming is a Mandopop singer from Guangzhou, China. He debut in 2007 on the Chinese singing competition Super Boy, on which he placed 6th nationwide. On 22 October 2010, Whilst filming the television series I Have a Date with Spring in Shanghai, Yu was injured in an explosive accident with... |
Female
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Cindy Yen Cindy Yen is a Taiwanese-American singer, songwriter, actress, Composer and producer. She was the first artist to be signed to Jay Chou's company, JVR Music, in 2009. In October 2009 she released her first self-titled album: Cindy Yen 袁詠琳... CoCo Lee Coco Lee , born on 17 January 1975, also known by her official English name as Ferren Lee, is a pop singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. Coco started her career in Hong Kong but, after becoming popular in Taiwan, she was widely considered to be a Taiwan artist. She was born to a Chinese... Cyndi Wang Cyndi Wang was born on 5 September 1982. She is a Taiwanese singer and actress. Her birth name is Wáng Jūnrú .Wang has released eleven albums, nearly all of which carries her name... Dee Hsu Dee Hsu , more commonly known as Xiǎo S , was born on 14 June 1978. She is a Taiwanese actress, singer and host. She is well known for being co-host of TV program KangXi Lai Le which airs on Chung T'ien Television with fellow host Kevin Tsai, for which they were awarded Best Host in a Variety... Bai Guang Bai Guang was a famous movie star and singer. By the 1940s, she became one of the Seven great singing stars.-Biography:... Bai Hong Bai Hong was born in 1919 under the birth name in Beijing. She was a famous movie star and singer. By the 1940s, she became one of the Seven great singing stars.-Biography:... Deserts Chang Deserts Chang , also known as Zhang Xuan or Chang Xuan, is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter. She is considered to be one of the leading alternative musicians in the Chinese music industry.- Early life :... Elva Hsiao Elva Hsiao, also known as Elva Siu, was born on 24 August 1979. She is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer.-Biography:She was educated at John Casablanca's College in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is fluent in both written and spoken English. While in Vancouver, she attended the New Talent Singing... Evonne Hsu Evonne Hsu, also known as Hsu Hui-hsin was born 5 December 1979, in Longview, Texas, United States. She is a Taiwanese American Golden Melody Awards Mandopop singer... Faith Yang Faith Yang is a rock musician and fashion model. She grew up in Sydney, Australia and studied biology and genetics at Sydney University. In 2000 Faith won the Taiwan Golden Music awards for Best Female Performer got nominated for Best Album .... Faye Wong Faye Wong is a highly successful and influential Chinese singer-songwriter and actress who is usually referred to as a diva . Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong . Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and rose to stardom in the early 1990s by singing... Fish Leong Fish Leong is the stage name of Jasmine Leong, a Malaysian Chinese singer in the Mandarin pop scene who has had much success in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan... |
Gong Qiuxia Gong Qiuxia was born in 1916 under the birth name in Jiangsu, China. She was a famous movie star and singer. By the 1940s, she became one of the Seven great singing stars.-Biography:... Ji Minjia Ji Minjia is a Chinese singer.In the Super Girl season 2004, Ji finished 4th in the Chengdu qualification. She finished first in the Hangzhou qualification and fifth overall in the 2005 season. Since then, Ji has attained international recognition, and she produced the title song for the Japanese... Jing Chang -Early life:Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan on 6 September 1983. Her birth name is pronounced the same, but written with different characters . She studied graphic design and graduated from Song Shan High School of Commerce. Before entering Super Idol, she was a graphic design artist... Joanna Wang Joanna Wang is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, daughter of famous music producer Wang Chi-ping . Born in Taipei but raised in Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel, California, Wang dropped out from Gabrielino High School when she was 16. Her debut album, Start From Here, was released in January 2008... Jocie Kok Jocie Kwok , also known as Guo Mei Mei, is a Chinese-Singaporean female singer who made her first appearance on the entertainment scene in the middle of 2005. She is signed under Singapore record company Play Music which practises packaging and marketing their new artistes as cartoon caricatures on... Joey Yung Joey Yung is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress from Emperor Entertainment Group. She won the prestigious JSG "Most Popular Female Singer" and "Ultimate Best Female Singer - Gold" awards a record breaking six times, thus emerging as one of the premier Cantonese singers in Hong Kong... Jolin Tsai Jolin Tsai was born on 15 September 1980. She is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning Mandopop singer, dancer and actor. She is managed by Mars Entertainment Ltd .-Career:... Kaira Gong Kaira Gong , is a Singaporean singer whose family is of Shanghai, China descent. She is signed with Taiwanese HIM International Music, and is best known as the protégé of Taiwanese musician David Tao, as well as the label-mate of pop group S.H.E.... Landy Wen Landy Wen is a Taiwanese singer.A member of the Atayal ethnic group, she is one of the few Taiwanese aborigines to become a musical star.... |
Shang Wenjie Shang Wenjie , the champion of the third season of a singing contest in China, Super Girls or Super Voice Girl.-Career Life:She majored in French in Fudan University and was French song contest winner of the second season.... Liu Yifei Liu Yifei is a Chinese actress and singer. Her legal name is Liu Ximeizi. The "茜" is from the German film Sissi .-Early life and education:Born in Tongji Hospital in Hubei, she was originally named An Feng... Na Ying Na Ying is a Chinese vocalist. She is considered as one of the best present-day female singers in Mainland China, having sold more than 10 million albums. She is also noted for her buoyant and forthright personality.... Li Xiaoyun (singer) Li Xiaoyun is a Chinese singer. She was the runner up in the 2009 Super Girl contest. Born in Gansu, she grew up in Lanzhou, Gansu. She studies at the University of Melbourne.-Early Age:... Peggy Hsu Peggy Hsu or Hsu Che-Pei is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter. She was born on February 2, 1981 in Taipei, Taiwan.Since her first appearance on the Mandarin music scene in 2001 with her self-written-and-produced debut album, Balloon, written when she was only 19, on her piano, Peggy has picked up Best... Penny Tai Penny Tai is a Malaysian Chinese singer and songwriter in the Mandopop scene. Since her debut in 2000 she has released ten albums.-Biography:... Rainie Yang Rainie Yang , born June 4th, 1984, is a Taiwanese singer, Golden Bell Awards actress and talk show host.-Career:Yang began her career in 2000, as a member of Taiwanese quartet girl group 4 in Love, where she was given the stage name of Rainie, matching the weather theme of each member. The group's... Ruby Lin Ruby Lin is a Taiwanese actress and pop singer. Her English name is from her mother's love of the jewel.Lin made her acting debut in a TV commercial in Taiwan. When she received her first experience in front of the camera in 1995, for a minor role, she started to develop a passion for acting... Liu Xijun Sara Liu Xijun , is a Chinese pop singer who rose to fame through televised singing competitions. Born April 30, 1988 in Guangdong. A singer and rank fifth on the fourth season of a singing contest in China, Super Girls or Happy Girl... Tan Weiwei Tan Weiwei , the runner-up of the third season of a singing contest in China, Super Girls or Super Voice Girl.-EPs and Singles:* January 2008 Wo Wang Le Shuo * August 2010 Yujian * October 2010 Zai Shu He Li... Stefanie Sun Stefanie Sun was born Sng Ee Tze on 23 July 1978, and known to fans as 13姐 , is a Singaporean singer-songwriter. She has sold over 30 million copies of her albums during the span of her career thus far. She does the majority of her recording, and conducts most of her publicity events, in Taiwan,... |
Tanya Chua Tanya Chua is a Golden Melody Award-winning Singaporean singer and songwriter.-Music career:A former business administration student at Singapore Polytechnic, Chua started out singing in English, releasing her first English album, Bored, in 1997... Teresa Teng Teresa Teng , was an immensely popular and influential Chinese pop singer from Taiwan. Teresa Teng's voice and songs are instantly recognized throughout East Asia and in areas with large Asian populations... Valen Hsu Valen Hsu, also known as Xiu Xiu , was born on 20 September 1974 in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. She is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer-songwriter. Hsu is widely known for her sad love ballads which have earned her the nickname "The Queen of Love Songs"... Zhao Wei Zhao Wei is a mainland Chinese film actress and pop singer. Audiences sometimes refer to her by her English name, Vicki Zhao... Victoria Song Song Qian , better known as Victoria Song or mononymously as Victoria was born February 2, 1987, is a Chinese singer, dancer and model, leader of the 5 member South Korean girl group f.... Vivian Hsu Vivian Hsu is a Taiwanese singer, actress, and model who has gained remarkable popularity in East Asia, mainly in Taiwan and Japan.Hsu rose to prominence in Japan, where she made her first appearance in 1995 and has become a highly-recognized celebrity with her countless appearances in media... Wei Wei Wei Wei , originally known as Hong Jie , was a poet, a prose writer, a literary report writer, a journalist, a vice-editor-in-chief and the editor of various newspapers in China and a propagandist. His works are noted for their themes of patriotism, communism, and nationalism... Yao Lee Yao Lee, also credited as Yiu Lei and Miss Hue Lee, was a Chinese singer from the 1930s to the 1970s and sister of Yao Min. By the 1940s, she became one of the Seven great singing stars.-Biography:... Yoshiko Otaka , is a China-born Japanese actress and singer who made a career in China, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States. By the 1940s, she became one of the Seven great singing stars... Yuki Hsu Yuki Hsu is a Taiwanese pop singer whose career peaked in the late 1990s. She is perhaps best remembered for the single "Fen Fei" . Between 1998 and 2001 she scored a series of hits in Taiwan, though she never achieved much fame outside of Asia... Zhou Xuan Zhou Xuan was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven, as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953.-Biography:... |
Groups/Bands
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Energy (band) Energy is a Taiwanese pop rock boy band formed in 2002. The original band consisted of five members, namely Milk, Ady, Toro, Penny and Joe. Toro and Milk left the band in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Xiao Gang joined the band in mid 2007... Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band) Fahrenheit is a Taiwanese boy band who has been active in Asia since 2005. The group debut with four members: Jiro Wang, Calvin Chen, Aaron Yan and Wu Chun. They are managed by Comic International Productions . The group's music is distributed by HIM International Music in Taiwan, by WOW Music in... F.I.R. F.I.R. is a Taiwanese Mandopop pop rock band. The band currently consists of Faye Chan , Ian Chen and Real Huang . Producer Ian Chen formed his own band and recruited the other two members to form F.I.R. They are well known throughout Asia with their hit "Lydia", which was the theme song for the... Ime See IME for disambiguation.Ime is a village in the municipality of Mandal, Norway, located at a few kilometres east of Mandal city.... F4 (band) F4 is a Taiwanese boy band. The group began in the Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden as F4 with members Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu, and Vic Chou... K One K One is a Taiwanese boy band.K One belongs to the management company, Wingman, managed by former 5566 member, Rio Peng. Other artists that belong to this company include 劉耕宏Will Liu, Evonne Hsu許慧欣 , Ivy , Alicia, Vivi , Niki, 無限, Wing, Style , and育緯.K One disbanded in 2008 but Wingman or K One... |
Miss A Miss A , commonly stylized as miss A, is a four member South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment through their sub-label AQ Entertainment in 2010. The group consists of members from both China and South Korea... Nan Quan Mama Nan Quan Mama is a Taiwanese music group. The name is a phrase in Chinese to explain having strength while being gentle as a mother. They are closely tied with the Taiwanese artist Jay Chou. The group was nominated for Best Singing Group at the 19th Golden Melody Awards in 2008.The current members... Power Station (Taiwanese band) Power Station is a Taiwanese rock band, formed by two brothers. Their music is characterized by their fast-paced rock ballads, as well as their electrifying rock anthems. Their looks and long hair stand out from the mainstream Chinese pop scene because of their resemblance to typical western Heavy... Phoenix Legend Phoenix Legend is a Chinese popular music duo, consisting of female vocalist Ling Hua , who is from Inner Mongolia and sings in both Mandarin Chinese and Mongolian, and male rapper Zeng Yi , who is from Hunan... S.H.E S.H.E is a Taiwanese girl group whose members are Selina Jen, Hebe Tien, and Ella Chen. The name of the group is an alphabetism derived from the first letter of each member's name. Since releasing their first album Girls Dorm , S.H.E has recorded 12 albums with sales totalling over 15 million, and... |
Sodagreen Sodagreen is a Taiwanese independent folk-rock-pop band formed in 2001. Its lineup has been unchanged since 2003. Sodagreen emerged in the Taiwanese indie music scene after receiving the Grand Jury Award in the Hohaiyan Gongliau Rock Festival in 2004, after which it signed a contract with Willlin... Super Junior-M Super Junior-M, often referred to as SJ-M or SJM, is the third official sub-unit of Korean boy band Super Junior. They are the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of both Chinese and Korean descent, and is also the first group produced by Korea's CT ... Sweety Sweety is a Mandopop band from Taiwan, a duo consisting of Esther Liu and Joanne Tseng .As of 2006, Sweety has released three studio albums and two soundtracks... Tension (band) Tension is a Taiwanese R&B/Pop music/A cappella group that consists of five members. The band was first signed by Shock Records, then signed by record label EMI Taiwan.- Jimmy Hung :Chinese Name: Hong Tian Xiang - 洪天祥Birthdate:... Top Combine Top Combine is a Mandopop boy band. The group consists of the members Bird Zhang, Caesar Li, Mars Ma, Kenny Liu, and Tanas Kim. All were professionally trained in singing, dancing, modeling, and language. With the exception of Kim, the other four members of Top Combine were all 2007 contestants... Twins (group) Twins is a Hong Kong-based female Cantopop duo which was created in the summer of 2001 by Emperor Entertainment Group . Twins is made up of two girls, Charlene Choi Cheuk-Yin and Gillian Chung Yan-Tung. They were a popular group in Hong Kong and a top band in China. Their fanbase included Japan,... Y2J (band) Y2J is a Taiwanese rock band composed of two participants from the 2007 season of One Million Star, a singing competition. The band released its debut album "Live For You" on August 25, 2008.... Yu Quan (pop duet) Yu Quan is a popular soft rock duet from Mainland China. They were founded in June 1998 as a duo between Chen Yufan and Hu Haiquan. They are from Beijing and Shenyang, respectively. Both members were born in 1975. They signed with Taiwan music distributor Rock Records in 1999. Since then the duo... |
Awards
- Beijing Popular Music Awards (Mainland China)
- CCTV-MTV Music Awards (Mainland China)
- Chinese Music Awards (Mainland China)
- Four Stations Joint Music Awards (Hong Kong)
- Golden Melody Awards (Taiwan)
- Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards (Hong Kong)
- M Music Awards (Mainland China)
- Metro Radio Mandarin Music Awards (Hong Kong)
- RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs AwardsRTHK Top 10 Gold Songs AwardsRTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards is one of the main C-pop music award in Hong Kong. The award is sponsored by RTHK. Beginning in 1978, it is the oldest major award in Hong Kong, even earlier than the Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards. The ceremony is usually held in January following the end of the...
(Hong Kong) - Singapore Hit Awards (Singapore)
- Top Chinese Music Awards (Mainland China)
- Ultimate Song Chart Awards (Hong Kong)
Mandopop radio stations
| Station | Location | Frequencies and Platform |
|---|---|---|
| All Chinese Hits Internet Radio | Silicon Valley, USA | Internet radio station: live365.com/stations/bluemonty |
| Kiss Radio Taiwan Kiss Radio Taiwan Kiss Radio in Taiwan plays the latest Chinese music and some English top 40 songs. There is from their four stations in Tainan, Miaoli, Kaohsiung, and Taichung.-Programs:... |
Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 99.9 FM, 99.7 FM, 97.1 FM, 98.3 FM and Internet live streaming |
| Hit Fm Hit Fm Hit FM is a pop music radio station in Taiwan . It broadcasts in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. "Only want to listen to music" is the core value of Hit FM, which emphasizes that music is part of life. Hit FM is owned by Music of Taipei Communications . It is one of the radio stations under... |
Taipei, Taiwan | 90.1 FM, 91.5 FM, 101.7 FM and Internet live streaming |
| Beijing Radio Stations | Beijing, China | 97.4 FM and Internet live streaming |
| Shenzhen Radio Station | Shenzhen, China | 97.1 FM and Internet live streaming |
| Shanghai Media Group Shanghai Media Group Shanghai Media Group , under the Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group , is a multimedia television and radio broadcasting, news and Internet company... |
Shanghai, China | 101.7 FM and Internet live streaming |
| KAZN KAZN KAZN is a 24 hours Mandarin Chinese radio station in Los Angeles area.Before KAZN, this was an AM simulcast of classical music station KFAC .... |
Los Angeles, USA | Sometimes |
| KSQQ KSQQ KSQQ is a world ethnic radio station broadcasting in the Portuguese, Chinese, and Vietnamese languages. Licensed to Morgan Hill, California, USA with a translator, K277BN in San Martin, California, it serves the greater San Francisco Bay Area from North Santa Clara County to Marin County.The... |
San Francisco, USA | 96.1 FM |
| Yes 93.3 | Singapore | 93.3 FM and Internet live streaming |
| 883 JIA FM | Singapore | 88.3 FM and Internet live streaming |
| MY FM | Malaysia | Frequencies vary according to location |
| MandarinRadio.com | Internet live streaming (also available on iTunes ITunes iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.... Radio) |
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See also
- Music of ChinaMusic of ChinaChinese Music has been made since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty...
- Music of TaiwanMusic of TaiwanTaiwan is densely-populated and culturally diverse, including a majority of Bensheng ren , a powerful faction waishengren who arrived with Chiang Kai-shek in the middle of the 20th century and the minority of aboriginal peoples.With the arrival of the KMT led Republic of China government in 1949,...
- C-popC-popC-pop is an abbreviation for Chinese popular music , a loosely defined musical genre by artists originating from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Others come from countries where the Chinese language is used by a large number of the population, such as Singapore and Malaysia...
- Chinese R&B
- J-popJ-pop, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
- K-popK-popK-pop is a musical genre consisting of electropop, hip hop, pop, rock, and R&B music originating in South Korea...
- Taiwanese popTaiwanese popTaiwanese pop is a popular music genre sung in the Taiwanese language . It is referred to as Tai-pop and known in South- setback during the years of Martial Law in Taiwan...
- List of best-selling albums in Taiwan