(from L to R) Top Row: Yang Yuying, Mao Ning, Chen Ming;

                                        Middle Row: Lao Lang, Ye Bei, Pu Shu;

         Bottom Row: Na Ying, Liu Huan, Faye Wong [File Photo: image.baidu.com]

Hello and welcome to another edition of  China Beat here on China Radio International. I'm your host, Zhong Qiu.

Before the 1990s, a big hurdle for Chinese mainland pop musicians was the lack of a proper recording system. As a result, most of them could spread their songs only through TV shows. This situation changed in the mid-90s, when record companies began to sign their own singers. Successful marketing was no more apparent than in the popularity of the 'Campus Ballads' of the mid-90s which chronicled campus life from former college students.

At the same time, foreign record labels began to enter the Chinese mainland market. Some of today's most influential mainland singers signed contracts with foreign companies. As communication became easier and more frequent, talented young singers from the mainland went to Hong Kong to further develop their careers. Faye Wong is the best example. In today's 'China Beat', we will continue to review the development of Chinese pop music and revisit some of the most memorable songs of the past 30 years. So don't go away.

As a neighbor to Hong Kong, southern China's Guangdong province enjoyed increased opportunities to observe and exchange with the cream of Chinese pop music. The prosperity of Hong Kong's recording industry and the marketing formula of manufacturing stars stimulated the growth of the local entertainment industry in Guangdong.

In the early 1990s, a group of pop singers from Guangdong were successfully promoted throughout the country and the C-pop scene was raised to new heights with a number of memorable ballads.

(轻轻地告你, Whispering Love To You)

Among the popular hits were 'Whispering Love To You', 轻轻地告你, by Yang Yu-ying(杨钰莹), 'The Sound of Billows', 涛声依旧 by Mao Ning (毛宁), 'Loneliness Makes Me So Beautiful', 寂寞让我如此美丽 by Chen Ming (陈明), and 'Bird of Love', 爱情鸟 by Lin Yi-lun(林依轮).

(涛声依旧, The Sound of Billows), (寂寞让我如此美丽, Loneliness Makes Me So Beautiful), (爱情鸟, Bird of Love)

In the mid-1990s when the mainland saw rapid economic growth, many talented singers and musicians left Guangdong and moved to Beijing, the capital as well as the cultural center of the country. From then on, Beijing started to nurture the local pop industry and become the new pop-music base of the mainland.

(同桌的你, My Desk-mate)

Successful marketing brought about the trend of 'Campus Ballads' in the mid-1990s which recorded the campus lives of former college students. With the influence of Taiwan's campus ballads, songwriters and singers in Beijing brought this music genre to its peak and created some Chinese pop classics.

At the same time, a group of singers of campus ballads shot to the top of the mainland pop scene. Lao Lang (老狼), Ye Pei (叶蓓) and Pu Shu (朴树) became popular in the campus time; and their smash hits like 'My Desk-mate', 同桌的你, 'Youth Without Regrets', 青春无悔, and 'Those Flowers' 那些花儿still remain in the memory of that generation.

(青春无悔, Youth Without Regrets), (那些花儿, Those Flowers)

In the 1990s, foreign record labels began to enter the mainland market. Some of today's most influential mainland singers have signed contracts with foreign companies. Na Ying, for instance, is signed to EMI and Liu Huan has signed with Sony.
Meanwhile, an increasing number of music charts and awards under different titles were being launched by local radio and TV stations in light of the booming pop industry.

In the late 1990s the mainland pop music scene hit the jackpot again when singers like Na Ying, Liu Huan, Tian Zhen and Sun Nan, ruled the music charts and awards with quality production teams in the background. These became the superstars of mainland pop music.

(弯弯的月亮, Crescent Moon)

As the top male pop singer and songwriter in China, Liu Huan's 'Asking Myself a Thousand Times', 千万次的问, remained in the number one position for ten weeks on mainland radio stations. He also performed many theme songs for popular TV dramas. At the opening ceremony of Beijing 2008 Olympics, he performed the theme song 'You and Me' with British singer Sarah Brightman. The song we are hearing now is one of Liu Huan's early hits, 'Crescent Moon', 弯弯的月亮.

(雾里看花, Watch Flowers In the Mist)

Taking her roots from the 1980s' 'Northwest Wind', Na Ying made her way to being one of the top female singers of the mainland in the late 90s. Her first album with EMI was one of the bestsellers in Asia at that time. Gradually Na Ying's popularity spread over the whole of Asia. What is remarkable is Na Ying found the pulse of pop music and is still considered as one of the best female singers in the mainland. Now let's have a listen to one of Nang Ying's classics, 'Watch Flowers In the Mist', 雾里看花.

(棋子, Chess)

As communication became easier and more frequent, talented young singers from the mainland went to Hong Kong to further develop their careers. Faye Wong, or 王菲 is the best example. She was a native of Beijing and started out singing songs of Teresa Teng's. She moved to Hong Kong where her career as the most successful contemporary Chinese singer took off. To wrap up today's show, we will hear one of Fay Wong's older hits, 'Chess', 棋子. In tomorrow's 'China Beat', we will recap the evolution of Chinese popular music and enjoy the golden melodies over the past 30 years. This is Zhong Qiu. Bye for now.