C-pop is rising to a worldwide stage
There are three sub-genres of C-pop: Cantopop, Hokkien pop, and Mandopop. Cantopop refers to the Cantonese pop music, while Hokkein pop—also known as Minan pop—refers to the Taiwanese pop music. Lastly, Mandopop stands for the Mandarin pop music. During the 1980s and 1990s, Cantopop was one of the most popular genres in Asia along with Hokkein pop. However, due to the wars and shifts of power in the government, both Cantonese and Taiwanese singers were forced to convert their genres to Mandopop music instead of continuing on their original paths. Overtime, most of the Cantonese pop and Taiwanese pop were merged with Mandopop. Since the 2000s, Mandopop started to rise to a globally level, crossing Asian boundaries, attracing more audiences in the western countries.
Two of the Chinese movie stars that most foreigners recognize are Jackie Chen and Bruce Lee. These two Cantonese actors introduced Chinese movies and martial art to the world and brought the Chinese entertainment industry to a global level. In spite of that, unfortunately, Jackie Chen and Bruce Lee were the first and only celebrities who managed to reach such high level of popularity outside of China.
Even though Cantopop was forced out of the audience’s view, it did not die down completely. Cantopop is still more popular than Mandopop in foreign countries nowadays, and it’s widely known for its unique romantic melodies and lyrics. One of the main reasons is the way Hong Kong markets produce the products. The companies frequently present the celebrities to worldwide media. Also, with the government’s support, the artists can be easily introduced to a larger group of people. Mandopop on the other hand, does not have the government’s full support. Although they do have concerts outside of China, the fans who go to the concerts are mainly foreign citizens of China.
On the positive side, Mandopop is still in its early development. There are much more people outside of Asia who are showing interest towards Asian pop music. The number of fans is slowly growing as the quality of music improves over time. There are also more Chinese trainees who debuted in Korea and sell solo albums in Chinese, which greatly helps with publicizing C-pop. One of the three top Korean entertainment companies called JYP even presented a Chinese boy group in collaboration with Tencent Music.
Whether C-pop will blow up in the future is still a mystery. Its progress towards in world is great news!
Featured Image-SoundboardCourtesy of Pixabay.com
As a Hongkonger, I was dismayed by some points in this article. It is baselessly asserted that “Cantonese pop and [Hokkien] pop were merged with Mandopop.” It is one thing to suggest that Cantopop and Hokkien pop are on the decline, but it is categorically false to claim that they are merging with Mandopop. Hokkien, Cantonese, and Mandarin are not even mutually intelligible.
Secondly, it is claimed that “wars” have “forced” the aforementioned merger after the 1980s and 1990s. I’m not sure which wars are being referred to. As far as I’m concerned, there weren’t any wars in China in that time period which would have affected the position of Cantopop and Hokkien pop.
Thirdly, the article conflates Mandopop with mainland China pop music. Mandopop has existed in many places outside of mainland China, e.g. Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia well before the recent boom in popularity of mainland Mandopop. Hokkien pop refers to pop in the Hokkien language and is completely different from Taiwanese Mandopop.
Also, I’m not sure why it is suggested that Cantopop has government support whereas Mandopop does not. Even if we only refer to mainland Mandopop, from my understanding, the HKSAR Government does not have any policies to promote Cantopop that are not present in mainland China. And (correct me if I’m wrong) Cantopop concertgoers in other countries still mostly comprise of people from Cantonese-speaking overseas Chinese communities.
BTW, it’s Jackie Chan*.