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This is a timeline that show the development of Chinese music by genre and region. It covers the historic China as well as the geographic areas of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
Hong Kong:
Republic of China:
Republic of China:
Republic of China:
Taiwan:
People's Republic of China:
People's Republic of China:
Hong Kong:
Republic of China / Taiwan:
Hong Kong:
ROC Taiwan:
Hong Kong:
People's Republic of China:
People's Republic of China:
Hong Kong SAR:
ROC Taiwan
People's Republic of China:
Hong Kong SAR and ROC Taiwan
Cantopop is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hong Kong popular music from the middle of the decade. Cantopop then reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s before slowly declining in the 2000s and shrinking in the 2010s. The term "Cantopop" itself was coined in 1978 after "Cantorock", a term first used in 1974. In the 1980s, Cantopop reached its highest glory with fanbase and concerts all over the world, especially in Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. This was even more obvious with the influx of songs from Hong Kong movies during the time.
The music of China consists of many distinct traditions, often specifically originating with one of the country's various ethnic groups. It is produced within and without the country, involving either people of Chinese origin, the use of traditional Chinese instruments, Chinese music theory, or the languages of China. It includes traditional classical forms and indigenous folk music, as well as recorded popular music and forms inspired by Western culture.
The music of Taiwan reflects the diverse culture of Taiwanese people. Taiwan has undergone several economic, social, and political changes through its cultural history, and Taiwanese music reflects those issues in its way. The music of the country has adopted a mixed style. As a country rich in Chinese folk culture and with many indigenous tribes with their own distinct artistic identity, various folk music styles are appreciated in Taiwan. In addition, people in Taiwan highly appreciate various style of Western classical music and pop music. Taiwan is a major Mandopop hub.
Jacky Cheung Hok-yau is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Dubbed the "God of Songs", his accolades include the World Music Award (1996) for “World’s Best-selling Asian artist”, the Billboard Music Award (1994) for “Most Popular Asian Singer”, and a Guinness World Record for the largest combined audience for a live act in 12 months. In 1999, Cheung was honored by Junior Chamber International as one of the Ten Outstanding Young People in the World. He is the best-selling music artist of all time in Taiwan and Hong Kong with album sales exceeding 25 to 60 million records worldwide. Known for his vocal delivery, Cheung is widely regarded as a Heavenly King of Cantopop music, and an icon of Hong Kong popular culture.
Chinese rock is a wide variety of rock and roll music made by rock bands and solo artists from Mainland China .Rock music as an independent music genre first appeared in China in the 1980s. Typically,Chinese rock is described as an anti-traditional instrument, a music that defies mainstream ideology, commercial establishment, and cultural hegemony. Chinese rock is a fusion of forms integrating Western popular music and traditional Chinese music.
C-pop is an abbreviation for Chinese popular music, a loosely defined musical genre by artists originating from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This also includes countries where Chinese languages are used by parts of the population, such as Singapore and Malaysia. C-pop is used as an umbrella term covering not only Chinese pop but also R&B, ballads, Chinese rock, Chinese hip hop and Chinese ambient music, although Chinese rock diverged during the early 1990s.
The Music of Hong Kong is an eclectic mixture of traditional and popular genres. Cantopop is one of the more prominent genres of music produced in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta regularly perform western classical music in the city. There is also a long tradition of Cantonese opera within Hong Kong.
Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; later influences came from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Taiwan's Hokkien pop, and in particular the Campus Song folk movement of the 1970s. 'Mandopop' may be used as a general term to describe popular songs performed in Mandarin. Though Mandopop predates Cantopop, the English term was coined around 1980 after "Cantopop" became a popular term for describing popular songs in Cantonese. "Mandopop" was used to describe Mandarin-language popular songs of that time, some of which were versions of Cantopop songs sung by the same singers with different lyrics to suit the different rhyme and tonal patterns of Mandarin.
Sandy Lam, is a Hong Kong singer, actress and album producer. She rose to fame in the 1980s as a Cantopop diva, before expanding her fan base significantly in Asia, releasing more than 30 stylistically diverse albums in Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Japanese.
The Seven Great Singing Stars were seven singers of China in the 1940s.
Shidaiqu is a type of Chinese popular music that is a fusion of Chinese folk, American jazz and Hollywood film music that originated in Shanghai, China in the 1920s.
The Shanghai Pathé Record Company was one of the first major record companies in Shanghai, Republic of China, and later relocated to colonial British Hong Kong following the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The company was an Asia-Pacific subsidiary of the Pathé Records based in France, and later of EMI Group, which was broken up in 2012.
Hokkien pop, also known as Taiwanese Hokkien popular music, T-pop, Tai-pop, Minnan Pop and Taiwanese folk, is a popular music genre sung in Hokkien, especially Taiwanese Hokkien and produced mainly in Taiwan and sometimes in Fujian in Mainland China or Hong Kong or even Singapore in Southeast Asia. Hokkien pop is most popular amongst Hoklo people in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and the Overseas Chinese and Overseas Taiwanese in Southeast Asia, such as Chinese Singaporeans, Chinese Malaysians, Chinese Filipinos, Chinese Indonesians, etc.
Yellow Music is a genre of popular music. The term has been used in China and Vietnam to describe types of music that have separate origins.
Gangtai are the C-pop artists and musical style from Hong Kong or Taiwan. The term is synonymous with post-1960 Cantopop or post-1970 Mandopop, a sweet, love type melody found distinctly in C-pop and not any other genre of Chinese folk, rock or traditional music.
Northwest Wind is a style of music which emerged on the popular music scene in mainland China from the northwestern or xibei portion of China specifically from the Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The style is a western-style fast tempo, strong beat and extremely aggressive bass lines that is distinctly different from cantopop or mandopop from Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively. It later evolved into Chinese Rock in the late 1980s.
The Global Chinese Pop Chart is a Chinese language pop music chart compiled by 7 Chinese language radio stations across Asia. It was founded in 2001 by Beijing Music Radio, Shanghai Eastern Broadcasting, Radio Guangdong, Radio Television Hong Kong, Hit Fm Taiwan, subsequently replaced by Taipei Pop Radio, and Malaysia's 988 FM.
Gǔ is a Chinese surname meaning "old" or "ancient."
Joyce Lee Lok-sze is a Hong Kong Canadian singer and songwriter best known for her Cantopop songs including "Beloved", “Love Your Life Without Regrets" in the Hong Kong drama A Kindred Spirit, and her performance of the Chinese national anthem at Canada Day in Hong Kong.
