2- Music Subcultures and the Mainstream in China, 1979-2019 - Yiren Zhao, Örebro University

Next year is the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. From 1979 to 2019, due to China’s unique political and economic environment, China’s music subcultures and the mainstream have shown diverse and changing relationships.

From the unified red musical tradition in the early time, then the Dakou generation, and the time of Chinese rock and folk music, to today’s great commercial success and influence of music subcultures, Chinese music subcultures and the mainstream have always maintained consultation, dialogue and conflict between censorship, patriotism and free will. By analyzing the relationship between music subcultures and the mainstream in the Chinese context in the past 40 years, this paper aims to explore both conflicts and dialogue in the realm of music subcultures and attempts to lay out the main contours of China’s current music subcultural scene, and the role and impact of the mainstream in this scene.