Female rock stars are becoming increasingly popular in China

At a music festival in the Chinese city of Shijiazhuang in mid-October, a fan in the crowd waved a banner that read “Let all women embrace bigger, limitless dreams”. Though its earnestness clashed a little with the smash-it-up attitude of some of the bands, it was clearly a sentiment close to the hearts of many of those present. As 45-year-old Helen Feng, lead singer of Nova Heart, an electronic rock band, strode out on stage, men and women in the mosh pit screamed “Niu bi, niu bi”, a crude term most politely translated as “You’re a bad-ass”.

The early stages of China’s post-Mao music scene in the 1980s and 1990s were dominated by male artists. It was then subsumed in a sea of cutesy boy bands and ditzy girl bands all dancing in time. Now female musicians and all-female bands are making themselves heard. Observers of China’s music scene expect more outspoken female musicians to come to the fore during 2024.

Not surprisingly, they write songs about the empowerment of women, breaking out of stereotypes. “I can be beautiful, all I have to do is change,” sang Ms Feng at a recent music variety show. “Screw that, I don’t really want to change,” she continued, to roars from the crowd. The Hormones, an all-female band from the southwestern city Chengdu, said in a recent interview, “We should go out there and express ourselves more. With more women doing this, the negativity around female bands will decrease.”

But musicians, like everyone, have to keep one eye on politics. Censorship has increased with President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on civil society. Singers are sometimes asked to submit lyrics and spoken remarks for approval before performances. Women are especially in the spotlight. A feminist movement that challenged the Communist Party over misogyny was crushed in 2015. Since then, Chinese authorities have kept a close eye on women’s groups, wary of any disruption to social stability. Some leeway is permitted in music, for now—but bad-ass rock stars walk a fine line. ■

anonymous, Freelance correspondent, Beijing