Chinese rock music rose in popularity in Mainland from the Northwest Wind music movement (such music drew heavily on the folk song traditions of northern Shaanxi Province in the northwest) in the mid-1980s, and underwent varying periods of ups and downs in 1990s. In recent years, Chinese rock has begunn to recover, and people can see it at many performances...

Faint Murmurs

1980: Wan Xing, Li Shichao, Ma Xiaoyi and Wang Xinbo set up the first rock band, "Wan Li Ma Wang," performing classical Western rock, at Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute (now named Beijing International Studies University).

1981: Lili, Wang Yang and other musicians form "Alisi," a band mainly performing Japanese songs.

1982: Adi and some foreign musicians organize " Mainland" bank, which was considered as an activator for Chinese rock music.

1984: "Seven-piece Puzzle" and " Self Righting Doll" form, the second is the first band to play electronic instruments in China.

1985: In May Cui Jian, godfather of Chinese rock, released his first record, "Libertine Back Home."

1986: at a Beijing concert commemorating the Year of World Peace, Cui Jian climbs onto the stage in peasant clothing and belts out his latest composition, "Nothing To My Name," which soon becomes one of the most popular songs in Chinese modern music history.1987: "Black Leopard" is set up. Members include Guo Chuanlin, Li Tong Ding Wu and others.

In October, "Audiovisual World," the first magazine covering western pop music, begins to publish.

1988: "Tang Dynasty" set up.

1989: Cui Jian participates in the first Asian Popular Music Awards in London, as well as the "Printemps de Bourges" Festival in Paris. Then he released his first special album, " Rock on the Road of New Long March," which was the first album in the history on Chinese rock music.