Chinese Modern Folk Songs: A New World of Music

Chinese modern folk songs have been quite popular during the recent two years. Previous folk songs, which are mainly divided by minorities or regions, are totally different from modern folks songs we are talking about nowadays. For example, Peng Liyuan, the “Chinese First Lady,” used to be one of the best-known previous folk singers, and her song “Yimeng Mountain Song,” that talks about the beautiful views of Yimeng Mountain, is a typical kind of previous folk songs.

However, Chinese modern folk songs are totally different from the previous ones. They tell stories slowly and express emotions implicitly instead of just describing and praising places or minority people. The tone of modern folk songs is much lower, and the main accompaniment musical instrument is always guitars, which creates an atmosphere of calm. The dominant characteristics of Chinese modern folk songs are simple but emotional, which can easily cause emotional resonance and make people cry. The subjects of Chinese modern folk songs are mainly related to school lives, hometowns, dreams and relationships. By telling the singers’ own or others’ stories, these songs help to build connections among people, in order to either encourage them or comfort them.

Zhao Lei is a typical instance of Chinese modern folk singers, and his song, “Chengdu,” is a huge success that you can hear the song literally everywhere in China.

(Zhao Lei - Chengdu: Highly recommend listening)

Zhao was raised in a traditional Chinese family. Because of his love to music, he gave up the opportunity to go to college and started his "underground singer" days with his guitar in 2003. It was a tough time: he sang more than 40 songs in pubs, earning only 80 yuan (~$13) every day. At the same time, he saved money to travel through China's Sichuan, Tibet and Yunnan areas and kept creating songs based on his journey and life experience. Thanks to his insistence and love to music, his songs captivated many fans and musicians, which brought him the chance to produce his own album in 2011.

“Chengdu” was first released in Zhao’s third album in 2016. Zhao ran the whole show that contained the writing and composition of this song. Chengdu is also a city in Sichuan province. The lyrics depict many details of the city Chengdu, so it causes resonance of the people who come from this city and the stranger who had been to Chengdu. From the perspective of Zhao, “Chengdu” was created in memory of the city itself, which was considered as the second hometown for Zhao, and all the friends he met in Chengdu. Without gorgeous lyrics or strong melody, he shows his love and miss to the city, slowly but sincerely.

People always believe that there is no boundary for music. Every country has its own language, while the melody is always interlinked. However, hardly any American know about Chinese modern folk songs. Why? The only reason is that Chinese modern folk singers never actively promoted themselves or their songs in the western culture.

To do so, they first need to create official accounts on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. While posting and promoting their own songs, they should also engage with their audience more often and keep their accounts activated even during the period they don’t publish new songs.

Another essential aspect of promoting Chinese modern folk songs is to tell the story behind the songs and lyrics. Even though the melody is always interlinked, lyrics in other languages, especially in Chinese, are hard to understand or get the point. Therefore, translation and explanation are indispensable to help people from other culture to understand and enjoy the songs better.

Good music is worth sharing and spreading. We hope more great musicians and songs can be strongly promoted in the western culture, so people could enjoy different kinds of music all over the world.