Live Music in Beijing

Few cities can claim to have shaped the course of an entire country's popular music the way Beijing has. Since the late 1980s, the city has been the central force behind the rise of Chinese rock, anchored by figures like Cui Jian, whose song "Nothing to My Name" became a defining moment in that revival. That countercultural energy never dissipated: punk, metal, and underground electronic music continue to thrive across venues like School Bar, Mao Live House, and Yugong Yishan, while DADA and Ran Music keep the city's electronic scene pushing forward. The infrastructure runs deep too, with Modern Sky, founded here in 1997, now the largest independent label in mainland China. Beijing does not offer one sound; it offers a full spectrum, from Mongolian folk at intimate Gulou hutong venues to hardcore and noise rock on stages that have been testing limits for decades.