Page 13 - FMH7

Anarchy in the P.R.C. a diasporic Chinese experience of
punk in Beijing
MAOLivehouse, Beijing.
I’m standing beneath an elevated stage with a small and sparse audience. The music is loud and the lights are flashing different colours in time with the drumbeats. The band that’s play- ing is chanting in mandarin, lyrics about state oppression and killing the Communist Party.
There’s a guy in front with a leather jacket with “Anarchy in the P.R.C.” painted on it. I had to get a good photo. This is the first punk show I’ve been to in Beijing. The people I was with yelled over the music to tell me, there’s usually a lot more people than this, most people have gone home for Spring Festival*.
*Known to the Anglophonic West as Chinese New Years.