Guitars in China

[Leo Chang]

Being born in South Korea, and currently living in Connecticut, I can't tell you shit. However, Leo is right. There's an exchange student from China that was in my math and science class for a while (I'm a senior, they're a junior), and not to help fuel any stereotypes, but this chick was way better at math stuff than everyone else in my classes. She ended up being placed in more advanced classes, but I remember she was very boring and not into anything.

I remember when I first immigrated to Canada... Gr. 6 students in Canada are doing what would be considered Gr. 2 math in Taiwan (I am not joking nor exaggerating) So even though math was my worst subject in Taiwan, it became my best subject overnight

But that's what students in East Asia do... they just study and do nothing else. And among the immigrants, the ones who retain all their Asian mindsets will aggressively pursue extracurricular activities on top of their intensive studies too... but they are only do that in order to get in the top universities, who do place some emphasis on seeing those things on applicants' resumes.

Which is why nowadays most of my friends are either non-Asians, or Asians whose thinking is not very traditional Asian

[RacerX]

Yeah, just wait a couple weeks, somebody will post that Japanese dude playing that same Super mario thing

[Tashtego]

That is an interesting analysis Leo. I hadn't considered the continued strength of traditional Chinese cultural values as a hindrance. Here, electric guitar playing, especially rock / metal, is still somewhat subversive but that only adds to the attraction for kids. Because there are so many accomplished classical players from China I also hadn't considered a general relative disinterest in music.

[FusionFarmer]

There have been people from China on this forum. like 1 or 2 out of what, 300 gazillion people, I think its more a matter of cultural preference

[sk8boardbob2]

Well I'm Chinese and living in the US. The last time I went to China (summer 06) I could go on sites like here and ultimate-guitar with no problem. Hell even the most illegal warez and torrentz sites could be accessed.
I was looking into buying a guitar but 90% of the guitars for sale were those horrible knock offs you see on eBAY. However I was lucky enough to find two little shops that had genuine Jacksons. Too bad all the had were performers and Pro series guitars. One of them was cool to stock a couple of Ibanez Prestiges and a Flower paintjob Jem. Sadly my wallet was a bit thin from buying bootlegs so i came back emptyhanded. Theres always next time.

And as far as the stereotypes of asian people being extremely smart, yes I am in high level class and all that shit. However Leo Chang I am an asian person who is into metal. Black, Death, Gore, Glam, Thrash, Power I listen to everything.

Ditch the stereotypes people!

[lhrocker]

Well, I'm Chinese living in the US. I came over when I was 1yo and went back to China twice, which was nice, but not sure if there will be a third. I know a few musicians in China that are very good, but they don't get too many really good instruments. It's cool that they are making stuff that stays in their country for themselves, but it gets a bad rep when they export and sell them abroad. Remember, that US guitars are imports outside of the US and about 30 years ago, made in Japan and HK were considered crap. Now, a Jackson Pro is revered as good as USA. - Mindless blabbing now...

[iced_earth]

I'm an American that lived for two years in Taiwan and I still travel there 3-4 times per year. There is certainly a small guitar sub-culture there. Every large city has a few guitar shops. The average guitar shop has a lot of guitars I've never heard, some Fenders, Epiphones, more Ibanez than anything else. Ibanez seems to be the most popular brand by far. I've seen some Japanese and Indian Jacksons, but at most 1 or 2 in a store. I've never seen a USA Jackson (but I did just buy a KE-2 for a friend of mine there, so there are a few in the country. He's a huge Marty fan). Four years ago I scored a couple nice 24 fret Jackson Stars RRs that I've since moved.

The guitar sub-culture in Taiwan is based a lot around "guitar heroes." Vai, Malmsteen, and Dream Theater are all very popular and have toured in Taiwan. The overall music scene has much more metal music than you would think. Almost every music store has a Heavy Metal section with a fairly good selection of "below the mainstream" bands from all genres of metal (Nevermore, Pain of Salvation, In Flames, Angra, Nightwish and the like can all be found fairly easily). Taipei (the capital and largest city) has a great store that only sells metal. I've bought probably 50 CDs from them, everything from After Forever to Graveworm. A lot of the metal CDs are imported from Korea (same as the Japanese versions) and cost about $10 US.

In terms of guitar players, there is certainly a small community and once people reach a certain level everyone seems to know each other. The music played in pubs is mostly Chinese-pop music, although they do play some popular English songs every now and then. There is not much of a blues scene or even a place for original rock music. Chinese-pop music is mostly singers with a pretty face, although the occasional "band" will make it if they have enough pop-sensibility in their tunes. There is actually at least one Taiwanese black-metal band that I've heard of, but I have yet to hear their CD.

Overall, I would attribute the lack of Taiwanese in these forums to some of the points that Leo made added to the small guitar sub-culture and the even smaller group of guitarists who have even heard of Jackson guitars. I can't speak for China though, although I wouldn't be surprised if the culture was similar.