63 No. 2019/3 • china perspectives Current affairs china perspectives A Brief Genealogy of Hanmai GE ZHANG AND JIAN XU Introduction H anmai 喊麥, literally “shouting [at] a microphone,” frst came to public attention and scrutiny as a distinct sound gaining both popularity and notoriety in 2015, when livestreaming platforms such as YY (which launched as a voice chat client in 2008) were growing exponentially. 1 Contemporary hanmai is therefore predominantly associated with livestreaming media. 2 However, its origin can be traced much further back. The sound culture can be linked to the broader context of market reform and the emergence of disco music in the 1990s, as well as to the evolution of Northeastern ( Dongbei 東北) folk culture during the same period. Dongbei spoken word art has fundamentally shaped the lyrical structure and presentation of hanmai , while its lyrical content has shifted over time from a dance culture flled with hedonist desires in the late 1990s and early 2000s to a contemporary livestreaming culture of venting frustration due to unfulfilled desires. Moreover, socio-technologically speaking, hanmai culture started in the form of commercial sales of pirate mixtape CDs, then migrated to QQzone (Tencent’s version of personal webspace similar to Myspace) throughout the 2000s, re-invented itself via Internet subculture on early video portals such as Acfun as well as popular web fction, and fnally (re)emerged on YY as the contemporary reiteration of hanmai . This paper aims to map a genealogy of hanmai , including the divergences, parallels, and reiterations of this specifc style of sound in Chinese society from the 1990s onwards. Discotheques and revitalised Dongbei folk culture Hanmai ’s musical origin can be traced back to China’s discotheques and dance halls of the late 1990s in the context of China’s “revolution of consumption” (Davis 2000). The history of disco dance clubs from the 1990s to 2000s in Shanghai is well documented by Andrew Field (2008) and James Farrer (2000). Shanghai discotheques ( disike 迪科) emerged as “large, cavernous, dark, and simply decorated” (Field 2008: 21) “free-flowing zones of interaction among clubbers from different backgrounds” (Field and Farrer 2018: 128). Compared to the partnered dance halls of the 1980s (which later developed into collectivist square-dancing venues), discotheques were for individual dancing to various genres of electronic music. In frst-tier cities such as Shanghai, discos were segregated between the local Shanghainese crowd visiting different clubs and the more international crowd of expats, overseas returnees, Hongkongers, and Taiwanese. For example, in contrast to Shanghai’s pioneering D.D., a club that played up-to-date club music and invited foreign DJs, most local discos “tended to be a mixture of mainstream American pop, Cantopop and Taiwanpop, the music favoured by Chinese” (Field 2008: 23). In 1. We use the term sound because it is more neutral than music and therefore circumvents contemporary debates over whether hanmai constitutes music. 2. Javier C. Hernández, “Ranting and Rapping Online in China, and Raking in Millions,” The New York Times , 15 September 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/world/asia/china-li-tianyou- livestream.html (accessed on 13 March 2019). Figure 1. Mapping the genealogy of hanmai by the authors 1980s: (Post-) socialist dance halls 舞廳 (organized partnered dancing) Early 1990s: Discotheques 迪科 (low entry fee, free-for-all, individual dance-oriented space) 1990s to early 2000s: Revitalized Dongbei folk arts such as Errenzhuan 二人轉 Dongbei Comedy and sanitized Dongbei folk culture celebrated by the offcialdom (e.g. CCTV), most prominently represented by Zhao Benshan (e.g. 蹦迪八大扯) Themes from web fction 爽文 Early 2010s: Hanmai tracks are also sold online Late 1990s: Pirate mixtapes from cassettes to CDs; Early 2000s: Street vendors sold these mixtape CD of disco hanmai tracks as “high disks” 嗨碟 Late 1990s and early 2000s: Poorly decorated Dongbei Disco Halls 迪廳 with low entry fee (emergence of early form of hanmai performances, e.g. 小毛黸) 2000s: Clubs 夜總會/夜店 with extravaganza interiors, VIP Lounge with exorbitantly priced tables and drinks (for special distinction) but small dance floors and in frst/second tier-cities Underground clubs, live houses (experimental forms of music production, subcultural crowd, dance-oriented) 2009: YY’s clan-based voice chat relaunched as a livestreaming platform YY platform recalibrated early hanmai forms to an online live performance (MC Tianyou) Censorship in 2017 MC Shitou performed in a live house in Beijing in 2011 Around 2010: Appropriation of hanmai tracks by early online video culture (Acfun); MC Shitou became celebrated