It seems that the China's earth is not yet a good breeding ground for this type of music. "Hip hop music in China is encountering big obstacles, and this comes from a complicated combination of historical and cultural differences," said the critic Hu Pan. He explained: "We have different ideology, social values and way of life from our counterparts across the ocean. Many Chinese hip hoppers just touch the surface of this music, in form and content. You can't expect it to be blossoming in China before we have a profound understanding of this music."

The core of hip hop, according to Hao Yu, lies in its social criticism. The music originated from the grassroots among black men in America using the music to vent their anger and discontent. "Of the four elements of the hip hop culture in China, hip hop dancing develops much faster than hip hop music, graffiti or DJ, partly because dancing has little political content," he explained.

Another reason for the slow development of Chinese hip hop is that the Chinese language itself is not as suitable for rapping as English, as the two languages bare no resemblance to each other in pronunciation. What's more, hip hop music has the strong sense of rhythm and beat, which is not a feature in Chinese music traditions.

"But the language difference is not so important, as what makes good hip hop music is not rhythm or beat, but what the singer is trying to express as well as their attitude," said Hu Pan.

Vulgar language concern

Domestic hip hop, compared with overseas counterparts, is relatively clean and healthy. "The mainland's few well-known hip hop groups, including CMCB, Yin Tsang, Kungfu and Dragon Tongue, though distinctive from each other, do have something in common: no vulgar language; no content related to sex, drugs or violence; and no mockery of state politics or even mainstream culture," said Qi Youyi, music editor at the Beijing-based publication Lifestyle.

The healthy hip hop scene in the mainland owes much to the strict examination and approval rules by the Ministry of Culture. In 2004, the State banned albums by a Taiwan rapper MC HotDog because the lyrics contained many nasty words. This past July, a new mainland hip hop group Wujisheng fell victim to public criticism as their hit song Can U Feel Me involves a few curse words.

"I don't think it's a big deal to have cursing in hip hop songs. But I do hate it when some Chinese rappers pretend to be angry and use such words without any real emotional involvement. That's ridiculous," said Chen Jizheng, the advertising company employee.

Hip hop music is critical, aggressive, sometimes even radical in nature, which to some extent goes against Chinese cultural traditions, in which people are taught to be humble and tolerant. Thus, the nasty language in songs is considered to be something to be condemned.

"Regarding the issue of vulgar language, we Chinese need some time," said rap singer Hao Yu. "We are already becoming more tolerant about this. Five years back, such bad language would in no way be allowed in songs, but today, more people begin to say, 'well, I think I'm ok with that'."

Hao thinks vulgar language is not necessary to hip hop music. People don't curse for the sake of cursing, but only when they feel the need, a totally impulsive reaction. So there should be no need to make a fuss about this issue.

What's unique about the domestic hip hop music is that it includes so many dialects. China has 56 nationalities and over 80 dialects. Most of the hip hop music is sung in the official language, Mandarin. The rest is rapped out in dialects, mostly in Cantonese, Shanghai dialect and the one that prevails in northeast China. All the listeners can understand the northeast China dialect rapping, which is similar to Mandarin; but people in north China can barely understand the south China dialects.

"I have no idea what this song is all about-I can't even recognize a single word!" a netizen complained in a posting to which a Shanghai-dialect rap song was attached on the Internet forum of www.yhood.net.

Rapping in dialect gives a special flavor to a song, and even makes it sound more interesting and humorous. "It makes the domestic hip hop scene more diversified," said Hao Yu. "But the bad thing about this is that some hip hoppers are getting exclusive; they form different factions and think their dialect is the best language for rapping."

Active on Internet

"In fact, China's best hip hoppers are convened on the Internet," said Qi Youyi, the Lifestyle music editor, "There, in the free world created by the Internet, a group of talented youngsters are writing songs more critically and incisively."

On www.rapyy.com, the best website of China's underground hip hop, numerous rap artists and their creative songs can be found. Most of the singers are amateurs, some of whom may have compiled only one or two songs; however, a few have created more than 10 songs.

With looser restrictions and control over the Internet, these rap songs cover a wide range of subjects, including sensitive topics like prostitution, corrupt police and promoting national patriotism by mocking Japan.

Hao Yu is one of the underground rappers. He made his first hit, The College Common Room, in 2004 when he was still a student at Harbin Engineering University in Heilongjiang Province.

"I recorded this song in my dorm with a computer and an 8-yuan mike on a day when all my roomies were out for classes, leaving me a quiet environment for recording," he recalls.

Just like Hao Yu, most of the poorly equipped rappers produce their songs with the help of a computer, cheap mikes and some sound-editing software, such as CoolEdit, Fruitloops and Hip Hop eJay. After the songs are produced, they upload them onto the Internet for sharing.

The College Common Room, which made an attack on several improper behaviors in common rooms, such as eating loudly and talking on a mobile phone without concern for other people, became so popular on the Internet that it generated a saying that, "one doesn't qualify as a college student without hearing The College Common Room".

The Internet buzz about the hit gave Hao Yu a chance to enter the record business. "One day, Universal Records came to me and offered a contract. But we didn't agree on the terms as I didn't want to be restricted by the contract," recalls Hao Yu.

Another emerging underground rapper is Pu Tao from Dalian, Liaoning Province, who wrote a rap song Overseas Scum during his two-year overseas study in New Zealand to criticize the degenerate behavior of Chinese students in New Zealand, such as gambling, cohabitation and joining criminal gangs. This song won unexpected acclaim on the Internet.

Pu Tao wrote a series of rap songs after he returned home in 2004. His music features fast rapping, sharp and intense lyrics (each of his songs contains more than a thousand words with a few songs reaching two thousand). At the end of 2005, he released his debut album under a Beijing cultural communication company.

"Good and bad songs are intermingled on the Internet," said Hao Yu, "because hip hop is not like rock music; the threshold is much lower. Anyone who has a computer and a mike can be a MC, no matter whether he's talented or not."

"In China, a country that's been serious for such a long time, hip hop music provides our young people with a new entertainment channel and I think this is the biggest contribution it makes," said music editor Qi Youyi.