Consuming Karaoke in China

Singing karaoke is commonly conceived as a leisure activity in which the performer releases his or her own energy and emotion by singing and performing in front of a peer group, colleagues, or public in a particular space. In the former British colony of Hong Kong, karaoke singing has also become a very popular form of entertainment among the young since the late 1980s. As with karaoke in the West, one finds the internal emotional roller coaster of a karaoke singer in action unleashing joy and sadness. In contrast, just across the border of the advanced capitalist society of Hong Kong—in the special economic zone of China, Shenzhen—the same musical notes in karaoke can indicate a very different set of sensations and undertones for those who live in the post-reform socialist market economy. This difference—a terrain in which empirical work is rarely done—is the focus of this article. Based on empirical data collected from mainland China, this article attempts to explicate karaoke consumption in China and one of its major sociocultural implications.