--- title: Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin | TIME description: From Freestylers in Shenyang, to rappers in Beijing and on the airwaves, Hip-Hop is on the rise in China. canonical: https://time.com/video/xa3msYgT/ og:title: Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin og:description: From Freestylers in Shenyang, to rappers in Beijing and on the airwaves, Hip-Hop is on the rise in China. og:url: https://time.com/video/xa3msYgT/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xa3msYgT/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin twitter:description: From Freestylers in Shenyang, to rappers in Beijing and on the airwaves, Hip-Hop is on the rise in China. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xa3msYgT/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin [Watch (HLS stream): Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xa3msYgT.m3u8) (3:45)  _Published 2009-06-01. From Freestylers in Shenyang, to rappers in Beijing and on the airwaves, Hip-Hop is on the rise in China._ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:10 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes](/video/25a2bFYz/) ### Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes [Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes](/video/Fdu8RhBS/) ### Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes [Israeli-Palestinian Hip Hop](/video/OX2xk5QO/) ### Israeli-Palestinian Hip Hop --- ## Transcript It's Thursday night in Shenyang, China, and freestyle rapper Li Yuanshang is ready for battle. Words fly and beats bounce, the busting rhymes in Mandarin. Freestyle battles like these are more and more common in China. Here in Shenyang, Li is one of dozens of young men taking the stage, who've discovered a new freedom in rap. >> This music is free and creative; we can say what we want. There are no restrictions when we battle. This is the first time I've ever won in MC Battle in my life. >> This freestyler, Lil' Ray, won the Iron MC Freestyle Championship. >> During the battles I feel everything; nervous, happy, excited and sad. My parents didn't like hip- hop, they especially didn't like the [ unk ] war but after seeing me compete and after watching my performances they begin to understand me. They're okay with me now. >> Jeff Kung and West Chan, Chinese- Americans from California, we're in a hip- hop radio show in Beijing. It features up and coming Chinese DJs and freestyle rappers kicking rhymes. >> We got syndicated 85 other smaller cities like the small tier cities, like places you haven't even heard of. I have 10 million listeners. >> As hip- hop becomes more global in China it's created a common language that lets ex- patriots related with local Chinese youngsters, but the music also reveals divergent world views between foreigners who have to China and their native Chinese counterparts. Andreas Hwang grew up in Beijing, he says that even though hip- hop music has taken off here there's still many things you cannot say. >> The main concern is like social stability; I can't say anything that gets close to politics. >> Right. >> People are so free on blogs, I think if you take a discussion to mainstream media it'll only open more dialogue and maybe you'll even be better, you know what I mean? >> Andreas' rap is more political than most of the hip- hop songs on the market. But politics isn't the primary concern of most young musicians here. More important is whether they can survive making hip- hop music. >> But there's a reason why people in the States, " Would China do it ?" Because they see people on the stage get rich doing it, like a chance to get rich and famous do it. Nobody here has gotten rich or famous doing it. So, I respect for the simple fact that you probably know you're not gonna get rich or famous by doing this but you're still doing it anyways. >> A lot of locals who used to be into hip- hop can't do it anymore, they're doing other jobs. >> I'm not afraid I'm not making money. Having fun was the most important, as long as I can have some income from performing. I'm still doing this because I love it, I dig it, I'm crazy about it. >> This is Jimmy Wang for Time. com, reporting from Shenyang. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin","description":"From Freestylers in Shenyang, to rappers in Beijing and on the airwaves, Hip-Hop is on the rise in China. ","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xa3msYgT/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-06-01T02:10:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xa3msYgT.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/xa3msYgT/","duration":"PT3M45S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/xa3msYgT/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```