Cantopop

Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese.^[1] Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption.^[2] The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hong Kong popular music from the middle of the decade.^[1] Cantopop then reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s before slowly declining in the 2000s and experiencing a slight revival in the 2010s. The term "Cantopop" itself was coined in 1978 after "Cantorock", a term first used in 1974.^[3][4][5] In the eighties Cantopop has reached its highest glory with fanbase and concerts from allover the world, especially from Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. This is even more obvious with the influx of songs from Hong Kong movies during the time.^[4][5]

Cantopop
Traditional Chinese	粵語流行音樂
Simplified Chinese	粤语流行音乐
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yuèyǔ liúxíng yīnyuè Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Yuht yúh làuh hàhng yām ngohk Jyutping Jyut^6 jyu^5 lau^4 hang^4 jam^1 ngok^6

Besides Western pop music, Cantopop is also influenced by other international genres, including jazz, rock and roll, R&B, disco, electronic and others. Cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in Cantonese. Boasting a multi-national fanbase in Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as in East Asian regions of South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in southeastern mainland China, Hong Kong, and occasionally Macau, remain the most significant hubs of the genre.^[6]

History

1920s to 1950s: Shanghai origins

Western-influenced music first came to China in the 1920s, specifically through Shanghai.^[7] Artists like Zhou Xuan (周璇) acted in films and recorded popular songs.

In 1949 when the People's Republic of China was established by the Chinese Communist Party, one of the first actions taken by the government was to denounce pop music (specifically Western pop) as decadent music.^[7] Beginning in the 1950s, massive waves of immigrants fled Shanghai to destinations like North Point in Hong Kong.^[8] As a result, many first generation Cantopop artists and composers hail from Shanghai.^[7]

1960s: Cultural acceptance

By the 1960s, Cantonese music in Hong Kong was still limited largely to traditional Cantonese opera and comic renditions of western music. Tang Kee-chan, Cheng Kuan-min (鄭君綿), and Tam Ping-man (譚炳文) were among the earliest artists releasing Cantonese records.

The generation at the time preferred British and American exports. Western culture was at the time equated with education and sophistication,^[9] and Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis and The Ladybirds were popular.^[7]

Conversely, those who did not prefer Cantonese music were not considered fashioned or educated. Cheng Kum-cheung [zh] and Chan Chung-chug (陳齊頌) were two popular Cantonese singers who specifically targeted the younger generation. Connie Chan Po-chu is generally considered to be Hong Kong's 657th teen idol, mostly due to her career longevity. Josephine Siao is also another artist of the era.

1970s: Beginning of the Golden Age (Rise of television and the modern industry)

Local bands mimicked British and American bands. Two types of local Cantonese music appeared in the market nearly concurrently in 1973: one type cashed in on the popularity of TVB's drama series based on the more traditional lyrical styles. The other was more western style music largely from Polydor Hong Kong (寶麗多唱片). Notable singers from the era include Liza Wang and Paula Tsui. At the same time, television was fast becoming a household must-have that offered free entertainment to the public. For example, The Fatal Irony (啼笑因緣) and Games Gamblers Play (鬼馬雙星) took the local music scene by storm as soon as they were broadcast on the radio and television.^[10]

Soap operas were needed to fill TV air time, and popular Cantonese songs became TV theme songs.^[7] Around 1971, Sandra Lang, a minor singer who had never sung Cantopop before, was invited to sing the first Cantonese TV theme song "A marriage of Laughter and Tears" (啼笑因緣). This song was a collaboration between songwriters Yip Siu-dak (葉紹德) and the legendary Joseph Koo. It was ground-breaking and topped local charts.^[7] Other groups that profited from TV promotion included the Four Golden Flowers.

Sam Hui is regarded by some to be the earliest Cantopop star. He was the lead singer of the band Lotus formed in the late 1960s, signed to Polydor in 1972. The song that made him famous was the theme song to Games Gamblers Play (鬼馬雙星), also starring Hui.^[11]

The star of TV theme tunes was Roman Tam. Three of the most famous TV soap opera singers were Jenny Tseng, Liza Wang and Adam Cheng.^[7] The Wynners and George Lam also amassed a big fan base with their new style. Samuel Hui continued to dominate the charts and won the Centennial Best Sales Award in the first and second IFPI Gold Disc Presentations twice in a row in 1977 and 1978. Polydor became PolyGram (寶麗金) in 1978.

It was at this time that the term Cantopop was first coined. The Billboard correspondent Hans Ebert, who had earlier coined the term Cantorock in 1974, noted a change in its style to something similar to British-American soft rock, therefore started to use the term Cantopop instead in 1978.^[3]

In 1974, as the theme song of The Fatal Irony (啼笑因緣) was very successful, TVB sold to the mainland and other countries and Cantopop reached overseas audiences through drama series.^[12]

1980s: The Golden Age of Cantopop

During the 1980s, Cantopop soared to great heights with artists, producers and record companies working in harmony. Cantopop stars such as Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, George Lam, Alan Tam, Sally Yeh, Priscilla Chan, Sandy Lam, and Danny Chan quickly became household names. The industry used Cantopop songs in TV dramas and movies, with some of the biggest soundtracks coming from films such as A Better Tomorrow (英雄本色). Sponsors and record companies became comfortable with the idea of lucrative contracts and million-dollar signings. There are also Japanese songs with Cantonese lyrics.

The most successful Chinese recording artist, "Queen of Mandarin songs" Teresa Teng also crossed over to Cantopop. She achieved commercial success with her original Cantonese Hits under the Polygram Label in the early 1980s. Jenny Tseng was a notable addition from Macau.

In the 1980s, there came the second wave of "band fever" (the first wave came in the 1960–70s, which was much influenced by the global Beatlemania at that time. Young people thought that forming bands was fashionable. Many new bands emerged at that time, such as Samuel Hui's Lotus, The Wynners, and the Teddy Robin and the Playboys. However, the bands emerged in this first wave were just copying the western music style, mostly covering British and American rock songs, and prefer singing in English rather than Cantonese). Different from the first wave in the 60s, the "band fever" in the 80s did not show an obvious relationship with the global culture at the time being, but much related with the marketing strategy of the local record companies and mass media. Many independent bands and music groups were signed by big record companies, and this made a positive impact to the Hong Kong pop music world, as their works were highly original, with strong individuality, and they were all devoted to writing songs in local language, i.e. Cantonese. The subjects of their works were different from the mainstream (which was mostly love ballads). Politics and social life were popular subjects for the bands in their creation. The "band fever" also brought variety in musical style to the Hong Kong mainstream music world (which was almost monopolised by Pop-ballad for a long time). Styles like Rock, Metal, Pop-Rock, Folk, Neo-Romantic, Pop and some experimental styles (e.g. Cantorock) were introduced. Among them, Beyond and Tat Ming Pair (達明一派) gave the greatest impact to the Hong Kong music world. Some renowned bands and groups included: Beyond, Raidas, Tat Ming Pair, Tai Chi (太極樂隊), Grasshopper (草蜢), Little Tigers (小虎隊), Paradox (夢劇院), Blue Jeans (藍戰士), Echo, Wind & Cloud (風雲樂隊), Citybeat (城市節拍).

The second wave of "band fever" also brought a group of new music lovers to the Hong Kong mainstream music world. Most of them were the just-grew-up generation, or the music lovers of the western Avant-garde music, also the Euro-American Rock-band lovers. This contributed to a great change in the population and age distribution of the music listeners from the 70s. Record companies were laying ever more stress on the buying power of these young new customers. The second wave of "band fever" emerged from the mid 1980s (around 1984) and reached its climax in 1986–87. However the "band fever" cannot put for a long time. Along with the death of the legendary Wong Ka Kui, the leader and co-founder of Beyond, in 1993, and the disband-tide emerged in the early 90s (Tat Ming Pair disbanded in 1990), the "band fever" gradually faded away and totally got down in the early 1990s.^[13]

As Cantopop gained large followings in Chinese communities worldwide, Hong Kong entrepreneurs' ingenious use of the then new Laserdisc technology prompted yet another explosion in the market.

1990s: Four Heavenly Kings era

In the 1990s in Hong Kong, the "Four Heavenly Kings" (四大天王)—Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai—dominated music, and coverage in magazines, TV, advertisements and cinema.^[14][15]

The sovereignty handover created a culturally challenging atmosphere for the industry. Establishment of Basic Law and language ordinances made the adoption of Mandarin inevitable.^[16]

In 2019, Andy Lau spoke of his desire for a reunion of the Four Heavenly Kings in an interview with the press.^[17]

 

Twins at the height of the group's popularity

2000s: New era

At the turn of the century, Cantonese was still dominant in the domain of Chinese pop.^[18] The deaths of stars Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui in 2003 rocked the industry. A transitional phase also took place with many overseas-raised artists such as Nicholas Tse and Coco Lee gaining recognition. As a result, Cantopop is no longer restricted to Hong Kong, but has become part of a larger music movement.

In 2005 Cantopop began a new upswing. Major companies that drove much of the HK segment included Gold Typhoon Music Entertainment (EMI, Gold Label), Universal Music Group, East Asia Entertainment (東亞娛樂) and Amusic and Emperor Entertainment Group.

The decade was also dubbed a "People's singer" era (親民歌星), as most performers were frequently seen promoting publicly, contrasting the 1990s when previous era "big-name" singers (大牌歌星) seemed unapproachable.^{[19][full citation needed]}

A number of scandals struck some of the stars later in the decade. In 2008 the Edison Chen photo scandal involving Edison Chen and Twins singer Gillian Chung, among others, who were the subject of explicit photos uploaded online. The scandal occupied the front pages of the local press for a solid month, and also garnered the attention of international media.^[20][21][22] The scandal tarnished the image of the previously "squeaky-clean" Twins, and resulted in their going into hiatus in late June 2008, four months after Gillian was caught up in the scandal.^[23] Other events include the street fight between Gary Chaw and Justin Lo.^[24] In 2009, Jill Vidal and her singer boyfriend Kelvin Kwan were arrested in Tokyo on 24 February 2009 over allegations of marijuana possession.^[25] Kwan was released without charge after 32 days in jail,^[26] while Vidal later pleaded guilty in Tokyo court to heroin possession, and was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment, suspended for 3 years.^[27][28][29]

2010s: Decline

Mandarin became more important as a result of fast growing culturally and economically in China, the influence of Cantonese became vulnerable. Nevertheless, in addition to the 7 million people of Hong Kong and Macau, the genre continues to enjoy popularity among a Cantonese-speaking audience of in excess of 100 million in southern China, plus 10 million Cantonese-speaking diaspora in Canada, Australia and the United States.^[30] In 2010, a proposal that Guangzhou Television station should increase its broadcast in Mandarin led to protests in Guangzhou.^[31] While the authorities relented, this event reflects attempts at marginalising Cantonese and the ascendency of Mandopop.^[32]

The first major award of the decade 09 JSG award was a highly controversial one with the ongoing HKRIA tax case. The case was reportedly solved in early 2012 though. In January 2012, the 11 JSG award was again controversial since one of the biggest awards, Record of the Year, was handed to Raymond Lam with his unpopular song "Chok".

2020s: Resurgence

 

Mirror in 2020

Interest in Cantopop was renewed in the early 2020s in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, which led to border closures and restriction of travel. In addition to the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests and the passing of the Hong Kong national security law in June 2020, the resurgence of Hong Kong pride had led many Cantonese natives to support local music artistes.^[33] The Cantopop boy group Mirror, which was formed through the ViuTV singing competition in Good Night Show - King Maker in 2018, skyrocketed in popularity during this time due to their distinctively local image. Media had described them as "the new kings of Cantopop"^[34] and a "Cantopop phenomenon."

In February 2021, Hong Kong's biggest television broadcaster, TVB, historically lifted its ban on four of Hong Kong's biggest record labels, opening the doors for non-TVB artistes to perform on the network. The move was described by local media as "reviving the Cantopop music industry."^[35]

Characteristics

Instruments and setups

Early Cantopop was developed from Cantonese opera music hybridised with Western pop. The musicians soon gave up traditional Chinese musical instruments like zheng and Erhu fiddle in favour of western style arrangements. Cantopop songs are usually sung by one singer, sometimes with a band, accompanied by piano, synthesizer, drum set and guitars. They are composed under verse-chorus form and are generally monophonic. Practically all early Cantopop songs feature a descending bassline.

Lyrics

Cantonese is a pitch sensitive tonal language. The word carries a different meaning when sung in a different relative pitch. Matching Cantonese lyrics to Western music was particularly difficult because the Western musical scale has 12 semitones. Through the work of pioneers like Samuel Hui, James Wong (黃霑) and Jimmy Lo Kwok Jim (盧國沾), those that followed have more stock phrases for reference.

Tonal constraints have been blamed for the decline of Cantopop in the late 1990s, for source of creativity being "mined out". Its ramification includes interpretive constraint, where singers have less room for ad-lib change of pitch without sacrificing intelligibility. As a result, pitch change often encountered in western pop music becomes foreign to most of Hong Kong's singers.

Classical Chinese lyrics

The first type is the poetic lyrics written in literary or classical Wenyan Chinese (文言). In the past, Cantopop maintained the Cantonese Opera tradition of matching the musical notes with tones of the language. Relatively few Cantopop songs use truly colloquial Cantonese terms, and fewer songs contain lyrics. Songs written in this style are usually reserved for TV shows about ancient China. Since the 1980s, increasing numbers of singers have departed from this tradition, though some big names like Roman Tam stayed true to traditional techniques.

Modern Chinese lyrics

The second type is less formal. The lyrics written in colloquial Cantonese make up the majority with compositions done in modern written Chinese. TV shows filmed under modern contexts will use songs written with these lyrics. Most songs share an over-riding characteristic, in which every last word of a phrase is rhymed.

The following is an example from the song "Impression" (印象) by Samuel Hui. The last word of every phrase ends with '–oeng'.

Chinese original lyrics	Lyrics Romanized in Jyutping
誰令我當晚舉止失常 難自禁望君你能見諒 但覺萬分緊張　皆因跟你遇上 誰令我突然充滿幻想	seoi4 ling6 ngo5 dong1 maan5 geoi2 zi2 sat1 soeng4 naan4 zi6 gam1 mong6 gwan1 nei5 nang4 gin3 loeng6 daan6 gok3 maan6 fan1 gan2 zoeng1 gaai1 jan1 gan1 nei5 jyu6 soeng5 seoi4 ling6 ngo5 dat6 jin4 cung1 mun5 waan6 soeng2

Covers of foreign compositions

Cantopop was born in the 1970s and became a cultural product with the popularity of two popular TVB drama's themes songs in the early 1970s: "Tower Ballad" (鐵塔凌雲, 1972) and "A marriage of Laughter and Tears" (啼笑因緣, 1974).^[36] The majority of "hit" Cantopop, however, is not entirely local produced but the cover versions of "hit" foreign melodies. Since the 1970s, covering "hit" external songs mainly from Japan, Korea, Taiwan or other Western countries became a common practice among Hong Kong record companies. At that time, Hong Kong's constantly growing music industry acknowledges simply by using those hits, whose already gained popularity, will be the easiest way to reach success in the market. Cover versions were also widely used as a solution to address the shortage of the local hits due to the lack of local composers. Another reason for the use of cover versions is to minimise the production costs. The practice is also done for business reasons of filling up albums and re-capitalizing on songs with a proven record.^[37]

The Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards, which is one of the major music awards in Hong Kong since 1979, can reflect the great reliance on Japanese melodies in Cantopop. During the 1980s, 139 out of 477 songs from weekly gold songs chart were cover versions, and 52% of the cover versions were covers of Japanese songs. Numerous legendary songs of Cantopop superstars Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui, for example "Craziness" (1983), "Monica" (1984), "Foggy Love" (1984), "For Your Love Only" (1985), "Evil Girl" (1985), "The Past Love" (1986), "The First Tear" (1986), and "Fired Tango", were cover versions of Japanese hits,^{[verification needed]} showing that covers contributed to the success of superstars to a certain degree.^[38]

By definition hybrids are still considered Cantonese songs due to the Cantonese lyrics, though the rights borrowed varies country to country. Songs like "Tomorrow sounds like today" (明日話今天) by Jenny Tseng, "Life to seek" (一生何求) by Danny Chan, "Snowing" (飄雪) by Priscilla Chan, and "Can't afford" (負擔不起) by Jade Kwan were originally composed outside of Hong Kong. Many critics disapprove of the practice of covering foreign music and consider it lacking in originality, and many albums promoted themselves as "cover-free".

Canto-jazz

January 29, 2010, Jacky Cheung released his Private Corner album coining the phrase "Canto-jazz", to describe the concept of the album and the musical style of the songs.^{[39][40][41][42]}

In The South China Morning Post, Rachel Mok described "Canto-jazz" as a "unique fusion of the two music styles" of "light jazz" and canto-pop creating a fresh sound with a uniquely local flavour".  She cited Jacky Cheung's Private Corner and Karen Mok's "Somewhere I Belong" among artists who have recorded Cantonese language albums in the new jazz genre coined "canto-jazz".^[43]

An educational study traced the development of jazz in Greater China and explored the cross-cultural issues in rearranging a cantopop song for big band or jazz combo arrangement.^[44]

Industry

Cantopop stars

Talent is unusually secondary to the success of a Cantopop singer in Hong Kong. Most times, image sells albums, as it is one of the characteristics of mainstream music similarly mirrored in the United States and Japan. Publicity is vital to an idol's career, as one piece of news could make or break a future. Almost all modern Cantopop stars go into the movie business regardless of their ability to act; however, the reverse may also occur with actors releasing albums and embarking on concerts regardless of singing talent. They immediately expand to the Mandarin market once their fame is established, hence pure Cantopop stars are almost nonexistent. Outside of music sales, their success can also be gauged by their income. For example, according to some reports, Sammi Cheng earned HK$46M (around US$6M) from advertisement and merchandise endorsements in one month alone.^[45] Many artists, however, begin with financial hardships. For example, Yumiko Cheng owed her company thousands of dollars. Others include Elanne Kong crying in public with only HK$58 left.^[46]

Labels

PolyGram, EMI, Sony, Warner and BMG were established in Hong Kong since the 1970s. Local record companies such as Crown Records (娛樂唱片), Wing Hang Records (永恆), Manchi Records (文志) and Capital Artists (華星唱片) in the past have become successful local labels. As TV drama themes lost favour in the mid-1980s, market power soon drifted to the multi-national labels. Sales are tracked at the IFPI HK Annual Sales Chart.^[47]

Major awards

Award	Organiser	Year started	Year abolished	Origin
Wah Kiu Man Po Gold Camel Award for Top Ten Singers [zh]	Wah Kiu Man Po	1970	1981	Hong Kong
	National Lacquer and Paint Products Company (國民漆廠)
IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Award [zh]	IFPI (Hong Kong) [zh]	1977	2017
RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards	RTHK	1978	2022
Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards	TVB	1983	2022
Ultimate Song Chart Awards [zh]	Commercial Radio Hong Kong	1988	till present
Metro Radio Hits Music Awards [zh]	Metro Broadcast Corporation	1994	till present
Four Stations Joint Music Awards [zh]	RTHK	1995	2010
	Commercial Radio Hong Kong
	Metro Broadcast Corporation
	TVB
CASH Golden Sail Music Awards [zh]	Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong	2001	till present
Chill Club Awards [zh]	ViuTV	2021	till present
Hong Kong Gold Songs Award Presentation Ceremony [zh]	RTHK	2022	till present
	TVB

A record chart which includes all genres of C-pop is the Global Chinese Pop Chart.

Cantopop radio stations

Station	Location	Frequencies and Platform
CRHK Radio 2	Hong Kong	90.3 FM Available on My903.com and their other channel 88.1 during non-talk shows happen.
RTHK Radio 2	Hong Kong	94.8 FM, 95.3 FM, 95.6 FM, 96.0 FM, 96.3 FM, 96.4 FM, 96.9 FM, and Internet live streaming (channel 2)
Chinese Radio New York	New York	1480AM
WNWR	Philadelphia	when it is not doing the news and talkshows
KEST	San Francisco	1450 AM
KMRB	Los Angeles	1430 AM
KVTO	San Francisco	1400 AM
CHMB	Vancouver	1320 AM
Fairchild Radio	Vancouver	1470 AM, 96.1 FM
Fairchild Radio	Toronto	1430 AM, 88.9 FM
Fairchild Radio	Calgary	94.7 FM
Music FM Radio Guangdong	Guangdong	93.9 FM, 99.3 FM and internet stream media
SYN FM	Melbourne	90.7 FM – Cantopop show as part of Asian Pop Night.
2AC 澳洲華人電台	Sydney	(proprietary receivers)
2CR	Sydney Melbourne	(proprietary receivers)

See also

•  Hong Kong portal

• Music of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong musical tongue twister
• Hong Kong English pop
• Hong Kong television drama
• C-pop
• Hokkien pop
• Mandopop
• Chinese hip hop
• Taiwanese hip hop
• J-pop
• K-pop
• V-pop

References

1. Chu, Yiu-wai; Leung, Eve (2013). "Remapping Hong Kong popular music: Covers, localisation and the waning hybridity of Cantopop". Popular Music. 32 (1): 65–78. doi:10.1017/S0261143012000554. S2CID 162777037.
2. Ulrich Beck; Natan Sznaider; Rainer Winter, eds. (2003). Global America?: The Cultural Consequences of Globalization. Liverpool University Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0853239185.
3. Joanna Ching-Yun Lee (1992). "Cantopop Songs on Emigration from Hong Kong". Yearbook for Traditional Music. International Council for Traditional Music. 24: 14–23. doi:10.2307/768468. JSTOR 768468. S2CID 193080106.
4. Beyond 一代搖滾班霸. HKheadline.com (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 27 December 2010.
5. . Tw.twent.chinayes.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013.
6. China Briefing Media (2004). Business Guide to the Greater Pearl River Delta. China Briefing Media Ltd. ISBN 988-98673-1-1.
7. Broughton, Simon. Ellingham, Mark. Trillo, Richard. [2000] (2000) World Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides Publishing Company. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
8. Wordie, Jason (2002). Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-209-563-1.
9. Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced 2003). Old Hong Kong – Volume One. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. ISBN Volume One 962-7283-59-2
10. 馮應謙.(2009). 歌潮．汐韻－香港粤語流行曲的發展.香港次文化.
11. Tony Mitchell. "Tian Ci – Faye Wong and English Songs in the Cantopop and Mandapop Repertoire". Local Noise. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012.
12. 馮應謙.(2009). 歌潮．汐韻－香港粤語流行曲的發展.香港次文化
13. 馮禮慈. 尋回耳朵——香港粵語流行曲VERY簡史（1950-2002）., originally printed in Ming Pao Weekly, 2002.
14. . Xinhua News. 2 May 2007. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
15. 四大天王. 163.com. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
16. , Standing Committee on Language Education and Research. Retrieved 25 February 2007.
17. "Andy Lau Wants An Epic Reunion For The Four Heavenly Kings - But Who's Holding Them Back?". TODAYonline. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
18. Donald, Stephanie. Keane, Michael. Hong, Yin. [2002] (2002). Media in China: Consumption, Content and Crisis. Routledge Mass media policy. ISBN 0-7007-1614-9. pg 113
19. 星星同學會 episode 3
20. "Celebrity Sex Scandal". CNN. 5 February 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
21. . MSNBC. 14 February 2008. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
22. Watts, Jonathan (13 February 2008). "China riveted by stolen sex photos of Hong Kong stars". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
23. Clara Mak (5 July 2008). "Twins will reunite, says Choi". South China Morning Post.
24. 側田曹格肉搏街頭. Orientaldaily.on.cc (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 2 September 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
25. Nickkita Lau (4 March 2009). . The Standard. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
26. Patsy Moy, Drug rap Wei Si in Tokyo jail as Kwan flies home 6 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 30 March 2009
27. . The Standard. 24 April 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015.
28. . Asia One News. 28 April 2009. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013.
29. . HK ATV. 24 April 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012.
30. "Sounds good: Cantopop still riding a melodic tide EJINSIGHT - ejinsight.com". Ejinsight.com. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
31. Yiu-Wai Chu (2013). Lost in Transition: Hong Kong Culture in the Age of China. State University of New York Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-1438446455.
32. Yiu-Wai Chu (2013). Lost in Transition: Hong Kong Culture in the Age of China. State University of New York Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-1438446455.
33. Wang, Vivian (29 June 2021). "'A Form of Brainwashing': China Remakes Hong Kong". New York Times. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
34. Hui, Mary (31 May 2021). ""Never give up:" A Hong Kong boy band has emerged as the voice of a city under crackdown". Quartz. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
35. Lai Ka-kit (24 February 2021). "曾志偉促成與各大唱片公司破冰 形容似情侶嘈交：唔只係一拍即合". HK01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 28 July 2021.
36. Chik, A. (2010). Creative multilingualism in Hong Kong popular music. World Englishes. 29(4). 508–522
37. Chu, Y.W. & Leung, E. (2013). Remapping Hong Kong popular music: covers, localisation and the waning hybridity of Cantopop. Popular Music, 32, 65–78
38. Yau, H.Y.(2012). Cover Versions in Hong Kong and Japan: Reflections on Music Authenticity. Journal of Comparative Asian Development. 11(2). 320–348
39. "Jacky Cheung: A Classic Tour: January 11–29". The Loop HK. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
40. "Jacky Cheung: A Classic Tour | Music in Hong Kong". Time Out Hong Kong. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
41. "Jacky Cheung Tickets".
42. "YESASIA: Private Corner CD - Jacky Cheung, Go East (HK) - Cantonese Music - Free Shipping - North America Site". www.yesasia.com. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
43. Mok, Rachel (8 July 2013). "Canto-jazz is a unique fusion of the two musical styles". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
44. Chen, Chi Wai (2013). "The new awareness of canto-jazz in the jazz arrangement project". Creative Arts in Education and Culture: Perspectives from Greater China. Landscapes: The Arts, Aesthetics, and Education. 13: 69–81. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7729-3_6. ISBN 978-94-007-7728-6.
45. . AnhuiNews.com. 1 February 2003. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
46. . Yahoo News Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
47. IFPI HK Annual Sales Chart. "IFPIHK 27 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine." International Federation of Phonographic Industry. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.

External links

• – Online resource for c-pop, providing lyrics, downloads, video shows, and more.
• Pop Saves Hong Kong, in Tofu Magazine #2
• www.mysongspage.com, lyrics and chords for Cantonese, English & Mandarin songs.
• Disc index
• Come back to love blog
• Lee HC's 黑膠樂園 Disc index
• 香港樂壇25年的發展 article