Dylan knocks on Beijing's door
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Bob Dylan is playing in Beijing, an iconic voice of dissent in a nation that values harmony. Although Dylan is a legend in the West, inextricably linked with the 60s civil rights movement, few Chinese people have heard of him. Out of 20 people surveyed in Beijing's Central Business District in an unscientific poll, only one person had heard his music before, and was not a fan. Another had heard the name mentioned in the media.
Chinese rock fans who are versed in their Beatles and Rolling Stones of course know who Dylan is, but this group is a tiny minority. They likely will have come to him through their own Internet research, or an introduction by friends.
This is reflected by ticket sales - the concert, in the 13,000-seat Workers' Gymnasium, was not sold out as of press time.
Dylan's name is frequently mentioned on Chinese microblogs and message boards, but mostly in the context of getting the cheapest tickets, which have sold out. (Only 980 yuan and 1,280 yuan tickets are still available - somewhere between a third and a fifth of a typical young university graduate's monthly salary.)
When Dylan rose to fame in the early 60s, the Chinese mainland was completely closed off to Western cultural influences. By the time rock'n'roll started seeping into the country in the mid-80s, it had been more than a decade since Dylan made a record that mattered.
Dylan is important in the West just as much for what he represents as the music he wrote. Dylan was cool. Dylan didn't care what you thought, and at times sounded like he was laughing at you for being foolish enough to listen to his sneering speak-song and often thrown-together lyrics. Dylan smoked a lot of dope. These traits have almost no traction in mainstream society here, where even rock'n'roll is these days a fringe phenomenon.
The subject of Dylan's songs, from drugs to racial equality to human dignity to war, are not on the radar of the average Chinese person, who is more interested in taking care of his or her family and trying to get ahead in a very competitive world.
"The Times They Are A-Changin'" is one of his best contenders for being found on a KTV machine, although many karaoke parlors are likely to have none of his music.
But "Blowin' in the Wind," with its ambiguous stance toward world problems, is suitably perhaps his most covered song in China. In one Internet translation, it's been rendered as "Go Along With The Wind Drift."
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