After more than 5 years of breakdancing, in 1992, the first real DISCO dance hall in China finally appeared (then called DISCO Plaza). It is located in Shanghai Yan'an Road, "JJ" DISCO Square. (From 1990, Shanghai's individual places have appeared small, to play DISCO-based dance halls, but can only be regarded as the predecessor, the real disco should start from JJ.) JJ's owner is a Taiwanese, surnamed Ma. The owner of JJ is a Taiwanese, surnamed Ma. Ma is the first person to open a disco in mainland China, and he is also a very good businessman. Later, Beijing's JJ, Guangzhou's JJ are opened by him. JJ disco opened on the unprecedented fire, the number of people every day are more than 1,000 people, weekends and holidays is more overcrowded. There were foreign DJs, crazy music that I had never heard before, super avant-garde layout, and countless crazy customers. Until today, I am very unforgettable my first time into the disco at that time the feeling.
Shanghai's JJ opened about 2 years ago, and was on fire for more than 2 years. By the time 1994 rolled around, big cities all over the country were completely ablaze with the disco craze. Beijing, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Shenyang and so on became the mecca for young people, and the DJ booths slowly began to have the figures of mainlanders on them.
Mainlanders entered the DJ booth at first as a supporting role. They did lead dances, lighting, MCs (called "hosts" in many places at the time), and so on. Therefore, there were many excellent MCs in the country at that time. The foreign DJs were responsible for playing the music, and the mainland MCs were responsible for driving the atmosphere. Slowly, the earliest MCs became the earliest group of DJs in mainland China, so most of these DJs were all-rounders, able to play discs (i.e., play music), more able to drive the atmosphere, and even a lot of DJs danced very well, and a lot of DJs could host lucky draws and so on! At that time, many cities did not have discos, not to mention DJs, so if the boss of any city wanted to open a disco, they often had to go to those larger cities to dig inside the disco. So, the DJ at that time, as long as the level is good, do not have to go anywhere, waiting for others to dig can be. The DJs who were willing to jump on the bandwagon got paid a lot of money, and they were able to do so in a very short period of time.
There is another important role that we have to talk about, and that is the "DJ company" at that time. The earliest DJ company in mainland China was also born in Shanghai. One was called "BPM" Beat DJ Company, and its owner was surnamed Yan. The other one was called "Crossline" DJ studio, the owner's name was Wei. Both were very formal, and were the cradle of the domestic DJ scene at the time.
"BPM" only do DJ, MC brokerage. Specializing in sending DJs to work in large discos across the country. DJs sent out generally provide air tickets to and from, accommodation and food arrangements in star hotels. Wages are all above ten thousand dollars. Especially in the northern region, the company was then famous.
Crossing Lines has more programs. Vinyl records, professional dance CDs, DJ talent agency, equipment sales are all done. It's just that it's expensive. However, can specialize in Shanghai to go to the DJ, generally do not care about the price. The survival cycle of "Crossover Line" is longer than that of "BPM". The main reason for this is that DJs in mainland China are growing and learning too fast, and there are fewer and fewer venues that need DJ companies to introduce DJs to them. After 2001, the Shanghai cross line gradually faded out of the DJ market, DJ from the aristocratic began to move towards the common people, this is the inevitable law of economic development, DJ began to become no longer mysterious, more and more young people to go to the DJ stage, began their "urban cowboy" like wandering career.
In fact, as an early group of DJs in mainland China, many people are unable to understand what the word "DJ" means to us. "DJ" is a dream for us, a dream of self-improvement, a dream of continuous transcendence, a dream that aspires to be recognized by more people, even by the whole world, and a dream that aspires to have a dialogue with the world. This dream do DJ's no one wants to wake up, many people have to wake up.