Alternative rock band Hedgehog dominates the stage in their upcoming tours around China. Guitarist Zijian, who also writes his own lyrics, struts out powerful and poetic tunes. Drummer Atom has transformed from a cute girl to a strong woman who exudes a spunk that would give her male peers a run for their money.

They may play hits like "Blue Daydreaming" or "24 Hours Rock Party," but their musical journey began two decades ago. Back then they performed one of their early hits on a Wednesday night at the D-22 club in Beijing. This is where they crossed paths with Michael Pettis.

Wall Street trader Michael Pettis first came to Beijing in 2002 when the city, and China as a whole, was in a state of transition. Computers, the internet and subways catered to a rapidly urbanizing population. It was in this environment that Pettis started the club D-22 that would shape China's rock scene. CGTN's Tian Wei caught up with Pettis at his office inside a courtyard in the scenic Shichahai hutong area.

Pettis believes that China's reform and opening-up policy gave Chinese musicians a strange backdrop to develop their craft. Pettis said, "I was excited to hear what their music was going to sound like."

While Chinese musicians were first exposed to rock in the 1990s, the internet in the 2000s gave them a deluge of inspiration. Pettis said,"1,000 years of music got dumped on them in two years. That's a great way to approach music." It was under these conditions Chinese rockers would soon find their own sound.

Around this time, Pettis opened D-22 which would give rock artists a platform to collaborate and perform. This was how Pettis and his 300-people venue incubated and nurtured famous Chinese rock bands like Hedgehog, Carsick Cars and Snapline. After D-22 lost some of its indie charm, Pettis closed the club in 2012 and started the new club XP, which continued nurturing alternative bands. Pettis even started an indie label, Maybe Mars, which soon became the biggest indie label in China and even Asia.

Despite these successes, Pettis was concerned that rock bands from China were not getting the international recognition they deserved. Pettis said, "I heard many Western musicians saying Chinese rock isn't original and is just copying the West." But Pettis realized they only meant that this didn't conform to their stereotypes of how Chinese music should sound like.

"Whatever your idea of Chinese music should sound like from the past is dead."  

Pettis recalls being on a BBC panel in 2003 when a commentator asked him, "Why is Chinese culture so backward? Why aren't they doing anything interesting?"

But Pettis believed that they had tunnel vision with regards to Chinese music, "They were saying that Chinese musicians had to do Peking Opera, folk music or Mongolian music, because that's Chinese." Pettis realized that they couldn't see the talent in China's young creative people because that wasn't what they were seeking. "Chinese culture is whatever Chinese artists do."

Pettis has closed his club XP and is focused on his role as a finance professor at Peking University, but is still rooting for Chinese rock. The trajectory of Chinese rock is unknown, but what is certain is that Chinese rock will not be bound by the constraints of misguided Chinese stereotypes and Western models.

World Insight with Tian Wei is an international platform for debate and intelligent discussion. It is the meeting point of both the highly influential and rising voices, facilitated by host Tian Wei. It provides nutrition to form your own thoughts and ideas through a 45-minute live debate and interviews.

Schedule: Monday-Saturday

Time (GMT): 1415, 2015

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