Tea Raves, ties and turntables: China's DJ Hovy Lee goes global

At first glance, Hovy Lee doesn't fit the stereotype. He is not your typical casually dressed or even tattooed performer audiences might expect behind the decks. Instead, the Chinese DJ, producer and performer often appears in a shirt and tie, sometimes carrying a thermos, and looking more like a corporate employee than anything else. Other times, he can be spotted in traditional Chinese attire, sipping a cup of tea on stage. But one thing remains the same – his ability to churn out grabbing tunes from the DJ deck, tunes that have been drawing worldwide attention.

"I don't want people to stereotype me as a DJ," he said as we chatted over video call. "I want to be really different."

Originally from Liuzhou in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 40-year-old Wei Li, who performs as Hovy Lee, has a unique style that goes beyond fashion and extends into his catchy DJ sets. 

Blending popular Western music with Chinese-style sounds and instrumental accompaniments, he shows off his technical skill and cultural playfulness and turns it into something instantly recognizable across cultures and worlds. Online, his videos have racked up major attention on Chinese platforms and beyond. He has become known for mashups, rapid-fire transitions and performances that'll have feet tapping and many itching for the nearest dance floor.

Growing up, he was drawn to Western pop and rap, listening to acts like the Backstreet Boys, Eminem and Jay-Z at an age when many of his peers in China were hearing something very different. He credits part of that exposure to an aunt who taught English and listened to Western music, opening a door that would eventually become a career.

"My mom's sister was an English teacher in a primary school and she used to listen to a lot of Western music and that's how I got into music and interested in writing. I tried to write my own music in Chinese and imitate what I was hearing in those songs," he recalled.

At 20, Li dropped out of university, where he had been studying toward a degree in computer science, and made the risky decision to pursue music full time. His family did not fully understand the move back then, but they didn't stop him.

In the early 2000s, trying to make a living in a band or club environment in China didn't feel like an obvious or secure choice, but he was determined to give it a shot.

He started working for one of China's biggest entertainment companies at the time, first as a resident singer and later as a music director working across major venues. He spent more than a decade learning the ins and outs of nightlife, how to read a room, how to feed into the energy of the people and use that to move them.

"I love reading a crowd, taking people on a journey, and seeing their reactions. I feel like DJing is the most interesting job in the world. Being a great DJ means you will be able to control what people listening to you can do. You make them scream, sing, dance, cry or laugh," he said.

At the age of 29, he set his sights on Los Angeles. After years of saving from his nightclub performances, he enrolled at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood to study music production for three years, he wanted something more durable than simply playing other people's tracks.

Ironically, his first real DJ sets predated that formal training. While managing a club in Beijing, he spent afternoons practicing transitions to imaginary audiences and being mentored by a friend, an accomplished French DJ who played house music at the venue. After a short period of informal guidance and what felt like a trial-by-fire education, Li began playing late-night sets himself. Even now, he says preparation matters. About 70% of his sets are planned, with 30% improvisation. For a major event, he spends 20 to 30 hours preparing track selection, cue points and transitions. However, his final performance remains flexible enough to respond to the crowd in real time.

"It's about storytelling, energy management, track selection and often live remixing. A good DJ creates a unique experience, I mean you can do live finger drumming, playing keyboard when you're DJing, like me I've done all these, and I often mix with four channels, usually DJs only mix with two channels, but it depends what kind of DJ you want to be," he said of his passion.

"If you're a resident DJ, you don't need those fancy mixing skills or often doing scratch to impress people, I mean sometimes people just want to dance, all you need is keep playing right songs and do good transitions but if you want to go viral on the internet you want to do something different."

The rise of social media became a game changer for him, a new and larger platform for him to showcase his skills and draw an audience of a different kind. Li says one breakthrough video posted at the end of 2025 changed everything. This is where his very corporate-looking image caught the attention of online users. With his neat office-worker appearance and a thermos in hand, the suggestion that he looked like a man headed to the office rather than a club booth caught many off guard when he started ringing out hits from the deck and it blew up across social media.

Li understands that in the scroll economy, skill alone is not always enough, so maintaining his shirt and tie persona became part of his brand.

"I want to make people think and wonder about the contrast. It's like they think a DJ should be a certain way or look a certain way, but I don't want to be the way they think. And this look works for me, because I'm also kind of nerd-looking," he said with a laugh.

For Li, evolving in what he does is very important. He never wants to provide his audience with the same thing. So, while his look might remain the same, he enjoys changing things up when it comes to music and the vibe he offers.

Perhaps his most intriguing evolution is Tea Rave, a concept he describes as a response to the popularity of coffee raves online. If coffee culture became such a big deal, why couldn't he do the same with tea, especially being rooted in Chinese symbolism?

Instead of limiting dance music to the nightclub, he imagines a daytime gathering in an old teahouse, where electronic music collides with traditional Chinese aesthetics, dress codes and instrumentation.

"Tea Rave is my concept of bringing a combination of all kinds of Western dance music and Chinese traditional instruments elements into traditional spaces like old teahouses. It's about high energy in a low-key setting, and don't forget the dress code, everyone has to follow it to be a part of it, that's important," he said.

"Tea represents Chinese culture. And with these raves, we can do it in the morning, in the afternoon and that way more people can come."

That idea has helped widen his appeal well beyond China. Li says international bookings followed as more viewers discovered his clips and wanted to see the full experience live. He has already toured China and other parts of Asia, played in European cities including London, Barcelona and Madrid, and is preparing to perform in the US soon. He spoke enthusiastically about future travel, including hopes of performing in Africa.

Probably the best part of touring is that he can include his family. While he is currently based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, with his wife Queenie and their 6-year-old daughter Godiva, he says that when possible, touring becomes a family trip.

"I really appreciate their support," he said. "I think it's also great that I am able to give my daughter the chance to see the world." 

For all the viral clips, what remains most striking about Hovy Lee is his sense of intention. He is not simply trying to be seen, he is trying to expand what a DJ can signify in contemporary Chinese culture and on the global stage.

He dreams of one day expanding Tea Raves on a larger scale and has hopes of playing at big festivals like EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival), Coachella and Tomorrowland.

His advice to younger artists is short and sweet: "Keep doing what you love and work smarter, not harder."

In his case, that meant trusting instinct, embracing technology, learning performance from the ground up and turning an apparent mismatch – the tie, the thermos, the nerdy exterior – into something unforgettable.